VALE Royal Borough Council has used laws designed to track terrorists and criminals to spy on noisy neighbours.

Council senior officers issued 112 Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) authorisations over the past 12 months.

Under Ripa laws, councils can access phone and email records and use surveillance to detect or stop a criminal offence.

Vale Royal Borough Council have used the Act once to investigate fly tipping, twice to look into vandalism and 109 times in nuisance noise cases in the borough. Of those it was used twice in Frodsham, twice in Helsby and once in the Tarporley area and all in noise-related cases. Of these, two received abatement notices of which it is a criminal offence to breach.

The Government has come under criticism after the Press Association revealed that local councils had used the new laws to tackle low-level crime and disturbance rather than focus on the larger crimes they were designed for.

Cllr John Turnbull, Lead Councillor for Community Safeguards, said: “Vale Royal Borough Council undertakes investigations that are considered to be covert (mainly for the use of CCTV and sound recording devices) and we take our duty to demonstrate that investigations are necessary and proportionate very seriously indeed.

“Each covert investigation is authorised by a senior officer.

“Our records and procedures have been checked by, and found to be to the satisfaction of, the Information Commissioner’s Inspectors on a number of occasions. We receive a considerable number of complaints about issues such as dog fouling and domestic noise nuisance. It is often possible to obtain sufficient evidence by routine overt patrols, for example in the investigation of dog fouling complaints.

“However, in order to obtain sufficient evidence, it is sometimes necessary to undertake covert targeted surveillance. This is necessary if we are to be effective in controlling anti-social activities that are of concern to the vast majority of our law-abiding citizens.

“In the case of noise nuisance investigations, Vale Royal has adopted a policy of formally documenting each occasion where we use recording equipment, despite having already notified the person alleged to be responsible that we may do so.

“The Commissioner’s inspectors have previously indicated that this goes beyond our legal responsibilities; because arguably the equipment is not being used covertly. Most councils rely on the prior warning alone and do not seek authorisation for this type of investigation.

He added: “This is not about the council invading the privacy of the general public, it’s about ensuring that personal rights to privacy are respected. Only where we have valid complaints that need additional evidence, which can’t be obtained other than by covert surveillance, are authorisations sought and issued.”