Councils are to be banned from using covert surveillance measures to target “trivial” offences.
Town hall officials have been condemned for using anti-terror powers to target people who put their bins out on the wrong day or let their dogs foul in the street.
Councillors or senior officials could soon be required to approve their use under plans set out in a review of changes to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Ripa) Act.
Ripa powers have been criticised as an extension of the “surveillance state”. Councils were found to be using them to investigate parents accused of lying about where they live to get their children in to better schools.
The Tories have called for the use of the powers to be restricted to offences that carry a prison sentence.
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the Government had allowed Ripa to become “a snooper’s charter”.
“It was supposed to be there to tackle terrorism and serious crime,” he said.
“Instead it’s being used by both the Government and hundreds of local authorities to pry into all kinds of different parts of people’s lives. It has to stop.”
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said the consultation was “a tacit admission by the Government that its surveillance society has got out of hand”.
