A dedicated crime team to tackle dog fouling and fly-tipping has been given the go ahead to operate in Midlothian for 12 months.
The pilot project will be overseen by private contractors who already provide parking attendants but will remain a separate team focussed on environmental crime.
READ MORE: Bid to raise Midlothian council tax by almost 5% narrowly defeated
A report to a virtual meeting of Midlothian Council this week revealed fines issued under the new team could bring in more than £105,000.
After operating costs it is anticipated the fines will produce revenue of £51,000 for the council during its first year trial.
Councillors were presented with a range of options for the new team, ranging from increasing the current number of parking attendants and extending the additional powers to them or creating a separate new team run either by the council or the company which provides the parking attendants dedicated to the new powers only.
They opted for a dedicated Environmental Enforcement team of four full-time staff, in addition to the current parking attendants who will work exclusively on tackling environmental offences.
The report to council said it would increase the cost on the existing contract with the parking attendant provider by around £85,191 with back office
notice issuance support delivered at a cost of £2,500 and £5 per each Fixed Penalty Notice served.
The report noted: "The current front-line system used by the parking attendants has the functionality to produce Charge notices for environmental offences.
"This use of the system has been tried and tested in another local
authority in England. "
The introduction of the team comes after councillors called for a report into options last summer amid calls for tougher action against offenders.
During a meeting of the council it was claimed dog foulers and litterbugs were "running amok" in town centres.
As councillors approved the new team Provost Peter Smaill thanked the environmental services team for their work.
He said: "I think all councillors have appreciated the effort that has gone into this horrible scourge of fly tipping and ongoing littering as well."
