More notices were issued to Newham residents for the likes of rough sleeping, messy gardens and street drinking than anywhere else in the country.

A series of Freedom of Information requests by anti-regulation campaign group The Manifesto Club revealed Newham Council dished out 1,486 Community Protection Notices (CPNs) and 8,795 warnings between October 2014 and October 2015.

CPNs were established in 2014 and failure to comply with them is a criminal offence.

The Manifesto Club said they give councils “unprecedented powers to direct the behaviour” of individuals and can be applied to conduct within the home.

The majority of CPNs in Newham (1,378) were issued to residents with waste in their front gardens.

But Newham Council told the Recorder only 30 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) followed the CPNs because most residents responded by cleaning their property.

No rough sleepers were issued with FPNs but there were 217 warnings and 172 CPNs for rough sleeping.

There were 110 warnings for street drinking and one CPN, while noise nuisance and squatting were also targeted.

Cllr Forhad Hussain, cabinet member for crime and anti-social behaviour, said clearing gardens is “just the start of an ongoing campaign to clean up” Newham.

He added: “We tackled the issue of people dumping rubbish in gardens because it directly affects the way neighbourhoods look, and addresses a number of health and safety concerns.”

Cllr Hussain also said residents “deserve to feel safe” and so rough sleeping was tackled where it “negatively impacted the lives of our residents”.

But he added: “Our enforcement teams work hand in hand with other agencies, including homeless outreach workers, to try to help the vulnerable to get off the streets.”