Instant fines are one of the options being considered

Councils could employ wardens to enforce the fines against anyone seen throwing rubbish on public or private land.

The plan is part of a government consultation paper.

Around 70% of British neighbourhoods are considered messy, according to a survey conducted for the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

Fly-posters and graffiti artists would also face instant fines under the proposals.

Overhaul

Other plans included in the government paper are:

• Councils would be given the power to fix the level of fines for littering
• An overhaul of the laws relating to cleaning up after dogs
• �100 fines for businesses who put their rubbish out on the wrong night.

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Alan Woods says littering "thugs" have had a free rein for too long and have turned town centres, parks and neighbourhoods into a tip.

Keep Britain Tidy says people would welcome a litter crackdown

"Their bad behaviour has been allowed to go unpunished, a situation that could be about to alter radically," he said.

He said the public are ready for a crackdown.

"People said they wanted harsher penalties dealt out for offences like littering and dog fouling. They look at countries like Singapore where louts are fined heavily, forced to clean up and named and shamed ... and ask 'why can't that happen here'?"

He says the proposed measures would not prove popular, but would make a noticeable difference on the streets.