A NEW “snooper’s charter” has been passed to help catch people flytipping or evading council tax in the Cotswolds.

Cotswold District Council has agreed to update its policies regarding the using the internet and social media in investigations.

The new policy details how council officers should use social media to investigate potential offences such as council tax evasion, flytipping or planning enforcement.

Councillor Ray Theodoulou (Con, Coln Valley) asked the audit committee who authorised the investigations and whether councillors could initiate such procedures.

He asked: “So there’s no member involvement at all in initiating any of these? Snooping on people’s social media, for example.

“I don’t use the stuff myself and have no such accounts.

“It sounds to me that what we are proposing here is a snooper’s charter.”

Chairman Patrick Coleman (Lib Dem, Stratton) replied saying it was right that elected councillors do not have a role in such sensitive investigations.

“You can’t snoop on social media. People put stuff on social media and the world can see it,” he said.

Council officers said cases are referred to the team and they decide whether to investigate.

“My team aren’t snooping on anybody, they are investigating potential offences,” a council officer told the committee.

“If somebody has done something wrong, we need to investigate it and it needs to go through a due process.”