By James Montgomery and Rob Trigg: Fly-tippers and litter louts will be prosecuted in Stoke-on-Trent under a new environmental scheme.

Seven people will be employed by Stoke City Council as environmental enforcement and investigation officers in a £150,000 scheme.

The idea is to make people pay the cost of littering from their own pocket rather than by the taxpayer.

The move follows a critical report from council scrutiny committee members who found Stoke-on-Trent had performed poorly compared with Wolverhampton and Nottingham.

StaffsLive spoke to Ian Tamburello, Enforcement and Investigation Manager for the City Council, about why litter is becoming such a big problem in the area.