Motorists in Southend could soon be hit with fines if they are caught driving over footpaths or grass verges.

Southend Council wants to crack down on anyone damaging footpaths with a “more vigorous enforcement” which would also open up “a new source of revenue”.

Bosses are looking to recruit a wave of new enforcement officers to hand out the fines.

Deputy council leader, Ron Woodley said the fine would be “relatively small” but he expects it will save the council millions in repairs costs.

Over the past five years, he explained the council has seen the damage caused to the borough’s footpaths go up from around £500,000 each year to around £2million – the equivalent of around 3 per cent of council tax each year.

He said: “It has happened throughout my ward.

“The damage is usually severely broken up paving slabs and under those slabs you have services like water, gas, and electricity.

“All of it needs to be repaired otherwise it can create trip hazard and other problems.”

He put much of the blame on housing developers who rarely used any form of protection for footpaths before driving across them using large vehicles such as skip lorries and diggers.

Other measures being considered include increasing the size of kerb stones or installing bollards.

Tory transport spokesman Kevin Buck said: “I don’t disagree with the principle of what this sets out to achieve, but I would prefer a softer approach in terms of communicating with residents that we will take enforcement action if we have no other choice.

“It seems a little draconian to go straight to fines.

“There are other ways to achieve it and I don’t think enforcement is the best message from a council that is working with the community.”

The move is part of an expansion of the council’s highways department, recruiting a raft graduate engineers to deliver regeneration and infrastructure projects along with the new enforcement officers.

The recruitment drive is expected to come at a cost of between £900,000 and £1.4m and will expand the highways team from 61 full-time roles to 76.

The large number of agency and interim staff will be removed.

It is unclear at this stage how many of the 15 new posts will be civil engineers and how many will be enforcement officers.

Mr Woodley called the expansion “substantial” and “much needed” investment in a crucial area of the council’s operations.