Rosie Allen, 13, Amy Pilgrim, 13 and Maisy Lewin-Sanderson, 14, collected more than 500 signatures as part of their Citizenship GCSE coursework at Long Eaton School.

Rosie said: "We thought that it was quite a big problem in the area and we know that people wanted something doing about it. We've had more than 500 signatures and set up a Facebook group too.

"It was really nerve-racking as we were about to present it but the councillors were really pleased with it."

Cllr Barbara Harrison, lead member for the environment at Erewash Borough Council, thanked the girls for their petition before revealing plans to spend an extra £40,000 on the issue.

She said: "We seek out people behaving irresponsibly and will take action against them. They not only make green spaces look unpleasant for everyone, but put people at risk from injury and children at risk of blindness.

"There will be more wardens, more dog waste bins and from April 1, people will be able to dispose of dog waste in normal litter bins."

The Advertiser has been contacted by readers about dog mess and labour councillors recently launched a campaign – Make Erewash Streets Safer (MESS) – which saw hundreds of people sign a petition.

Cllr Louis Booth said: "As much as I embrace any measures to clean up our streets we need to provide a service to stop this problem.

"As I inderstand it, the majority of the £40,000 will be spent on looking at prosecuting dog owners. This is all well and good, but first and foremost a service should be in place that gives dog owners no excuse not to clean up after their animals."