Flying a model aeroplane, wearing a bikini and singing in a private garden are all acts that have been criminalised since the introduction of “cowboy” laws, a report has found.

Councils and police forces have made orders about where people can cry, how they close their front doors and how they prune their bushes using wide ranging powers afforded to them by community protection notices (CPN).

A police officer has told how his colleagues were “giving them out like confetti”, while a council consultant said some officials sought to issue as many orders as possible.

Campaigners are now calling for the orders, which are often issued without investigation and sometimes without telling the person being targeted, to be scrapped.

The number of CPNs issued by councils has risen from 9,546 in 2014-15 to 24,733 in 2019-20, the latest data available. There is no data or monitoring on the number issued by police forces.

A report by the Manifesto Club, which will be released on Monday, has revealed how the recipients of the orders have been left “powerless” with some saying it had “ruined their lives”.

Recipients include Malcolm Edwards, who was banned from flying his model aeroplane in the field behind his Kidderminster home, and 81-year-old former model Kay Crane from wearing a bikini in her garden or near the windows in her home.