Calls for clampdown on powers of entry for Black Country and Staffordshire councils

Council leaders stressed the officers - who work in environmental health, child protection, trading standards or housing - would only do so 'proportionately'.

But Big Brother Watch, the civil liberties campaign group, said many powers of entry were meaningless.

Some authorities in the north, including Northumberland and Leeds, have more than 500 such officers.

The national average is 45.

Wyre Forest District Council has 109 such officers.

Wolverhampton has 71 and Sandwell has 61.

Walsall has 40, Staffordshire County Council has 36, Lichfield has 33, Cannock Chase has 27, Stafford has 19 and South Staffordshire has 18.

Dudley Council has just 15 such officers and nine of those, working in children's services, are required to obtain a magistrate's warrant before going into a home.

The coalition Government pledged to reduce the number of Powers of Entry but Big Brother Watch discovered at the end of 2012 there were 19,375 local authority officials who can enter private homes or business for a wide-ranging number of reasons.

This figure is unlikely to have changed significantly as a Home Office review into powers of entry was only just completed in November, the campaigners said.

When the review findings were published, ministers said the number of powers would be reduced from 1,237 to 912, a reduction of 325.

Sandwell Council's leader Councillor Darren Cooper said: "We have upped the ante in terms of private sector housing. There have been cases of properties that were substandard with people living in poor conditions. We have used our powers to insist that landlords get the work done.

"Just because there are officers with these powers, it does not mean they will use them without good cause. The powers have to be used proportionately."

Emma Carr, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "Few people would expect that public officials would have the power to enter your home or business, often without a warrant or police escort.

"The general public have been left high and dry, at the mercy of an army of pen-pushers who can enter our homes as they please.

"There have been a number of missed opportunities to rectify this, including the Protection of Freedoms Act and the Home Office's review of the powers, yet both have failed to tackle the number of officials with these powers.

"The Coalition has had almost five years to rectify this and all we have seen is handwringing and bureaucracy."

Following Freedom of Information requests, Big Brother Watch discovered there were more than 19,375 council officials with powers of entry in 429 local authorities at the end of 2012.

Local government minister Kris Hopkins said: "We agree with Big Brother Watch that action needs to be taken to protect civil liberties. This Government has clamped down on the overuse and abuse of snooping by town halls.

"Across government, over 300 powers of entry are being abolished, and safeguards are being introduced on a further 200. This in addition to curtailing town hall surveillance and bin snooping, as well introducing new laws to stop the industrial use of CCTV spy cars."

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