Stickers advertising prostitutes have been plastered along walls and lampposts, with one resident saying he sees “hundreds” of them on his walk home.

One councillor said over the past two weeks he had suddenly received numerous complains from residents about the adverts.

Cllr Ross Hatful, of Valentines ward, said: “It’s not anything which has been discussed before. Residents don’t feel Ilford is a nice place to live.”

He said the stickers have appeared along Cranbrook Road, Ilford, on lampposts, walls and in phone boxes.

“They use words like escorts and have scantily clad women on them. You cannot fail to know what they are about,” Cllr Hatful added.

“It may be because police are clamping down on prostitution in Loxford and it’s being pushed elsewhere.”

Varinder Singh, 24, of Henley Road, Ilford, said that over the past two weeks roads around his house had been plastered with the prostitute advertisements.

He said: “It makes me angry that someone has gone to the effort of wrecking our environment. I’ve lived here all my life and it’s the first time I’ve seen them.”

The stickers have also been noticed in Seven Kings according to Aceil Haddad, chairman of the Seven Kings Conservatives, who has been contacted about them.

She added: “The stickers were placed outside schools which shows a disregard by the people behind them. As a community it is our responsibility to come together to stamp out this issue.”

A joint police and council statement said the stickers are “regularly” removed but “quickly replaced”.

It added the Redbridge Community Police Team has agreed to visit sticker hotspots in regular patrols and share information.