The government is getting fed up with the country's stone heritage being pilfered.

So are local residents and Heritage Watch schemes, based on Neighbourhood Watch, have already been set up by in Cheshire, Hertfordshire and Essex to tackle theft from homes, churches and public places.

And now the Press are joining in. On 21 June the Sunday Express reported that Jason McCartney, Conservative MP for Colne Valley, West Yorkshire, had called on Home Secretary Theresa May to establish a 'heritage police' force to halt the disappearance of Britain’s heritage.

Then on 23 June the Telegraph reported that Mike Penning, the policing minister, had said the full force of the law should be used against stone thieves.

The comments came after Leeds council had had to replace £50,000 worth of York stone stolen from its pavements over the past year and gravestones were taken from the Grade II listed chapel at Thornton, near Bradford, where the Bronte sisters were baptised.

The Minister said stone theft is reaching "epidemic" proportions in parts of Britain and should be treated as a "serious organised crime". He said specialist prosecutors will focus on bringing "high-profile" cases against stone thieves in the coming months.

The Minister said thieves have switched from stealing metal to stealing stone from pavements, roads, schools and churches following the government crackdown on the recycling of metal.

Jason McCartney said thieves wearing hi-vis jackets had been stealing paving stones in broad daylight by pretending to be council workers. In some cases middle-class homeowners had had paving slabs and garden ornaments stolen. He called for a "dedicated stone theft taskforce" and an increase in fines on those caught stealing stone.

Mr McCartney said West Yorkshire police have started marking stone with SmartWater, which is not cheap. It carries a unique DNA marker that identifies the source of the stone. "It means stone merchants or police can easily identify whether stone is stolen. And if so, it can be traced back to its original location."

He said letters have been sent to hundreds of homes, warning residents of the dangers of stone theft and advising them of ways to protect their property.

Mr Penning said theft is basically about profit. "Therefore, we need to ensure that we have legislation on the statute book. Across the country, police forces are aware of the problems and are treating them seriously. As Policing Minister, I say to the 43 authorities under my control that they need to take this matter enormously seriously. I expect it to be brought up and addressed at the next chiefs’ meeting."

The theft of stone has been a problem for years. Walls have disappeared from Yorkshire's moores and the Cotswolds, gravestones from cemeteries, statues from gardens. Anything that can be moved and re-sold seems to be fair game. It would stop overnight if the markets for stolen goods disappeared, yet the same people who complain about theft seem only too happy to accept a bargain that they know must have been stolen. And while they do, the thefts will not stop.