Guys, any suggestions as to how I can stop the local cat population using my garden as a public toilet? I don't want to hurt the little blighters just put them off! Now starting to get cheesed off

Small plastic bags with water as missiles? Provided that you can aim (close to the cat)

Unless you are in your garden 24 hours a day I don't reckon you can win this one.

The sneaky little buggers are designed to slip quietly around.

garden sprinkler activated by the motion

also cats are generally not great fans of certain scents such as citrus and lemon. some cut lemons or citronella around the area may help. Also keep a spray bottle of water handy and spray them and make a hissing sound when you see them. (Used to do this to the local bully cat who harassed my kitties and pretty soon he got the message.)

The best solution is to have a pet cat of your own, who will then mark it out as his/her own terriroty and repel invaders. your problem is that your garden right now is common land for the cats, no one cat öwns"it.

If you're not a cat person, a dog might also help.

londonthai and eek's suggestions also good if you can implement them, but a pet cat sould be the most effective....

pepper or pepper corns i'm led to believe.

positioned around the areas