LOOE town councillors have passed a motion to spend almost £30,000 per year on a community officer to help build pride in the town.

Councillor Martin Gregory, chairman of the environment and public protection committee, said councillors voted to employ a Looe Community Officer (LCO) to deliver what it had promised residents for the past four years.

"Looe Town Council has been investigating employing someone to tackle the issues of envirocrime and issues of antisocial behaviour for a number of years and resolved to employ a PCSO approximately four years ago," he said.

Uncertainty over the future of PCSOs and the ability to employ authorised officers to tackle issues such as envirocrime meant it was now a better option to employ an officer, he said.

"Issues such as antisocial behaviour, dog fouling, litter, maintenance of street furniture and overgrown footpaths, have long been identified as issues in the town," he said, adding that the post aimed to tackle these, as well as being an advocate for the local community and visitors.

Councillor Jimmy Dingle was unable to attend the meeting and sent a letter asking the council to carefully consider the appointment.

"With the council taking on more and more service provisions from Cornwall Council, I would be more comfortable if we tied up some serious loose ends before embarking on any further major expenditure," he said.

"Why not secure the bowling club for the town, on a sensible financial provision from Cornwall Council, and make sure that the necessary public conveniences are operating in the town for the foreseeable future."

He said Cornwall Council would undoubtedly seek to pass more financial loss-makers to town councils and he was asking councillors to put it on hold until they were clear about finances.

Mr Dingle said he accepted the decision of the majority but was concerned with the continuing costs for Looe's taxpayers.

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Brian Galipeau said he knew he was in the minority who thought a community officer was not affordable or essential.

"I was very disappointed that members did not support my suggestion that we first consider getting police accredited, under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme," he said.

"This is an Association of Chief Police Officers' scheme designed to ensure a good standard of professionalism, recruitment and training for people empowered to issue fixed penalty notices, and I don't think the council was aware of it until a few days ago.

"The council intends to sign up to a Cornwall Council scheme which addresses 'envirocrimes', but it does not extend to parking enforcement, or some of the offences under the police scheme."

Mr Dingle received a reply from the council stating that his concerns were considered.