Bristling North Walsham town councillors want to know why a police officer does not attend their meetings while one has been a regular visitor to those held in Cromer and Roughton.

They are also concerned that information on serious incidents in the town, including sexual offences, is not reaching them.

Councillors agreed to write to Inspector Matthew Dyson and express their concerns after no one from the police attended last week's meeting, although a written breakdown of crime figures was provided.

Councillors say occasional appearances by PCSOs are not good enough. 'I'm not criticising PCSOs but 99.9pc of the time they can't answer the questions and I think we are getting short changed,' said Dave Robertson.

Latest figures revealed that the total number of crimes recorded in the town from September 26 to October 24 was 24 - a drop of nearly 50pc compared to the same period last year.

The numbers included four thefts, one incident of drug possession, 10 reports of criminal damage and seven of violence against the person which included one public order incident and one domestic case.

But councillors felt they were not given enough detailed information about serious crimes.

Ted Gadsden said he had come across police cars and a cordoned-off area of New Road at the end of August and had read about the incident in the paper but it had not been included on the police's crime report to the council.

A police spokesman said the incident had involved a sexual allegation but no police action had been taken and she was not aware that it had been published in any newspaper.

She added: 'It's always our intention to attend (town council meetings), however, in this instance our resources were dealing with immediate calls for service from members of the public.

'PCSOs generally attend these meetings, allowing police officers to spend their time on the beat. Residents and council members are encouraged to sign up to Police Direct to receive police information by email, text, voice message or fax. This includes any significant outcomes within the North Walsham area together with the dates, times and locations of when residents can meet our officers face-to-face.'