Cornwall councillors have pushed again for more consultation to be carried out over plans to merge Devon and Cornwall Police with Dorset Police.

Proposals to merge the two forces have been announced with promises that any extra funding achieved would be invested in frontline services. But there are fears that having an enlarged force could take resources away from Cornwall.

Last month the council called for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall to extend the consultation over the merger plans as there was concern that not enough people would be able to give their views.

Now Malcolm Brown, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at County Hall, has said that the PCC needed to do more and called on Sue James, cabinet member for public protection to help.

He said: “Speaking to the town clerk at St Austell I was told that town and parish councils have not been consulted. Would you be willing to make representations to whoever is running the consultation to make sure that the town and parish councils are consulted?

“Bearing in mind that the Home Office has to be notified by October 12 do you agree that the council meeting on September 11 will be the last opportunity for the council to comment?”

Cllr Brown also asked that Cllr James ask the PCC to make the results of the online public consultation available and broken down to the different counties, so that the view of Cornwall’s residents could be seen independently of the other two counties.

Cllr James said that the Cornwall Association of Local Councils had indicated to PCC Alison Hernandez at another meeting last week that town and parishes had not been included in the consultation and that Ms Hernandez had said she would address that.

She added that the September full council would be the last opportunity for councillors to make their views known about the merger plans “unless the consultation is extended”.

Cllr James added: “In terms of the online consultation I have had conversations with Alison Hernandez and she has told me there there is a high response rate from Cornwall, so that indicates she can tell where they are coming from.

“I have emailed that I want to see what Cornwall and Devon is saying and not what all the people responding are saying.

“I also got the impression that she was going to go out and about with the consultation and I have indicated that I would like to go along to those events so I can speak to people and see what they are saying about this.”

To take part in the survey about the proposed merger go to www.futurepolicing.co.uk.