A Falmouth councillor has said she thinks the axeing of out of hours noise complaint services by Cornwall Council will not make “much difference.”

Diana Merrett, who has previously spoken out about noise complaints in the town, said the public health and protection officers involved in enforcing night time noise abatement had been so inefficient it was as if the service had never existed.

She said that since the power was transferred from the police to the council, officers have sometimes acted to remove noise making equipment and serve noise abatement notices, but have not acted at night.

Speaking of the proposed cuts, she said: “I don’t think it will make much difference. It’s going to upset the community. We are virtually left to our own devices, paying for a service that we’re not getting.”

“They are panicking because they are going to be got rid of, but they could have made money out of fines.”

Cornwall Council has been told it must make savings of £196 million, and the public health and protection service which deals with noise complaints will potentially face £1.98 million of cuts over the next four years.

That will include the complete removal of the out of hours service which deals with breaches of noise abatement notices and all other public health emergencies.

Ms Merrett said: “Everybody is going to be upset about this. All the shouting and the caterwauling has already started.

“They have had the power – they have not used it. We will get rid of them and will have to find another way of dealing with it. We’ve been fighting for a better service. They knew this was going to happen. Sitting on your backside twiddling your thumbs won’t get you anywhere.”

Brian Tidball, who lives in Marlborough Road and has campaigned against noise complaints from students, said: “To me the service isn’t fit for purpose because they don’t actually do anything. But the cut is a big message to anyone that [they] can do anything they like.”