Police are to keep a close watch on activities in the Sunken Garden, at Helston, following a spate of vandalism.

Seats and benches in the garden, which have been mended on numerous occasions, continue to be defaced and damaged.

At a town council meeting last week, Helston mayor Nick Martin said it appeared knives were being used to make deep gouges in the furniture.

Helston Inspector Rachel Tills, who was attending the meeting, also promised to alert local police officers to problems caused by youngsters congregating around the well in Five Wells Lane.

Newly-elected councillor Keith Reynolds highlighted continuing traffic problems in Coinagehall Street, in particular on market days.

Mr Reynolds said chaos ensued when people ignored the traffic cones and parked on the opposite side of the road to the stalls, including in the bus stops.

He asked if a police officer or the traffic warden could be present at the appropriate times to ensure blockages did not occur.

Another issue brought to the attention of Insp Tills was a recent accident on the A394 Helston to Falmouth road near Trewennack.

Niall Devenish said he had noticed an increasing number of incidents of "dangerous" overtaking on the road, and suggested a crackdown on speed in the area should be instigated.

Insp Tills said the A394 was regularly patrolled, as well as having two speed cameras in place.

The location where the accident had taken place was not well suited to pulling motorists over, but she would look at putting a marked police vehicle in the area to act as a deterrent.

A monthly log was run on the road and there had been "quite a large" reduction in accidents over the past six months, she added.