The streets of Falmouth are beginning to resemble a tip with rubbish, litter and overgrown weeds taking over, but if everyone spent just one hour tackling the area around their homes or businesses the town could be transformed in just one day.

That is the idea of town councillors Grenville Chappel and Diana Merrett who are appealing for residents and traders alike to embrace the idea and join forces for a day to help remedy the escalating situation.

“Where is the civic pride in Falmouth?” asked Mr Chappel. “People cannot drive down their road because of the amount of rubbish. It is not only student lets, it is private lets and council tenants – it is everybody. The town is becoming an absolute tip.

“With all the cuts in services, we as a town council can only do as much as we can and we will fight tooth and nail to get more road sweeping, hedge trimming and more street maintenance, but the likelihood of getting it is slim so if we all do our own bit it will help.

“A little bit of self help is not going to cure the problem, but it will go some way towards it. Falmouth is a beautiful place, but we are ruining it as much as anybody else.”

Ms Merrett, who is the town council’s environmental champion, added: “It is the respect of where we live that has gone out of the window. My brother was here last week and he said he would not be coming back because the town is dirty.”

Resident John Durrant has been complaining to Cornwall Council about the state of the back roads. “I dare not drive out of my back yard for fear of damaging yet another tyre, two already this year at a cost of over £150,” he said.

And, Arnold Mooney, of Woodlane, attended the town council’s surgery on Friday to complain about the reduction in strimming the verges along his road which has led to grass being left to rot.

The situation has prompted Mr Chappel to make an appeal to residents and traders to set aside an hour on a particular day to tidy up their own little bit of Falmouth.

“Let us start making Falmouth look better,” he said. “Falmouth should say let’s have a day when we tidy up outside our own gateway – pulling up weeds, clearing rubbish – and within an hour we could tidy up the whole of Falmouth.

“If you have a neighbour who is unable to do it, then do the neighbourly thing and do it for them. If we all did it at a set time it would also give people a chance to get together and talk to their neighbours and work while having a chat.”