Villagers have pledged to continue looking into funding their own Police Community Support Officer despite huge costs.

Sible Hedingham Parish Council is considering whether to pay £34,000 to fund a full-time PCSO to crackdown on crime in the village.

Currently PCSO Kim Chapman covers the Hedingham and Yeldham areas, but is based in Braintree as part of the Braintree town neighbourhood policing team.

PC Jim Carter works across a wide patch covering Halstead, the Hedinghams, the Three Colnes and Great Yeldham.

Parish council chairman Gill Massey said councillors were still very much looking into the proposal, despite parish council clerk Adrian Corder-Birch saying it was “unlikely” that it would go ahead last week.

Mrs Massey said: “We certainly haven’t ruled it out.

“We haven’t budgeted for it this year so it won’t happen this year, but we need to do some public consultation."