A Cornwall councillor has apologised after he accidentally swore during a planning committee meeting which was broadcast online to the public.

Alan Jewell, Cornwall councillor for Falmouth Boslowick, was clearly heard to say "for f***'s sake" during the meeting of the central sub-area planning committee.

The Conservative councillor said that he thought his microphone was on mute when he muttered the expletive and has apologised.

Cornwall Council has been holding committee meetings online during the coronavirus pandemic as councillors have been unable to meet physically.

The meetings have had to follow different procedures with councillors joining in on video conferencing and members of the public by telephone.

While the majority of meetings have gone off without a hitch there have been some issues with loss of connection and councillors struggling to ensure their microphones are on at the right time.

During the planning committee Councillor John Dyer had several issues and the phrase "Cllr Dyer you are still on mute" was repeated several times in the course of the meeting.

The frustration among councillors was clear and explicitly expressed by Cllr Jewell.

Cllr Jewell said: "I should have had it (the microphone) on mute. These virtual meetings are a nightmare.

"I have apologised to the chairman and I have also apologised to Linda Taylor (Conservative group leader) and we have apologised to those organising the meeting.

"To be truthful if everyone wasn't on mute there would have been several choice words heard.

"Mr Dyer, bless his heart, you can't blame him, he comes from a different generation and needs more training.

"But he wasn't great for the whole meeting. Every time he was asked something it took forever.

"It is one of those things, we all make mistakes. I thought I had it on mute and when I realised it wasn't I was horrified.

"I put my hands up, you have to take it on the chin and I am sorry if anyone heard it. It is not what I want to hear in public. I wouldn't have said it if I knew my microphone was on."

Cllr Jewell said that there were frustrations among councillors about the online meetings and in particular how many applications are going to planning committees.

He said: "The sooner we can get back into a room the better. A lot of these planning applications are not being scrutinised properly.

"We only had two applications yesterday and it took three hours, it's a joke. They weren't even major applications.

"Some of the major ones which should be scrutinised are not going to committee at all.

"I think we are all looking forward to being able to have proper meetings again."