The material was only discovered after the laptop was checked during routine maintenance.

The councillor initially claimed that he had been looking at only a few "inappropriate" websites.

But an investigation showed he had visited many porn sites over a period of almost a year.

Cllr James Preston, who represents the Esk Valley in the Whitby area, has now admitted viewing pornography on the computer paid for with public money.

He visited the pornographic websites on the council-supplied laptop between July 24 last year and June 23 this year.

Councillors were given free computers in 2003 to help them with their constituency work. They were funded in part by a £60,000 Government grant.

Councillors also get a £225 allowance towards their internet connection – paper, printer and ink paid are all paid for by the taxpayer.

A replacement laptop computer costing £550 has now been given to him.

"So there's obviously no problem," Cllr Preston said in a public statement.

He has appeared before the standards committee which concluded that his actions were a "serious breach" of trust but a police investigation found no criminal activity had taken place in looking at the adult material on the equipment.

When first challenged about using the taxpayers' laptop for inappropriate purposes, Cllr Preston admitted viewing "one or two" sites over the space of a fortnight, which could be considered as "inappropriate".

However, when presented with a copy of all the websites he had visited, he accepted he had visited many porn sites over a period of 11 months.

Cllr Preston has apologised to the council, saying he had not read the council's Internet Code of Practice and he did not download any of the images he viewed.

Members of the standards committee considered restricting Cllr Preston's access to a laptop computer, but were concerned that would impact upon his constituency work.

After Cllr Preston apologised to the committee his conduct was censured and no further sanctions were imposed.

In a statement Cllr Preston said: "I have appeared before the Standards Committee over alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct. It was investigated fully by the police and the police made a statement finding that no criminal offences had been committed and that the investigation was closed.

"The committee considered the reports and had various options available to them in the form of any punishment and I have been censured, and they are returning the laptop computer to me so there's obviously no problem."

To view the standards committee decision in full visit http://democracy.scarborough.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=117&MId=1883

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