A county councillor who complained of a 'monopoly' in the local press in Pembrokeshire had his claims dismissed in a matter of minutes today (Monday).

Councillor Mike Stoddart, whose family sold the Milford Mercury newspaper to Newscom, then owners of the Western Telegraph, proposed in a notice of motion: "This council makes known to the Competition Commission its concerns about Newsquest's monopolistic pricing strategy for public notices."

Cllr Stoddart claimed the Western Telegraph was "using its monopoly pricing power to overcharge" the county council for public notices that it is legally obliged to advertise.

However, a report submitted to cabinet by David Thomas the council's Head of Marketing and Communications, said the notice of motion was based on a "false premise."

"While the Western Telegraph is the only newspaper which serves the whole county, this does not mean that it operates a monopoly," Mr Thomas' report stated.

"Four weekly newspapers are based within Pembrokeshire and two others are based outside the county but circulate within all or part of the county."

Mr Thomas said that while it would be feasible for the council to put public notices in each of the smaller newspapers instead of the Western Telegraph, the cost per single column centimetre to advertise would almost double.

Mr Thomas added that if the Competition Commission had any concerns about a potential monopoly, they would have investigated the matter at the time of the sale of the Milford Mercury to the Western Telegraph's owners.

He concluded the report by recommending that councillor Stoddart's notice of motion was rejected on the basis there was no "apparent monopoly" operating among local newspapers.

At Monday's full cabinet meeting, the council's deputy leader, councillor John Allen-Mirehouse, said the report spoke for itself.

All members then voted in favour of rejecting the notice of motion.