The majority of the £1.2m Pembrokeshire County Council spent on “external consultants” last year went on major capital projects requiring specialist expertise.

That’s the conclusion of a re-examination of a freedom of information (FOI) request submitted to the county council by the Western Telegraph last year.

The original council response said £1.2m had been paid out but said that to provide a breakdown of the information would cost more than £450 — above the limit imposed by the FOI Act.

But the council has now released details of what the cash was spent on in the last financial year.

Council leader John Davies said, due to the nature of much of the work, the phrase “external providers” was more suitable than consultants.

“Hardly any of the people and companies in this list are consultants in the sense that the word is normally used. They are not people employed to draft strategies, policies or plan for the council.”

Cllr Davies added: “When we employ external companies to build a road, they are known as contractors not consultants, and so it should be with professional services.

“Most of them are delivering very specialist professional services where the specific expertise does not exist in-house with our own staff.”

Because of the way capital schemes are funded there are peaks and troughs in activity and it is not possible to keep people permanently employed, the council said.

That meant external services such as architects, engineers and other specialists are needed at times of peak activity.

The breakdown shows that more than £500,000 was spent on professional design of major road schemes.

Architecture – including design of schools – as well as specialist support on waste management schemes, also featured.

Teacher and other school staff training accounted for £241,000 and £142,000 was spent on specialist companies to provide cover during staff shortages.

However, the council has again said it would not be able to provide details for the previous four years, as the Western Telegraph had originally requested.

“It would be prohibitively time-consuming and expensive to trawl through hundreds of thousands of invoices to find the information requested,” a spokesman said.

The Western Telegraph has already appealed that decision to the Information Commissoner’s Office and is awaiting the outcome.