Pembrokeshire County Council can now go-ahead with a pay-off for chief executive Bryn Parry-Jones, but the amount of cash he will get has been slashed by more than £50,000.

This morning (Friday) the Wales Audit Office' withdrew the Advisory Notice served on Pembrokeshire County Council on Tuesday.

That notice had prevented the payment of a £330,000 settlement as it could have incurred unlawful expenditure.

That referred to part of the settlement being related to a pension scheme that the Wales Audit Office had previously declared as unlawful.

A statement by the Wales Audit Office, said: "A revised settlement agreement, to terminate the employment of the Chief Executive, has been agreed by all parties - in which the unlawful expenditure has been removed.

"The overall amount of the settlement has been reduced by £52,760."

The Appointed Auditor, Anthony Barrett, said today: “I am pleased that Pembrokeshire Council has removed items of unlawful expenditure from its settlement agreement with the Chief Executive, Bryn Parry-Jones.

"For this reason, I am withdrawing the Advisory Notice I served on Tuesday and the Council is now free to proceed.”

Earlier, the BBC had reported that Welsh Government Ministers had been urgently seeking answers to the situation from the Wales Audit Office.

Yesterday, Labour group leader Cllr Paul Miller had said that an extraordinary meeting would be held before any renegotiation of the settlement was made, but that now looks unlikely.

There had also been suggestions that an injunction to prevent the settlement being agreed without a further meeting could also be brought.

UPDATE:

Cllr Paul Miller has issued the following statement: "The unlawful payments have been removed from the pay-off package, rendering it a new pay-off deal.

"This negotiation with Bryn happened in secret and we don’t know who was present or what was said.

"We should be debating this at an extraordinary council meeting and Bryn should undergo a full independent investigation, as recommended by the council’s own committee looking into the misconduct allegations.

"The people of Pembrokeshire have once again been let down badly by this administration."