The county council's paint scheme has come under fire amid concerns that Pembrokeshire's council tax payers are subsidising wealthy second home owners to decorate their properties.

The county council's paint scheme, which aims to liven up town centres, spruced up a total of 158 properties in 2013 and 2014. It cost a total of £91,500, an average of £579 per property.

"This year we have written out again to all relevant commercial and residential addresses and amended boundaries as well," the county's director of development, Dr Steven Jones told this month's Economy Overview and Scrutiny committee.

"I think the response will be pretty good. It seems to have gone down pretty well and there is a clear demand for us to continue with that.

"This will be the third and probably the final year."

Tenby North county councillor, Mike Williams, said the scheme was being used to subsidise wealthy second home owners who could afford to paint their own houses.

"I feel very uncomfortable that this is subsidising second home owners in Tenby," he said.

"If you buy a house for £850,000 you can afford to have it painted. I think it is inappropriate that we subsidise people who can buy a property for £850,000 through our council tax. Second homes should be exempt from the paint scheme."

Other councillors expressed doubts over the efficacy of the scheme, with Cllr Thomas Richards saying it hadn't produced the same "wow factor" in Haverfordwest as it had in Aberaeron.

"It does not seem to have had any impact in the centre of the town," he said.

A spokesman for Pembrokeshire County Council said that second homes were not exempt from the scheme.

"The ownership of properties within the designated areas is not a consideration," she said. "The County Council wants to encourage as many property owners as possible to redecorate their town centre properties.

"The scheme only covers the cost of painting. Most of the Tenby houses are three-storey and the owner will have to pay for additional expenses such as the scaffold hire required to carry out the works."

She added that out of the 192 properties within the Tenby catchment area, 12 properties (6.25 percent) were painted in 2013 and 16 properties (8.3 percent) in 2014.