A report into Milford Haven that cost more than £40,000 to produce has been branded a “complete waste of time and money”.

The Welsh Assembly, Pembrokeshire County Council and Milford Haven Port Authority jointly funded a report from consultants Barton Willmore, titled The Milford Haven Regeneration Framework.

The project has come under attack from Councillor Vivien Stoddart who was involved in a similar scheme with Milford Plus five years ago, when Acanthus Holden Architects submitted a report suggesting improvements to Charles Street.

“Milford people will be interested to know how much consultants Barton Willmore charged for their report,” she said.

“Meanwhile a robust and feasible scheme to improve the appearance of Charles Street gathers dust.”

Cllr Stoddart added the original report was more “modest and realistic” and said the fees would have been better spent supporting the original design brief.

Her sentiments were echoed by Vivien Phillips, who owns Zenith Interiors on Robert Street.

“It’s a complete waste of time and money,” she said.

“So many reports are gathering dust on the shelves but no-one does anything. The latest one by Barton Willmore has just been cobbled together from reports done in the past.

“If that money had even been used on one or two local properties it would have started a snowball effect.”

A council spokesman confirmed that the costs had been shared between themselves, the Welsh Assembly and Milford Haven Port Authority.

“The report was undertaken following enquiries by the authority over the availability of grants to renovate shop fronts in the town,” he said.

“The Assembly was unwilling to release funds without evidence they would be part of the future regeneration of the area.

“The report is not sitting on a shelf gathering dust but is being used to drive forward the planning of Milford town centre.”

Councillor Anne Hughes, who was part of the Milford Plus report and now serves as chairman of the county council, said the Welsh Assembly had altered the guidelines for funding applications and therefore, old reports on the town had been rendered void.