In what way did Pembrokeshire residents benefit from the local authority buying nearly £25,000 worth of torches?

And why were 2000 of them needed so urgently that they were flown in at an extra cost of £500?

Those were the questions posed by Councillor Mike Stoddart at a full council meeting last week.

The figures appeared on the council’s accounts for December 2009.

But the transaction was not quite as it appeared, said deputy leader, Councillor Jamie Adams.

He said the torches were bought by the authority on behalf of the South West Wales Integrated Transport Consortium (SWWITCH), a joint initiative between Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.

Pembrokeshire is the lead authority for the project, members were told, and it is for that reason that the expenditure appears on its accounts.

Councillors were also told that SWWITCH had been awarded £668,500 by the Welsh Assembly Government to deliver its school transport improvement programme.

That programme included training children in the safe evacuation of school buses as well as dealing with other emergencies.

At the end of the course each child is given a torch with a road safety reminder.

The deputy leader further explained that the extra £500 was spent on flying the torches in from America to ensure they arrived in time for the start of the project.