Fees and charges for council services are set to rise to cover their full cost following a large scale review but more detail must be provided say councillors.

Over the past 18 months Pembrokeshire County Council officers have been carrying out a review of charges using a recognised Full Cost Recovery Model.

On Monday (January 8) cabinet members approved new increased charges already reviewed as well as an across the board interim 14% increase, to be reassessed once all services area reviews are finally completed.

At the meeting, Cabinet member for social services, Cllr Tessa Hodgson said although she did not dispute the amount of work that had gone into the review she would like to see more detail about how it was carried out and its methodology.

“I understand the urgency to make progress but I do have some reservations. I would like to see some evidence as to ow we have come to these figures, in one case there is a 102% increase to a charge.

“If someone asks me how we arrived at this figure I’m at a loss to tell them,” said Cllr Hodgson.

The meeting was told that the authority had “historically undercharged” for its services.

Cllr Hodgson added that she would like to see the model used to calculate the charges to ensure the figures were not “arbitrary”.

Cllr Bob Kilmister, cabinet member responsible for finance, said that councillors “had never been I position to justify charges, many were arbitrary. At least now we can say this is what they cost and charge appropriately”.

A public consultation was held last year on the proposed changes to charges. Overall residents were said to find the increases “acceptable” but there were only 74 respondents across the county.

Increase include marriage registrar charges on a Saturday rising from £291 to £435, a permit to have a skip on the road would jump to £56 from £30, animal welfare licence charges for boarding fewer of ten animals to £533, from £333.

Cabinet member for economy, Cllr Paul Miller, also raised concerns about the increases and a lack of detail about what some were actually for as well as how cost were arrived at.

“Cllr Kilmister says it will provide £3million but it doesn’t say that in the report anywhere,” he added.

Cllr Miller said that he was not happy to support the interim 14% increase.

Both he and Cllr Hodgson requested that further details be provided in future reports. Councillors will also meet with director of finance Jon Haswell for further information.

Cabinet voted in favour of the new charges, all were in favour apart from Cllr Miller who abstained.