A DECISION to buy a Haverfordwest shopping centre has been called in by councillors for further scrutiny.

At November's meeting of cabinet it was unanimously approved the acquisition of the Riverside Shopping Centre “following an offer accepted by the vendors and completion of a due diligence process to determine a final purchase price for the property as a going concern.”

An extraordinary meeting of the services overview and scrutiny committee was held on Monday (December 14) after Cllr Di Clements requested the cabinet decision of November 30 be called in on the grounds of budgetary position, further scrutiny and “to ensure the proposal is best use of tax payers’ money.

Her request was supported by other Conservative group councillors David Bryan, Mark Carter and David Howlett and Independent group councillors Jamie Adams, David Pugh and Brian Hall.

Cllr Clements said on Monday that it was “important we have our say on such a significant investment and although the vision is admiral the business case needs to stack up.”

She raised concerns about the plan resulting in extra costs for tax payers and the impact on other towns in the county.

A plan for what would be done with the site after purchase would encourage his support, Cllr Adams added, as would having a partner signed up to support it.

He wanted reassurance there would be not be any revenue costs, which Cllr Bob Kilmister, cabinet member for finance reiterated there would not.

Cllr Paul Miller, cabinet member for the economy and regeneration, said that the purchase would be a key part of the economic regeneration of Haverfordwest town centre and was one of the actions identified to “support economic recovery in the short term and Pembrokeshire’s economy in the long term.”

He repeated a previous statement to cabinet that the cost of the three hectare site was not more than £700,000.

A Welsh Government grant associated with the plan is available until March 2021 the committee heard but Cllr Miller added “we are only being driven by that timeline because it’s a project we want to take forward.”

Cllr Stephen Joseph said it would have been desirable for full council to consider the proposal, adding “I just hope in 10 years we won’t be being berated in the press after a silly investment we made.”

There was support from Cllrs Simon Hancock and Tim Evans, both saying they had watched the town centre’s “decline” and welcomed the opportunity to improve its fortunes.

“It’s a brave and bold decision and I strongly support it,” said Cllr Hancock.

Committee chairman Cllr Rob Summons wanted as much of the discussion as possible in public, with questions relating to private papers held after an hour and half debate, with a final aggrement to support the cabinet decision made after more than an hour in private session.