Nearly £1m in Welsh Government money was made available to Pembrokeshire County Council for introducing the new 20mph limits, councillors heard.

At the October  meeting of Pembrokeshire’s full council, Councillor Aled Thomas asked Cabinet member for Residents’ Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett “to re-assure council members and members of the public that the roll out of the 20mph blanket speed-limit in Wales and any other associated costs will not cost the council a single penny, as per the press releases sent out by the council”.

He included a long list of items related to his question, including: the cost of the signs, the cost of erecting the signs, the cost of any additional contractors required to complete the rollout, the cost of managerial time arranging the rollout across Pembrokeshire, and overtime pay to PCC highways staff as a result of pressure on staff rotas.

He also asked for “the cost of re-instating 30mph limits if and when PCC decide to revert or introduce exceptions, the cost of additional time paid to PCC bus drivers to ensure school children arrive in school on time, any other additional overtime payable to PCC staff as a result of the rollout”.

Responding, Cllr Sinnett questioned the “semantics” of the use of the phrase “blanket” rather than default in Wales “by the Welsh Conservatives”.

He said the total costs, amounting to £959,944 had been Welsh Government grant funded, with any costs from defaced or vandalised signs being met from this budget, but no additional funding would be made available from Welsh Government for implementing the scheme.

Cllr Thomas responded: “A ‘blanket’ with holes in it is still a ‘blanket,’ at the end of the day.”

He asked if the council decided to make any exceptions to speed limits, whether the costs of implementing that across Pembrokeshire will have to be met by this authority’s revenue budget.

Cllr Sinnett said he was awaiting confirmation on any further funding from Welsh Government, and any guidance on further reviews.

He added that any traffic orders would need time to “bed in,” with no changes expected until next autumn, after which time any costs would likely fall to the council.