CEREDIGION County Council has paid Pricewaterhouse Coopers almost £2m of taxpayers’ money, more than doubling its spend on the firm in under eight months.

The news comes just weeks after the Cambrian News complained to the Information Commissioner over the cash-strapped council’s repeated refusals to reveal details of its contract with PwC, a private consultancy firm which the council pays to recommend cuts to services and fee increases.

Now, a Freedom of Information request has revealed that the council has so far paid PwC £1,988,212, after a similar request by this paper in January revealed the council had spent £963,630 on the firm’s services.

Calls were made for Cllr Alun Williams, Cabinet member for transport, waste and carbon management, to resign last month after it emerged PwC were paid for recommendations which were later scrapped, including privatisation of waste collection services, the authority’s fleet management and parking services.

Cllr Gethin James told the Cambrian News this week he believed there were “grave concerns” among councillors that the council is wasting money.

“There are grave concerns from councillors,” he said. “If the spending on PwC creates genuine savings and helps us meet our budgets, we have to accept that.

“But there are too many work streams they looked at which are unnecessary and haven’t resulted in savings for the council, yet we have still had to pay PwC for the savings.

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