Senior Pembrokeshire councillors have been left to “clean up the mess” after they were asked to sign off the purchase of more than £1.1m of electric vehicles, despite the vehicles having already been bought.

An investigation led by the Local Authority’s CEO Will Bramble is now underway, and a disciplinary panel has been called to consider the incident; with a senior PCC officer accused of misleading Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services Rhys Sinnett about a contract to purchase electric vehicles for the Council’s fleet.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, meeting earlier this month on August 1, was asked to back the retrospective purchase of 21 small vans and 11 large vans, totalling £1,104,751.55, under the Welsh Government Electric Vehicle (EV) Collaborative Procurement Framework.

Two options were presented to Cabinet: to agree and approve the purchase, or not agree to approve the purchase, but instead require the council to negotiate with FleetEV for the return of the vehicles, noting that there is no contractual right to return them, and some of the vehicles have been adapted since being delivered.

A report for members said: “The council entered into the Welsh Government Electric Vehicle Collaborative Framework in July 2023. This is a single supplier framework used to procure EV vehicles collaboratively with other Local Authorities in Wales in order to obtain savings on purchase costs.

“In March 2024, 10 small EV vans were purchased to replace vehicles which had come to the end of their operational life.

“A further batch of 21 small vans and 11 large vans was ordered through the Welsh Government Electric Vehicle Collaborative Framework on 11 June 2024, at a total cost of £1,104,751.55 (pre VAT), and all deliveries have now been made.

“An ICM (Individual Cabinet Member decision report) was issued to the Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services [Cllr Rhys Sinnett], but this was subsequently rescinded on the basis that the report did not contain all relevant information, and should have sought retrospective approval.”

The report for members included a lengthy and comprehensive timescale leading up to the retrospective purchases with a council ‘commitment’ to purchase vehicles, the term subject to debate whether it was an interest in replacement vehicles or an outright commitment to purchase as part of the collaborative scheme.

This chronology ended up with “considerable misunderstanding around how the parties respectively had got to very different views of their positions,” the council initially considering an order of 10 Renault Kangoo electric vans, before a later order for the 32 vans, based on an understanding the procurement framework had been signed up to, with no further approval needed.

However, as this was above the limit for an officer decision, an ICM decision was needed, a report drafted on June 12, the vans shipped on June 17, before the ICM report – which had no specific reference about the purchase order having already been placed or that the vans had already been dispatched/supplied – was signed off by Cllr Sinnett.

After the June 27 sign-off was made, the decision was called-in on July 3, leading to the discovery of the omission, that sign-off rescinded on July 9.

“As a result of the circumstances described above, the Chief Executive [Will Bramble] has commissioned an audit into the governance arrangements associated with the procurement of these vehicles and the level of adherence to the authority’s Financial Procedure Rules and Contract Procedure Rules. This audit will be undertaken by the Council’s Internal Audit Service,” the report said.

It added: “The Chief Executive has also initiated a management investigation into the circumstances leading to the presentation of an ICM report without the full information, and its associated recommendation for an ICM decision, which failed to include information relating to the prior purchase and receipt of the vehicles.”

While the pros and cons of electric vehicles replacing fossil fuels ones were debated at the August meeting, the main issue raised was the nature of the purchase and the inaccurate report presented for Cabinet member sign-off.

Deputy Leader Cllr Paul Miller said he was “quite happy” to back the purchase of the vehicles, the alternative option leaving the council “completely shafted” on costs, but said he was “deeply disappointed” about the background detailed.

Member for Planning & Regulatory Services Cllr Jacob Williams said: “It’s very disappointing we’re in this position; the reason we’re here today is to clear up quite a big mess. The [discussion on the] virtue of electric vehicles is a total waste of time; the ability to discuss the virtues was taken away from us by the situation we’re in.

“A mistake was made, an order was placed for vehicles when officers felt it was an ‘expression of interest,’ an attempt was made to get that decision to regularise that.”

He added: “I can’t remember a situation like this in my time as a councillor; we have no option but to approve the purchase of these vehicles retrospectively.”

He said the details only came to light after a ‘call-in’ on that decision was made by council ‘backbenchers’ over the whole virtue or otherwise of the electric vehicle purchases.

“I’m being asked, like other councillors here today, to clean up this mess; I think the vehicles being ordered is the key fact, we have no other option; what’s the alternative? Return them and get a token amount back? If they even want to purchase them.”

Members backed the three recommendations of the report: the retrospective approval of the vehicle purchases, a Chief Executive-commissioned audit into the governance arrangements associated with the procurement of these vehicles and the level of adherence to the authority’s Financial Procedure Rules and Contract Procedure Rules, along with a “management investigation into the circumstances leading to the presentation of an ICM report without the full information and its associated recommendation for an ICM decision, which failed to include information relating to the prior purchase and receipt of the vehicles”.

Earlier this year, neighbouring Carmarthenshire County Council announced that it had been successful in gaining £431,632 of funding from the Welsh Government to procure 40 brand new electric vehicles for its front-line services.

In total, 30 electric vans and 10 electric cars were purchased to replace diesel vehicles.

Carmarthenshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Decarbonisation and Sustainability, Cllr Aled Vaughan Owen said at the time: “This a step in the right direction for the County Council in reducing the emissions of its fleet of service vehicles and I look forward to seeing our new electric vehicles deployed across the county, to serve our communities and residents.

“We are taking this opportunity to transition our fleet seriously.”

Dan John, the council’s head of environmental infrastructure, said at a place, sustainability and climate change scrutiny committee meeting back in April, that the transition to an ultra low emission fleet had to be affordable and sustainable.

“It’s not going to be overnight,” he remarked.

During discussions, Cllr Neil Lewis welcomed the aim of the council, which declared a climate emergency five years ago and wants to be “net zero” by 2030, to reduce the environmental impact of its 607 vans, lorries, minibuses and cars and move towards a decarbonised fleet.