PLANS by Carmarthenshire Council to launch a new TV station have been rubbished as a waste of taxpayers' money.

There are also fears the station — Carmarthenshire TV — would be hijacked as a council "propaganda machine."

County councillors who discussed the plans at their latest meeting heard the internet-based channel would cost £30,000 a year to run.

The move comes as the authority prepares to shave £6 million off its budget.

Councillor Huw Lewis said: "This is something that concerns me greatly.

"We are in a recession and vital and essential services are having to suffer cuts.

"We have to invest our money in people and not in technology. What we don't need at all is a computer programme which is simply a propaganda tool."

The council heard the bilingual scheme was a 12 month pilot project, brought forward by the Assembly.

Plaid Cymru leader on the authority, Peter Hughes Griffiths pointed to the apparent one-sided news in the council's Community News magazine.

"There is a view about Community News in the community that it is very, very one-sided," he said.

Council leader, Meryl Gravell, said: "Carmarthenshire TV shows we are looking to the future.

Assistant chief executive Chris Burns said the TV station would cost about £30,000 a year, but much of that funding would come from the Assembly.

He said the council was planning to drop one issue of its bi-monthly Community News magazine to pay its share of the start up costs. Community News cost more than £114,000 to produce and distribute last year.

"The bulk of the money is coming from the Welsh Assembly," he said.

"The project is largely about connecting with people, particularly young people. They don't read Community News and don't read newspapers in a lot of cases."

Mr Burns added that the council could always drop the station after a year if it was not successful.