LLANELLI Town Council has been blasted for a plush revamp of its town hall in the midst of the recession.

Councillors last week unveiled a £600,000 revamp at the Old Vicarage office building, in Church Street.

The town council said the work, to extend and refurbish the building, was needed to provide the appropriate space to accommodate all of its meetings.

For decades it had held many of them at the Town Hall, but decided around five years ago that the premises were no longer suitable.

However, last week Llanelli mayor and county councillor John Jenkins hit out at the expenditure, claiming that he voted against it from the start.

He said: "It's massive overkill for what is basically a community council.

"At the time of this debate I mentioned that the Elli ward was the only ward in the town not to have a community hall — but nothing has been done about it.

"And now we have council chambers coming out of our ears — I know where my priorities lie."

Pensioner Pat Winchester, from Llwynhendy, said: "I think this is disgusting.

"At a time when we are coming out of a recession money should be kept aside for emergencies.

"I am dead against councillors spending this money on a chamber when there are far more important things to spend it on.

"They need to get their priorities straight."

Council leader Carl Lucas said the extension was more than a council chamber.

He pointed to a lack of disabled access as a reason why the Town Hall was unsuitable.

He said: "Due to the lack of space at the Old Vicarage, the arrangement to use the Town Hall chamber and the committee room for all council meetings had worked perfectly well.

"Unfortunately, the lack of suitable disabled access meant that the chamber could no longer be used, and the availability of the committee room could not always be guaranteed.

"The issue of availability also applied to Llanelli Rural Council's chamber, which is used regularly for meetings.

"In addition, the council needed to increase the amount of office space so as to provide a room where councillors and officers could meet members of the public in private — as well as an office for project development officer Paul Harries, who for the past few years has shared an office with the Seaside Community Association at Seaside."

He added: "Council members are all too aware of the current pressures on the public purse.

"But with careful financial planning it has been possible to deliver a building which now meets all its current and foreseeable needs and is considered a valuable investment for the future — without having to resort to borrowing or increasing the tax burden on its electors."

chantelle.rees@swwmedia.co.uk