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Monmouthshire County Council’s chief executive could be appointed to a firm owned by a consortium of local authorities, which includes Caerphilly, after it was stung with a £5.25 million bill. 

The ten councils which make up the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) had to pay £5.25m to a company that lost out on a contract to demolish the disused Aberthaw Power Station, after a High Court judge ruled it had been unlawfully awarded to a rival firm.

The legal wrangle and the subsequent bill has led to criticism from Senedd Members as well as CCR’s own scrutiny committee of backbench councillors from across south Wales.

The councils set up CCR Energy, or Cardiff Capital Region Energy, as a limited company to buy and redevelop the former Aberthaw Power Station as a “green energy park” including a tidal energy scheme, a solar park, on and off shore wind farms, battery storage and a data centre under a £38.6m project. 

It is now proposed that Monmouthshire County Council’s chief executive, Paul Matthews, is appointed as an executive director of the firm until at least April 2026. 

Mr Matthews is to put a report before Monmouthshire Council’s full meeting on Thursday December 4 asking it to approve his appointment. 

The company is run by its management team and a board of directors, that can include up to six executive directors and up to five non-executive directors of which Mr Matthews would be one if the appointment is approved.

The report states the appointment will require a “time commitment” from Mr Matthews depending on the business of the board but there is no remuneration on top of the £131,000 salary he receives as chief executive. 

The appointment will be until Monmouthshire Council’s annual general meeting in April and could be subject to renewal. 

The South East Wales Corporate Joint Committee, the formal name for the super council for the Cardiff Capital Region, also has a reserved decision-making role related to the company that owns the former power station on the Vale of Glamorgan coastline. 

Accountancy firm Deloitte has been preparing a report for the committee on the procurement decision which was ruled unlawful. Cardfiff Capital Region has said the payout has been funded from interest on the balances it holds without impacting its projects or needing any further funding from the councils. 

The company purchased the former power station in 2022 and awarded the demolition contract in 2023 to a company called Erith but Cardiff council, which had run the procurement, admitted liability in court after lawyers for rival, Brown and Mason Limited, challenged the contract. 

The committee is currently chaired by Monmouthshire council’s Labour leader Mary Ann Brocklesby.