There are serious questions to answer over why a legal row over a defunct power station has left a group of 10 Welsh councils footing a bill in the millions, a senior Tory has said.
Earlier this year a High Court judge declared a contract to demolish Aberthaw Power Station for the Cardiff Capital Region was awarded unlawfully.
At a Senedd committee the chairwoman of the consortium, Mary Ann Brocklesby, said the region would pay a settlement of £5.25m to a rival company that lost out.
Andrew RT Davies, Conservative MS for South Wales East, said it was "frankly unacceptable".
Brocklesby told the Senedd's economy committee, which Davies chairs, an independent review handled by accountancy firm Deloitte was under way.
The body's chief executive Kellie Beirne admitted the legal row caused "a lot of pain and anguish for many, many people".
Under the region's plans the site, where a coal fired power station was located until 2019, will host renewable and green energy projects.
The region said the legal settlement had been funded from "commercial returns on interests" generated, and that no further public money was required to pay it.
