Pembrokeshire County Council will seek advice on whether it has any legal redress against the consultants who "very much misled" the authority when it came to the future of culture and leisure services in the county.

The council paid private consultant Winckworth Sherwood £20,000 to advise on how to save money by outsourcing libraries, leisure centres and sports pitches to a charitable trust.

Cabinet member for economy and communities, Keith Lewis, told cabinet on Monday that there were a number of questions in the business plan which became apparent to the task and finish group appointed to oversee the process.

The group highlighted problems in terms of governance and grant funding, land trusts which exist and the fact that some culture and leisure facilities are located at schools.

"Many of these features had not been appreciated in the Winckworth Sherwood report," he said.

The group also identified other costs including legal, HR and IT outlays, which would have had to be part of the final plan, as well as procurement issues.

"It became very very clear there were shortfalls," he said.

"I think we were very much misled by Winckworth Sherwood and I ask that we make this known to the consultants.

"Really it isn't a viable way forward," he said of the outsourcing plan.

Cabinet member for culture, sport and leisure, Elwyn Morse said that both departments were now looking to generate efficiencies and that ideas included bringing leisure and culture together, the creation of community hubs, community managed library partnerships and income generation.

"We need time to develop these.

"Both culture and leisure have identified savings; of £60,000 from leisure and £26,000 from culture," he said.

Cllr Simon Hancock asked: "Is there the opportunity for the council to retrieve some of the money spent on consultancy, if we have been misled?"

Head of procurement, Paul Ashley Jones answered that the task and finish group had covered a lot of issues that hadn't been touched on in business case.

"We are going to go back to the consultants and we are going to discuss with head of legal services to see if we have got any legal redress," he said.

All cabinet members unanimously voted to note the findings of the task and finish group and support the recommendation for services to remain in-house.

They also approved an internal review to explore alternative options. The policy overview and scrutiny committee will be apprised of how changes in culture and leisure services are being addressed internally.