Opinion: car parking still not resolved

I would like to start by saying that I am extremely honoured to be the new Mayor of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn.

I can promise all our residents that I will undertake the role with pride and enthusiasm and to the very best of my abilities – I know that I have committed and very hard-working councillors and staff to help me deliver for our residents.

However, I was deeply saddened by the circumstances in which this arose and would like to reiterate my thanks to the previous mayor for his many years of dedicated service to our community and to send him and his family my sincere best wishes at what must continue to be a difficult time for them.

My first official engagement as the new mayor was to attend Hope Church for a commissioning service for new street pastors. There are many good things and good people in our town and there is no limit to what we can achieve when we all work together and the work of volunteers such as the street pastors should never be underestimated. I would like to thank the street pastors for their commitment to keeping Newtown a safer and more peaceful place when on their patrols and to thank them for the overall contribution they make to many peoples lives through their key principles of care, help and listen.

I look forward to meeting and talking to many more of you in the coming months through my official duties as Mayor.

The potential loss of 65 jobs announced by Nidec is extremely bad news for the staff and our town and I am sure will cause much anxiety and concern. I sincerely hope the optimism of redeployment can be realised in as many instances as possible and I am pleased to see that Nidec remains dedicated to being a significant employer in our region. With the support on offer from Nidec and the possible opportunities on offer from thriving local businesses i hope this sad situation can be resolved swiftly and satisfactorily for all concerned.

Turning to county council matters unfortunately, the Liberal Democrat/Labour coalition on Powys County Council seem to be incapable of resolving the car park issues not least of which is the high charges that hamper our town centres across Powys. Having set up a cross-party working group they not only delayed the publication of its conclusions but basically decided to ignore its recommendations and come up with new revenue raising ideas of their own– what a waste of time, effort and taxpayers’ money (almost £50,000).

Looking at the reasoning for the counter recommendations it gives the impression that the working group was used as a cover for this Liberal Democrat/Labour led administration to raise more funding (some £402,000) to pay for their poor decision making across the council as a whole rather than a real desire to listen to and implement the working group’s recommendations which were based on their communities needs and views.

The feeling of the pointlessness of the working group is further compounded by the statement that “petrol and diesel cars must be curtailed in the long term”  - I hope I am wrong but that implies to me that political ideology was always going to win and that the working group would never get what they really asked for which was a reintroduction of the 1-hour tariff to encourage visitors to our town centres.

I was finally able to get an answer from the Liberal Democrat cabinet member for learning Powys about the Newtown Pupil Referral Unit, which was earmarked for closure as part of a savings exercise, who confirmed that this has been halted and it will now be retained. This follows a change in leadership in the Education Service which has "carefully reflected on the proposed changes and savings and do not believe that consolidating the PRU into one county wide provider is the best course of action for the learners of Powys”

Having signed off on this back in February 2024 as part of the budget proposals for this year the cabinet member really should stand up and take responsibility for this shambles of uncertainty and financial juggling which has ultimately resulted in a failed attempt to balance the books.
The staff have been left in a limbo of concern and anxiety about their future until now – that’s 8 months without any certainty for their futures; 8 months of promising a business case in response to my other questions to him.

Why was the cabinet member so sure this was the right thing to do in February only for the folly of his thinking to be pointed out to him following the change of leadership within the education service?. What other decisions has he made that will subsequently be proven to be errors of judgement and plainly wrong? Closure of Treowen school when the latest local development plan talks about the potential for 2,000 homes on that side of our town – these homes should help to make it easier for our young families to get on the housing ladder, but we must have the infrastructure to support them.

At least the staff now have certainty over their futures, but this should never have taken so long to address or even have been suggested in the first place bearing in mind its potential impact on the learners of Powys – it appears to be an error of judgement from the cabinet member

I remain to be convinced on how the forecast savings of £600k will now be achieved in order to balance the books and with not many months left in this financial year the cabinet member must explain how this will be delivered – one must ask if he is the right person to be leading this

After lengthy deliberation, listening to the views of many residents from both sides of the issue and participating in the debate at full council I voted to reject Single Transferable Voting. I believe that system would destroy the bond the voter has with their local councillor which I know is so valued by local people. Voters understand and expect to have a close relationship with their councillor and to be able to hold them to account. A new voting system would also lead to increased costs at a time when we are under immense budgetary pressures.  

With a non-response rate of 99% to the 2-month consultation process it is clear that the residents of Powys have much higher priorities concerning them than a move to a single transferable voting system. They deserve and need the Liberal Democrat/Labour led coalition on Powys County Council to focus on  the issues that really matter to them rather than wasting tens of thousands of pounds of residents money pursuing their own political agendas and pet projects – money that could be better spent on fixing potholes, improving street lighting, regenerating our town centres……………….the list goes on!

Unfortunately, there were many flaws in the consultation process, primarily the inability to identify and sift out duplicate entries, that brought into question the results put before the council for consideration.

I am mindful that any consultation undertaken in a secure way enables residents to express their views but appreciate that it cannot be taken as a public mandate for change as it is not a referendum -a position reinforced by the negligible response rate of 1% which included duplicate responses.

There have been too many examples of bad decisions and bad management by this Liberal Democrat led coalition such as the shambles of car parking, sub-contractors suffering financially from the absence of a project bank account on the Red Dragon site, highways maintenance, PRU closure ,broken election promises on school closures and council tax increases ……the list goes on.

Rest assured I will continue to highlight these matters and hold them to account but is it time for them to step aside and let those with the necessary skills and vision to take over - 2027 elections seem a long way away and a lot of irreparable damage to our town and county could be done by then.

Cllr Pete Lewington
County Councillor for Newtown West