Councillors back plans to explore twinning agreement

Town councillors have agreed to give their 'moral support' and consider a costed business case in the future for plans to twin the town with New Harmony in Indiana, USA.

Last night town councillors as part of their monthly full meeting met to discuss plans to twin Newtown with New Harmony - a suggestion made by the Heritage Hub for Mid Wales (HH4MW), to mark the 200th anniversary of Robert Owen’s departure from Newtown to New Harmony, where he attempted to establish a utopian community.

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The proposal stems from a unique historical link between the two towns: both Newtown and New Harmony share a connection to social reformer Robert Owen, a Newtown native who sought to create a model society in New Harmony based on principles of cooperation and social equity.

During the discussion, current representative to the Les Herbies focussed Newtown Twinning Association (NTA), Cllr Tracy Owen told members that another group would need to be formed to manage the twinning with New Harmony.

In the report to councillors, the NTA, having carefully reviewed the possibility of extending its role, expressed a preference to focus its efforts on the well-established Les Herbiers partnership.

She said:

"They are a very small group and obviously a lot of time is taken up already with the activities for Les Herbies so they didn't feel they could actually twin with another town as they have no experiences or connections with that other twin town"

"So from my point of view I'd be interested to see if another group was interested in twinning with New Harmony."

"It is a lot of work involved in twinning and putting on events so I don't think it's something that a single person can do - you do need a group."

She also went on to emphasise the importance of the benefits of twinning and cultural exchanges and how that would relationship would bring new opportunities to Newtown.

Cllr Chris Jones suggested exploring the new links through the town partnership, which he currently chairs, and expanding the discussion to explore an exchange of history and heritage, rather than just cultural aspects.

However, he proposed that any initiatives should be developed slowly and that the town partnership could play a role in facilitating this. He said:

"Maybe with next year coming up we could develop from that but I think going straight for a twinning arrangement now, before there's a greater awareness of our towns might be putting the cart before the horse."

Town councillors unanimously backed the officers recommendations which include:

• Giving moral support to Heritage Hub 4 Mid Wales to undertake work to demonstrate quantified community support in Newtown for twinning with New Harmony, and for submission of a costed business case for sustainable meaningful twinning arrangements.
• To include in the 2025-26 business plan, a provision to return for further discussions if support and business case are forthcoming, and if such work is successful, to consider signing off a twinning arrangement under powers of tourism.