Member Champion roles u-turn

A move to scrap the role of member champions, including that of local councillor and Anti-Poverty Champion, Joy Jones, at Powys County Council has been rejected by councillors.

At a meeting of the council on Thursday, July 11 councillors received a report from the Democratic Services committee who recommended that the role is scrapped.

The role was discussed by that committee back in April when the recommendation was approved on the casting vote of the chairman, Plaid Cymru group leader Cllr Elwyn Vaughan.

However, at the annual meeting of the council in May, Cllr Vaughan was unseated from the role following a vote with Cllr Graham Breeze of the Powys Independents group taking over as chairman.

Cllr Breeze explained that back in April he had been the vice-chairman of the committee and had opposed the proposal.

Cllr Breeze said: “Today I’m asking members to vote down this recommendation and refer the matter back to the Democratic Services committee for further clarification about the roles of member champions.”

Cllr Breeze believed scrapping the role would be “really damaging” for the image of the council.

“How bad does this make the authority look, turning its back on the people who need us the most,” said Cllr Breeze.

Cabinet member for a greener Powys, Cllr Jackie Charlton explained that a lot of work had already been done in the area back in 2020 on explaining the job roles and information around reporting procedures but it had not been “progressed.”

“It just needs to be refreshed and updated and the committee could use that information as background to take this further, said Cllr Charlton.

Council leader Liberal Democrat Cllr James Gibson-Watt wanted the committee to “pay particular attention” to how councillors are appointed to the role.

Cllr Gibson-Watt said: “This leader feels it’s inappropriate for the leader to be responsible for this, it is a matter for the full council and should remain so.”

Joint leader of the Powys Independents group, Cllr Beverley Baynham said:  “Member champions give a voice to those who often do not have one, they share their own lived in experiences and experience of others to ensure the work of this council is inclusive and leaves no one behind.”

She added it was important for councillors to note that member champion do not get any “additional allowance” but because they “care passionately” for the area of work and the people they represent.

Cllr Vaughan said:  “One of the concerns during the discussion is that too much attention is given to individuals and not the area of work.

“We need to ask what the duty of the actual role above all the other work being done is

“Once that is clarified we need to be clear what resources are needed for them to be able to do the work correctly and we all know that is very challenging for this council at this time.”

“It wasn’t clear what the additional worth was and that should be the measure.”

Two votes were held.

The first was on the recommendation to scrap the roles – which was lost, with five votes for, 46 against and two abstentions.

The second vote was to send the issue back to the Democratic Services committee – this was won with 52 votes in favour, zero votes against and one abstention.