THERE will be no relaxation of rules to allow Powys councillors who have an interest or links to farming and agriculture to vote when the subject is debated in council meetings.
At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Standards committee on Wednesday, June 12, members took another look at the dispensation after calls were made by councillors for it to be reconsidered.
This followed chaotic scenes at a council meeting in March when some councillors - including Conservative group leader and farmer Cllr Aled Davies - walked out in protest at being denied a vote on a motion covering the Welsh Government’s controversial Sustainable Farming Scheme.
Cllr Davies appeared before the standards committee to explain why the dispensation should be further relaxed.
He said: “The frustration for most is their ability to represent their community.
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“If I and my family were the only farmers in Powys I can see the relevance, but I’m not, I’m one of a huge number of residents involved in farming.
“I do think that the restriction is far too tight in this circumstance.”
Joint leader of the Powys Independents group, and another farmer, Cllr Ange Williams had written to the committee.
“This item did not have a monetary value or represent any personal gain to anybody, and we should have been allowed to represent our communities by voting," she wrote.
“Not being able to do this was very concerning,”
Head of legal services and monitoring officer Clive Pinney told the committee that there were 55 councillors at the meeting in March, and 25 had declared an interest.
Mr Pinney explained that in this instance any councillors with a business who is “in receipt of a subsidy or any relative or close associate” would have an interest,
Mr Pinney added the Code of Conduct requires councillors to declare an interest and stops them taking part and voting on issues unless there is a dispensation.
Independent member Claire Moore asked whether the definition could be tightened up to stop a councillor voting only when “they have no financial interest.”
Mr Pinney said this would not have produced a different result.
Independent member Jonathan Goolden said: “I’m mindful of the numbers that were unable to vote.
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“That does fall below 50 per cent of all members and is hard to square with the dispensation criteria and allowing councillors to vote on a matter on which they have a personal, prejudicial and financial interest.
“On balance I’m erring towards maintaining the dispensation as it stands in relation to participate but not vote.”
A vote was held and the committee unanimously agreed to keep the current dispensation allowing them to discuss farming issues, but not to vote.
The dispensation was originally approved in 2022 and re-approved last year.
In the past whenever the topic was brought up for discussion the chamber would clear with very few councillors left to debate the subject.
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