The Leader of the Opposition on Powys County Council has described the Council Cabinet’s ‘Vision 2025’ strategy document, published this week, as a ‘great missed opportunity’ to ‘restore credibility to a local authority whose reputation has been battered by years of botched policy initiatives and a series of budgetary crises in its essential public services’.

The Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrat Group on Powys County Council, Cllr James Gibson-Watt, most recently his party’s General Election candidate in Brecon & Radnorshire, has claimed that the UK Government’s Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, ‘made false promises at the Royal Welsh Show to farmers on future farm payments after the UK leaves the European Union’.

By the slimmest of margins (2 votes) members of Powys County Council have voted to call on the Council’s Cabinet to reverse the decision the previous Cabinet took in March this year to increase charges for attendance and meals at the county’s social care day centres.

The Welsh Liberal Democrat Group on Powys County Council is to push for a wider review of off-street parking provision in the county, following the recent decision by the Council’s Cabinet member for highways to review the previous Cabinet decision to impose charges on several previously-free car parks.

Cllr James Gibson Watt has been selected by local Welsh Liberal Democrats members to stand in the General Election in Brecon and Radnorshire.

James is a local businessman and County Councillor for ward of Glasbury, who lives just outside Hay-on-Wye with his wife and family. He is leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Powys County Council and has led the fight on the council against local school closures and cuts to day centres.

In today’s Powys County Council elections the Welsh Liberal Democrats won ten seats in Brecon and Radnorshire with the Conservatives winning just five.

All seven sitting Welsh Liberal Democrat Councillors were returned, with gains also made by former MP Roger Williams in Felinfach, Jackie Charlton in Llangattock, and Pete Roberts in Llandrindod South.

The Welsh Liberal Democrat Group on Powys County Council has reacted with fury at the decision by the Council’s Cabinet to increase charges to the county’s day centre users by 50% from next month, for both attending the centres and their meals. Attendance charges will rise from £10 to £15 per day and meals from £5 to £7.50 per day.

The Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrat Group on Powys County Council, Cllr James Gibson-Watt, has condemned the council Cabinet’s decision today (Tue 14^th March) to close Welsh medium education at Brecon High School as:-

‘a thoroughly retrograde step, brought about in large part by a lack of support for the school by the Local Education Authority (LEA) over a number of years’.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Councillors on Powys County Council have secured significant improvements to the way the work and decisions of the Council’s Cabinet are scrutinized. The Cabinet takes all executive decisions on the Council.

Tabling amendments to proposals on changing the Council’s Constitution, considered at today’s (Tuesday 7^th March) full County Council meeting, the Welsh Lib Dem group received support from across the Council to secure enhanced roles for the Chairs of its three main scrutiny committees, including their full membership of the Council’s Strategic Overview Board, which scrutinizes service delivery performance. Until now only Cabinet members have been entitled to sit on that Board.

Welsh Liberal Democrat councillors on Powys County Council have expressed their deep disappointment at the Council Leader’s rejection of their request that the council members’ seminar on changes to the renewable energy section of the draft Powys Local Development Plan (LDP), to be held on the 10^th April, be held in public and not in closed session.

The Group had made the proposal jointly to both the Council leader and the Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Cllr Tony Thomas, who has responsibility for the LDP process.