Senior Powys Councillor Resigns from Conservative Group Over Climate Change Stance

A senior Powys councillor has resigned from the county council’s Conservative group following the party’s weakening stance on tackling climate change.
On Tuesday, October 13, Cllr Lucy Roberts, who represents the ward of Llandrinio in the north of Powys, announced her resignation.
This leaves the Conservative group with 12 councillors, the third-largest group, two short of the Powys Independents group, the official opposition.
Cllr Roberts said: “Today I have resigned from the Conservative group in Powys County Council to become an independent member.
“It is a decision I have not taken lightly.
“It results from a small but important number of policies announced at the Conservative Party conference last week.
“While many of their policies make complete sense to me, I cannot support their proposals to repeal both the Net Zero legislation and the 2008 Climate Change Act.
“Neither can I support the disbanding of the Environment Agency, or Natural England, where I worked for many years.”
Cllr Roberts continued: “I believe that climate change is the most significant challenge we currently face and looking after the natural environment is an important element of mitigating against its worst effects.
“For those who only voted me onto the council because I represented the Conservative Party, I can only apologise, but I will continue to do my best for the residents of my ward.
“That won’t change.”
This means that, with just over six months to go before the next local elections in May 2027, the minority Liberal Democrat and Labour administration has 32 councillors.
Liberal Democrats have 23 councillors.
Labour has nine councillors.
Powys Independents have 14 councillors.
Conservatives have 12 councillors.
Plaid Cymru has four councillors.
Reform UK has three councillors.
The Green Party has one councillor, but is officially listed as a non-aligned councillor.
There are two non-aligned councillors. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​