Councillors clash once again!

There was another bizarre clash in the Welshpool council chamber last night after the Chair of a sub-committee asked for a councillor to be removed for declining to switch on his camera whilst joining online.

The Operations & Development Committee meeting got off to a tempestuous start when Chair, Cllr Phil Pritchard, asked long-time adversary Cllr David France to “switch your camera on please as you can’t be in the meeting unless your camera is switched on”.

And towards the end of the meeting, Cllr Pritchard, going against the advice of his Town Clerk, refused to allow Cllr France to present an item.

In the initial exchange after being told to switch his camera on, Cllr France replied: “I don’t believe that is in the legislation. So, I am going to defer that to the (town) clerk if that is OK.”

It rattled Cllr Pritchard who insisted: “No, I am the Chair of this committee and I made the decision last meeting and the time before. Cameras have got to be on.”

Cllr France responded, saying: “You can’t violate the law though.”

But Cllr Pritchard insisted there was no law on it and added: “Either your camera comes on or I will have you switched off.”

Cllr France replied: “You’ll be breaking the law” to which Cllr Pritchard quipped “that wouldn’t be the first time”.

Councillors could be seen shaking their heads in the chamber as the argument went back and forth before the Town Clerk, Richard Williams, informed Cllr Pritchard that Cllr France could indeed keep his camera off if he so wished under Welsh Government guidance.

But Cllr Pritchard stuck by his guns and stated: “He will not be able to partake in this meeting and that’s it!

To which Cllr France responded: “That’s illegal.”

Councillors and members of the public have the right to attend meetings online, but Cllr Pritchard said that he had been given permission from the Powys County Council Monitoring Officer to order, as Chair, that cameras be switched on.

The issue came to a head again on the final item to discuss a potential re-use scheme, which was due to be presented by Cllr France but Cllr Pritchard refused him permission to speak despite Mr Williams advising him: “I would urge you to let him speak.”

Cllr France said after the meeting that he was not happy with what happened and said Cllr Pritchard broke the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021.

You can see the full exchange yourself by clicking here