Llandrinio councillor quits Tories over climate policies

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

A senior Powys Conservative councillor has crossed the chamber to join the Powys Independents group, taking its number up to 15.

Cllr Lucy Roberts, who represents Llandrinio, announced that she had left the Conservatives following the party’s weakening stance on tackling climate change.

This leaves the Conservative group with 12 councillors, the third-largest group on the council behind the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Independents.

Cllr Roberts said: “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.”

Cllr Roberts is the current chairwoman of the Employment and Appeals Committee, a role which she might need to vacate due to the rules around political balance on council committees.

She has been welcomed to the Powys Independents group by Cllr Graham Breeze (Welshpool Llanerchyddol).

Her move has been called “principled” and a “big loss” to the Conservative group by councillors from both the Liberal Democrat and Labour groups.

This is the second coup for the Powys Independents, who saw former Liberal Democrat Cllr Tom Colbert (Bronllys) join their ranks over the summer.

This means that, with just over six months to go before the next local elections in May 2027, the minority Liberal Democrat (23) and Labour (9) administration has 32 councillors.

Powys Independents have 15 councillors and the Conservatives have 12. Plaid Cymru have four councillors while Reform UK have three and the Green Party have one councillor, but he is officially listed as a non-aligned councillor. There is one other non-aligned councillor.