Councillor defends rejection of new voting system

Voting against a Single Transferrable Voting system ensures a "bond" between constituents and councillors, one of Newtown's county councillors has said.

Cllr Peter Lewington's comments came after Powys councillors rejected the proposed change from the current "first past the post" voting system.

Cllr Lewington, who is also the Mayor of Newtown, argued that while a public consultation supported the change, it only had a one per cent response rate and included duplicate responses.

He said: "With a non-response rate of 99% to the two month consultation process it is clear that the residents of Powys have much higher priorities concerning them than a move to a single transferable voting system.

"They deserve and need the Liberal Democrat/Labour led coalition on Powys County Council to focus on the issues that really matter to them rather than wasting tens of thousands of pounds of residents money pursuing their own political agendas and pet projects – money that could be better spent on fixing potholes, improving street lighting, regenerating our town centres, the list goes on."

Councillor Aled Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservative Group on Powys County Council said: "Our Welsh Conservative group voted to reject Single Transferable Voting as we believe that system would destroy the bond the voter has with their local councillor which is so valued by local people.

"Voters understand and expect to have a close relationship with their councillor and to be able to hold them to account. A new voting system would also lead to increased costs at a time when we are under immense budgetary pressures. The Liberal Democrats simply don’t understand the priorities of residents, to date they have spent and wasted thousands on this vanity project, while our communities are begging for our roads to be decently maintained.
 
"After the Council meeting, when the Council’s own voting system failed, I have written to the Chief Executive to ask for assurance about the integrity of that voting system."