Outgoing Powys Council chief says he ‘felt pressure'
The outgoing leader of Powys County Council has assured his fellow members that he did not take the decision to quit "lightly".
Addressing the council at its annual general meeting on Thursday (May 15), Councillor James Gibson-Watt gave a farewell speech before member held a vote to elect his successor.
Speaking to the council chamber, Cllr Gibson Watt said: 'It's been an absolute privilege and thank you for entrusting me with this role.
'I apologise for landing the council in this situation where you're having to elect a new leader three-fifths of the way through council.
'I can assure you I haven't taken this decision lightly.
'But I do think it's the best thing for council that this happens because I'm not confident that I can fulfil the role over the next couple of years as well as I would want to.'
'I have felt that pressure for the last few months.'
Cllr Gibson-Watt told councillors that he was one of only two current councillors who had been elected in the first election of the new version of Powys County Council following the reorganisation of Welsh local authorities in 1995/1996.
He said that he has seen a 'dramatic change' in the role of councillor and council over the last 30 years.
Cllr Gibson-Watt continued: 'You need to understand the constraints that we have operate in, and you don't really understand that until you become leader of the council.'
He added: 'I would ask members to be sympathetic to the next leader as a lot of these constraints are unseen and are for regulatory purposes, which is extraordinarily onerous, it eats up vast amounts of officer and member time, and is very expensive.
'It constrains the degree to which a local authority and administration of any colour can make its own sovereign decisions.
'Local government in Wales is a delivery arm of the Welsh Government. Frustrating as it is that is just the reality of life.'
He added that he believed local authorities in Wales had a better relationship with the Welsh Government than their counterparts in England have with the UK Government where there are some 'acute tensions.'
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But Cllr Gibson-Watt is not completely stepping away from the top table yet.
Later in the meeting, when his successor was named as Councillor Jake Berriman, Cllr Gibson-Watt was entrusted with a cabinet position to push on with the 'initial engagement phase' of reorganising post-16 education in Powys.
This is part of the cabinet brief for a more prosperous Powys, which he will carry out until the end of September while mentoring Cllr Glyn Preston to eventually take on that role.
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