COUNCILLORS with less than 60 per cent attendance record will be asked to explain why they did not turn up to meetings?

Powys County Council’s (PCC) Standards committee was given a list of all 73  councillors with data showing how many meetings they should have been at, during the civic year from May 15, 2018, to May 17, 2019.

Of the 73, 10 councillors were listed as having been present at less than 60 per-cent of meetings they were supposed to.

Committee member Cllr Sarah Lewis (Conservative – Brecon St Mary) declared an interest in the item as she is one of the 10.

Deputy monitoring officer Debby Jones, outlined the report and said:

“Attendance for main committees has been calculated. 10 councillors have been highlighted.

“The procedure from here on, subject to committee agreeing, is to contact all those 10 asking for them to explain their attendance. That would be considered at our next meeting on October 2.”

Committee chairman, Stephan Hayes, said: “Are we happy to follow procedure and write to all the members?”

The committee agreed.

Mr Hayes added: “We will then have that in place for the next meeting.”

The report states that during the civic year, both Cllr Jonathan Wilkinson and Liam Fitzpatrick had periods of illness.

Cllr Jonathan Wilkinson was granted a six-month period of absence by the council from July 12, 2018.”

Cllr Liam Fitzpatrick was ill from March 2018 to July 2018.

The councillors with less than 60 per cent attendance are:

Liam Fitzpatrick (Non-aligned -Talybont-on Usk)  – 50 per cent (Five of 10 meetings

Sarah Lewis (Conservative – St Mary, Brecon) – 40 per cent (eight of 20 meetings).

Maureen Mckenzie (Liberal Democrat – Llanelwedd) – 50 per cent (eight of 16 meetings).

Claire Mills (Conservative – Llanyre) – 41 per cent (nine of 22 meetings).

Gareth Morgan (Liberal Democrat – Llanidloes) – 54 per cent (14 of 26 meeting).

Neil Morrison (Conservative – Newtown South) – 38 per cent (eight of 21 meetings).

Gareth Pugh (Conservative – Dolforwyn) – 58 per cent (21 of 36 meetings).

Jeremy Pugh (Independent – Builth) – 59 per cent (13 of 22 meetings).

Jonathan Wilkinson (Conservative – Meifod) – 25 per cent (five of 20 meetings).

Sarah Williams (Labour- Abercraf) – 41 per cent (nine of 22 meetings).