TOWN and community councils will all be willing to meet the the Powys Service Board (PSB)  later this year.

They would also like a seat on the PSB board as well.

At the last meeting of the PSB it was decided to hold a conference or meeting in the autumn with the five town councils who have a turnover of over £200,000.

These are Brecon, Machynlleth, Newtown, Welshpool and Ystradgynlais.

Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn, Town Council clerk, Ed Humphreys, said: “Yes I would like to meet the PSB.

“Though there is no duty on town and community councils to have its own wellbeing plan.

“The requirement on town and community councils is to ‘take reasonable steps to meet the local objectives’.”

Mr Humphreys explained: “Each community and town council subject to the duty must form its own judgement of what steps it would be reasonable for it to take towards meeting the local objectives in its area.

“This is on the basis of its own knowledge and consideration of the circumstances and characteristics of its area.”

Mr Humphreys pointed out that the town council had set this out on their own five year strategy and plan, 2018 – 2023.

Brecon Town Council, clerk, Fiona Williams, said that the council would welcome further discussion with the PSB.

Ms Williams said: “We have previously invited the Leader of Powys, Cllr Rosemarie Harris, to a council meeting to discuss the PSB and future requirements.

“We are progressing our wellbeing report, and look forward to working with Powys in this regard.”

Welshpool Town Council has a well being plan which was adopted in May 2017, is reviewed annually and can be found on its website.

Town council clerk, Robert Robinson, said: “Yes we would like a meeting or conference with the PSB.

“It’s something we’ve been trying to organise for the last year and we’ve had zero response.

“There should a town or community representative on the PSB.”

Jim Griffiths, Machynlleth Town Council clerk said that all councils now when making decision had to do so with the impact on the wellbeing of future generations in mind.

He said:”Personally I would welcome a conference and meeting with the PSB, and Powys County Council so that we can discuss the delivery of services.

“It’s not a competition, we all need to work together to make sure we’re not duplicating each other’s work.”

But one town council, Ystradgynlais said that the only communication it had received about the PSB, was questions from the Local Democracy Service.

Brian Rees, clerk of Ystradgynlais Town Council said: “Nobody has been to see us we have not been given any guidance on this.

“To be honest, I’m swamped with work as it is and the problem with these sort of statutory requirements is that you need to be able to put the resources in to take them forward.”

PSBs have been set up in Wales under the 2015 Well Being of Future Generations Act.

They are made up of representatives from the local authority, health board, fire and rescue authority and Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

The idea is that PSBs are supposed to improve joint working across all public services in each local authority area in Wales.