Builth Wells Town Council has agreed not to sign a Civility and Respect pledge after some concerns

The town council already has a civility policy but the Welsh Government is very keen to get all councils to sign the civility and respect pledge to tackle bullying, harassment and poor conduct within councils.

It was prepared by the National Association of Local Councils, Society of Local Council Clerks and One Voice Wales.

Town clerk Mrs Louise Hammond said at a recent meeting; “Our council is very fair and reasonable and I would not ask individual councillors to sign up to the pledge but do you want to sign it as a town council.”

Llandrindod Wells Town Council also recently considered if members individually wished to sign the pledge. The town council had signed and adopted it in September 2022.

But at a recent meeting various members expressed concern about the legality of the document and the issue of human rights and they agreed to re-consider the pledge for the whole council and if members wished to sign it individually they should arrange with the clerk to do so.

Builth Wells Mayor Councillor Mark Hammond said the councillors are already bound by the Code of Conduct etc.

“My question would be, if we signed up to it as a council and if something went wrong, where would it leave us as councillors, would we all be implicated?”

In a vote, members agreed not to sign it as individuals and a majority voted against signing it as a town council too.