Trio of new members join Kington Town Council as two others resign

A trio of new members have joined Kington Town Council.

Four applicants attended a recent meeting and expressed their interest in joining the council.

After hearing about their backgrounds, skills and experience, members agreed to co-opt Patrick Conrad, Leonard Timmins and Martin Blackaller.

Councillor Conrad said he had quite a lot of experience of local and national government in a variety of ways. He said he is quite familiar with how local government works.

He said he has lived in Kington for about 10 years and he has been involved in the Made in the Marches Festival and the Open Arms Kington projects and he is interested in the community of Kington and thought he had skills and experience to offer.

Councillor Timmins said he moved to Kington 18 months ago and really wants to get involved in the local community. He said he has over 40 years of experience in industry in the Black Country. He said he had retired from industry at 56 and became a magistrate in the Black Country for eight or nine years. He said he is not afraid to make difficult decisions and wants to give the benefit of his experience to the local people.

Councillor Martin Blackaller said he came from a teaching and training background and had lived in Kington for over 20 years, having come here from Bahrain. He said he wants to support the town and do the best for the town and since retiring he has been a writer for funding for training providers and colleges etc. He said that may be a useful skill for the council.

They each signed the declaration of office and were welcomed onto the council for their first meeting.

Meanwhile, two members have left the council recently.

Councillor Martin Fitton resigned from his role and a vacancy has arisen due to the non-attendance of meetings from former Councillor Tom Bounds.

If there are no requests for elections, the council will be able to co-opt new members at the November meeting.