Powys’ planning committee chairman Cllr Gareth D Jones will remain in the hotseat for at least another year.

At a behind closed doors annual meeting of Powys County Council’s Planning, Taxi Licensing and Rights of Way committee on Thursday, 22 May , councillors voted to give Cllr Jones of the Powys Independents group a second year in the high profile role.

Conservative Cllr Adrian Jones was also given the thumbs up and voted in to continue as the committee’s vice-chairman.

The role of committee chairman comes with a senior salary which will mean that Cllr (Gareth) Jones will receive £9,886 on top of the councillor’s basic salary of £19,771,

Likewise, as vice-chairman Cllr (Adrian) Jones will receive half a senior salary worth £4,943 on top of the basic.

The council was asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) why the meeting which was closed to the press or public had not been published online later – as has been the case in the past.

A council spokesman said: “The meeting was held via (Microsoft)Teams.

“It lasted three minutes as no change to the elected positions of chair and vice chair.”

Last year Cllr (Gareth) Jones who represents Llanfair Caerenion and Llanerfyl took the chair from previous incumbent Cllr Karl Lewis by just one vote.

Since then, Cllr Lewis who represents Llandinam with Dolfor has left the Conservative party to join Reform UK.

Earlier this year there was a need to vote in a temporary committee chairman to deal with a couple of items.

In January Conservative Cllr Jonathan Wilkinson took the helm as the committee dealt with two planning applications by Cllr (Gareth) Jones.

One was for a manure shed to be the second for a two storey extension at the side of his farmhouse at Rhiwhiriaeth Isaf, which is to the west of Llanfair Caereinion.

Cllr (Gareth) Jones had declared an interest and vacated the meeting while the applications were discussed, while Cllr (Adrian) Jones – had already sent his apologies and was absent from the meeting altogether.