A Powys councillor has expressed frustration after being prevented from reintroducing a motion aimed at supporting local farmers.

Cllr Iain McIntosh (Conservative - Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew) first put forward a wide-ranging motion to back Powys farmers for discussion at July’s full council meeting.

During that meeting, Cabinet Member for a Safer Powys Cllr Richard Church (Liberal Democrat - Welshpool Castle) proposed a “procedural motion” under the constitution to move the meeting on to “next business”.

This was voted through - bypassing the need to vote on the original motion.

Now, an updated version of the motion was this month submitted by Cllr McIntosh ahead of the next full council meeting in October.

But this motion has been rejected.

Cllr McIntosh has been told that Head of Legal Services and the Monitoring Officer, Clive Pinney and Vice Chair of the Council, Cllr William Powell (in absence of the chair) rejected the motion under the rule 4.39.3 of the Constitution.

That is if the motion is deemed “substantially the same as a motion which has been put at a meeting of the Full Council in the past six months.”

The sticking point is whether the original motion was “put” to the council back in July.

The motion was discussed during the meeting, but Cllr McIntosh argues that as his motion wasn’t voted on - rather the procedural motion to move business on was - then he should be able to resubmit a similar motion.

“The council is attempting to prevent me from reintroducing a similar motion for at least six months, despite the fact that no vote was taken on the original proposal,” said Cllr McIntosh.

“I believe this contravenes the council’s own constitution, which indicates that a motion is only ‘put’ to council when a vote takes place. This decision is not only a blow to our farmers, local food suppliers, and Young Farmers’ Clubs, but also undermines the democratic process.”

“I urge the Council to reconsider its stance, allow this important motion to be heard, and vote in favour of supporting agriculture in Powys,” he said.

A spokesperson for Powys County Council said: “A substantially similar motion was debated in Full Council on 11 July 2024 for almost 25 minutes when nine councillors, in addition to Cllr McIntosh, participated in the debate.

“The Vice Chair of Council and the Monitoring Officer have applied the terms of the council’s Constitution with the result that Cllr McIntosh, or any other county councillor, will not be able to introduce a substantially similar motion until six months have elapsed.”