A POWYS councillor has been suspended from the county council and Brecon Beacons National Park after smacking another councillor on her bottom.

Edwin Roderick, who represents the Maescar/Llywel ward that includes Sennybridge, had been due face a hearing of the Adjudication Panel for Wales which determines cases where councillors are accused of breaching codes of conduct.

But at the start of proceedings at Welshpool Magistrates Court it was announced that Cllr Roderick had sent a letter on November 12, stating that he would not be contesting the facts and accepted he had breached the code of conduct.

The complaints centred on an incident at a meeting of the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority on December 8, 2017.

There Cllr Roderick smacked the bottom of another Powys councillor to move her out of the way.

A second complaint centred on how Cllr Roderick had tried to sort out the complaint behind closed doors.

Representing the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Gwilym Hughes, explained that a complaint about the smack had made on January 5, (2018).

He said that the councillor had felt:  “humiliated and downgraded in front of fellow members of the authority.”

Mr Hughes added: “On January 15 (2018) Cllr Roderick approach the BBNPA chair Melanie Doel, where he wanted to arrange a round table meeting and said that he had information which she (complainant) would find embarrassing.

“On January 23 (2018) he met with the BBNPA’s monitoring officer and again threatened he would make public something she would not like and she would be: ‘hung out to dry’.”

In April 2018, a second complaint based on these meetings was made to the Ombudsman.

The panel was told that Cllr Roderick had become active in his community during the Foot and Mouth Crisis and that his public service role had grown over the years and he became a county councillor  in 2017.

He was then nominated to represent Powys council on the BBNP authority.

Cllr Tim Van Rees (Independent – Llanwrtyd Wells) who appeared as a character witness said he had known Cllr Roderick for more than 25 years.

Cllr Rees said: “He is not a sophisticate, he grew up on the family farm, went to school and went back to carry on farming.”

Appearing for Cllr Roderick, David Daycock argued mitigating circumstances and that any suspension should be for a short time only, as Cllr Roderick is an “inexperienced councillor.”

Mr Daycock, said: “He’s very much rooted in his community a man of the earth, not necessarily comfortable with the niceties of local government.

“He fully accepts that he has done wrong and has apologised for it.”

Mr Daycock argued that the second issue of trying to sort out the complaint behind closed doors was the more serious one.

He explained that Cllr Roderick feared the adverse publicity and had already been contacted by journalists about the complaint when he approached Ms Doel.

Mr Daycock added that Cllr Roderick believed the complaint could have been resolved amicably but he had: “approached it in the wrong way.”

Mr Daycock said:  “He did not understand the political environment he was working in.”

Panel chair, John Livsey, asked about the change of heart: “That came a few days ago, can you throw any light on that?”

Mr Daycock answered that the previous solicitors had not fully understood how local government worked and had “adopted an adversarial and trenchant approach to it.”

Mr Daycock added that he had only been instructed “two to three weeks ago” and had recognised this “was a clear breach,” and the advice had changed.

Cllr Roderick was also told by Mr Livsey that he will need to do a training course on the code of conduct with the BBNPA monitoring officer by the end of January 2020.

Cllr Roderick was accused of breaching the code in that he failed show respect and consideration to others, had "not conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as

bringing your office or authority into disrepute" and “Use or attempt to use your position improperly to confer on or secure for yourself, or any other person, an advantage or create or avoid for yourself, or any other person, a disadvantage.”

Following the hearing Mr Roderick spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said: “I fully respect the decision of the tribunal and I do believe it was a fair hearing.

“I do look forward to continuing my role as a county councillor for the Maescar/Llywel ward after completing my suspension.

“I apologise to everybody I have upset or has been effected by the case particularly the complainant.

“I regret the incident, it should not have happened and I will ensure that nothing like this will happen again.”

“It’s taken two years to bring this to court and I’m sure there was no need for that.

“I really need to thank the friends who have stood by me and also Cllrs Tim van Rees and Phil Pritchard, who both spoke on my behalf.”

Mr Roderick added: “Numerous people have written in and gave character references and I believe that influenced the panel a lot.

“The community where I’m born and bred and also the council members and national park members have stood by me.

“It’s been quite humbling the amount of support they have given me and I really do appreciate it.”

Mr Roderick added that he needed to check if the suspension started immediately and whether it affected his membership of other groups and bodies.