A LONG-STANDING Powys councillor is to resign from both the county council and Llandrindod Wells Town Council.

Cllr Gary Price has said he will step down "in the near future" as he is moving away from Powys.

The councillor was the youngest elected to Powys County Council, for the Llandrindod East/West ward, when he was aged 25 in 2004. He he had already been a member of Llandrindod Town Council at that point and was also mayor in 2010/11.

He currently represents the town’s north ward on the county council

Cllr Price said: "Following my re-election in 2017 I made it clear at an early stage publicly that I would not be seeking re-election at the next scheduled local government election.

"However, due to changes in my personal circumstances which involve me moving out of Powys in the near future, I will therefore no longer be a resident of Llandrindod Wells. On consulting the qualifying guidance from the electoral commission I will cease to be an elected councillor serving on both Llandrindod Wells Town Council and Powys County Council."

The often outspoken councillor has never been far from controversy and was twice suspended from the council, for three months, in 2013 and 2017 over breaches of its code of conduct. The first related to confidential information he had shared about the future of the council owned Lakeside restaurant and the second time was related to an employment grievance appeal.

First elected as an independent Cllr Price joined Plaid Cymru in 2010 and was its Brecon and Radnorshire candidate at the 2011 Welsh Assembly elections -– but later quit the party as he said he didn’t agree with Welsh independence.

Shortly after the 2012 local government elections Cllr Price, who was re-elected as an independent, joined the Conservatives and was the party’s candidate at the 2016 Welsh Assembly elections.

He was re-elected as a Conservative in 2017 but later quit the party group on the council though said he remained a supporter.

Cllr Price said: "It has been a privilege to represent a town where I have grown up, was educated and has been my place of work for all my life and I wish to reassure my constituents that I will continue to carry out my duties as an elected councillor until I give formal written notice of my resignation sometime in the near future."