Confirmation of roles for Wrexham’s two new executive board members

The leader of Wrexham Council has confirmed which roles executive board members will fulfil after two new faces were appointed.

Cllrs Beverley Parry-Jones (Cons) and Sonia Benbow-Jones (Ind) were elected to take on senior posts at a full council meeting held last week.

It followed the resignations of Cllrs Andrew Atkinson (Cons) and Joan Lowe (Ind) from the top table in the last few months.

Independent council leader Mark Pritchard has now revealed which portfolios the two new members will be responsible for.

He confirmed Cllr Benbow-Jones will become lead member for children’s services after the role was vacated by Cllr Atkinson following criticism of his decision to work remotely from Panama.

He added Cllr Parry-Jones will take on the youth services and anti-poverty portfolio.

It follows the previous post holder Cllr John Pritchard being moved across to oversee the health and adult social care portfolio formerly held by Cllr Lowe, who left in June citing health reasons.

The appointment of two new members was supported at last week’s meeting despite Plaid Cymru councillors calling for the size of the executive board to be cut.

Group leader Marc Jones said: “The reason for our group voting against this proposal is not a reflection on the individuals concerned.

“But as a group, we’ve been consistent in calling for a reduction in numbers of executive board members, and it would be remiss of us to vote to increase the numbers.”

In response, Cllr Mark Pritchard suggested a wider review of all committees should be carried out in the future but not before next year’s local elections.

He said: “There’s an election next year and then if whoever is sitting and running the council wants to reconsider the executive board numbers then they need to do so.

“If you’re going to do a review, you need to do a review across the council, and that would cover the executive board members, chairs, scrutiny, etc. I think it needs to be balanced and fair.”

By Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter