A COUNCILLOR says he will not stand again after receiving “hateful emails” from fellow members.

Cllr Austin Roberts, who represents Eglwsbach and Llangernyw, spoke about the abuse during a council meeting at Bodlondeb on Thursday, where a motion condemning the intimidation of local members was introduced.

The motion, introduced by Cllr David Carr and voted through by councillors, stated intimidation and abuse undermined democracy, preventing elected members from representing their communities.

The acceptance of the motion saw Conwy County Council formally note an increasing level of toxicity in public and political discourse.

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Consequently, the council committed itself to challenging the “normalisation of abuse” against councillors and officers.

The council will now write to MPs and government to ask that they work with the Local Government Association to work towards stamping out intimidation and abuse.

But during the debate, Cllr Austin Roberts said he would not stand for council at Conwy again, due to the behaviour of some newer colleagues elected at the last election.

“I’ve been a councillor for seven years, and for the first five years, it was OK,” he said.

“But since the last election, and since some new members have come, I have noticed there has been a change with the way some councillors treat other councillors.

“And as somebody who has received hateful emails from fellow councillors, I agree we should be protected, and I also agree sometimes this can be off-putting, and it has put me off being a member of this council in the future, and I will not be standing.

“So I also know that I’m not the only councillor who has received hateful emails from fellow councillors. If this motion puts a stop to that, then I’m for it and supportive of it; however, I don’t feel it will.”

In response, Cllr Nigel Smith said: “I’m really saddened with what I have heard from Cllr Austin (Roberts) having worked alongside Austin for a number of years.

“And whilst I support everything that’s in this document, it’s just a piece of paper, and it needs backing up with swift, tough action, and those people who are sending emails like the ones we’ve been informed of today, they need to be taken to task.”

Cllr Andrew Wood added: “I’m also disturbed by what Cllr Austin says.

“I’ve got huge respect for Cllr Austin.

“I just want to say we need to practice what we preach, and when people bring things forward, they must think about their own actions as well.”

Cllr Goronwy Edwards, though, believed processes were already in place to deal with abusive behaviour.

“I’ve been here since 1991 on the old authority, so I have been here since the start of this authority as well, and during that time, I’ve had certain comments made to me, but I believe we have the processes in place to deal with that in any case,” he said.

“Any member can go to the monitoring officer if they have an issue and say I feel that this is inappropriate, and the monitoring officer will get back to you with advice or take the matter further, so I don’t really see what having this additional document will add to the situation.”

Cllr David Carr said councillors should be able to have robust debates without hate coming into the conversation.

He said: “I disagree with Cllr Goronwy (Edwards).

“I think we do need to pass this. If we don’t pass it, what kind of message would that send out to the public?”

Earlier in the debate Cllr Abdul Khan said councillors were supposed to have a “thick skin and that constructive criticism was good” whilst Cllr Bernice McLoughlin added it was also important council staff were protected.