Powe was re-elected in the 1952 London County Council election, having switched to represent Islington South West. In 1948, when Frank Coombes, vice chair of the council, died, Powe was elected to serve the remainder of his term.[1][2] He became the leader of St Pancras Council, on which he worked closely with the Conservative Party opposition. By the mid-1950s, he was facing significant opposition from his backbenchers and when, in 1956, they voted to overturn an agreement he had made to nominate five Conservatives as aldermen, he resigned, to be replaced by John Lawrence.[3]