Remove freedom, as it were, to take counsel (10)
I believe the answer is:
deliberate
'take counsel' is the definition.
'remove freedom as' is the wordplay.
'remove' becomes 'de' (I've seen this in other clues).
'freedom as' becomes 'liberate' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'de'+'liberate'='DELIBERATE'
'it were to' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
(Other definitions for deliberate that I've seen before include "on purpose" , "Carefully thought out" , "Well considered" , "study" , "Planned" .)