(Title Image: © Copyright Jaggery and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence BY-SA-2.0)
In addition to the Senedd and Police & Crime Commissioner elections on May 6th, there’ll be a by-election to fill the vacancy on Bridgend County Borough Council in Nantymoel.
If you may remember, the previous councillor – David Owen (Independent) – was jailed for three years for conspiracy after being involved in plans to steal an off-roader.
As a consequence of that, he forfeited his seat. He was sentenced at the beginning of March 2020 and we all know what came shortly after that. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all elections were pushed back by at least a year and the seat has remained vacant ever since.
Somewhat surprisingly, this is the first by-election at county level in Bridgend since the last local elections in 2017.
Ward Profile
Nantymoel is a former mining village at the head of the Ogwr Fawr. It’s perhaps most famous in the rest of the country for being the hometown of Olympic long jump gold medalist Lynn “The Leap” Davies and actor Windsor Davies (who died in 2019).
Given the narrow “V-shape” of the Ogmore Valley, it retains a semi-rural feel despite its industrial past. In the last few years, it’s become more of a dormitory village, attracting commuters due to the low house prices and convenient access to the Rhondda, Ely/Llantrisant area and the M4.
The Nantymoel ward has a population of around 2,400 and has one primary school, Nantymoel Primary, which was ranked “Yellow” in the Welsh Government’s most recent school bandings (good with some room for improvement). There’s also one doctor’s surgery and a walking and cycling route runs along the former railway toward Brynmenyn.
According to the most recent Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (2019), the Ogmore Valley is generally more deprived than the Welsh average but not to the same extent as places like Caerau and Bettws within Bridgend county. In the Nantymoel ward itself, Pricetown (which is the “centre” of the ward and contains the school and local facilities) ranks as less deprived than the northern half.
In the last few years, there was significant controversy over a decision by Bridgend Council to demolish the Berwyn Centre, but it has since been replaced by an upgrade to the Nantymoel Boys & Girls Club. Additionally, there have been complaints that changes to local bus service times have left some parts of the Ogmore Valley “under curfew”.
Nantymoel ward also contains part of the main playing fields in the Ogmore Valley (Aber Fields/”The Planka”), home to several sports clubs – notably Nantymoel RFC – which would have been affected by abandoned/postponed proposals by Bridgend Council to hike facility hire fees.
The Candidates
Three candidates are standing in the by-election:
- Lee-Anne Hill (Labour)
- Mary Hughes (Independent)
- Claire Lewis (Conservative)
The seat has been held by Independents for the majority of its existence post-1996, with Labour briefly holding it for a single term (2008-2012).
Labour may fancy their chances given that it’s taking place at the same time as an election in Ogmore which Labour will expect to win comfortably.
Both Lee-Anne Hill (who is Chair of Ogmore Valley Community Council) and Mary Hughes are seemingly well-known in the local community. Claire Lewis is a former Bridgend town councillor but is originally from Blackmill and stood for the Conservatives in the Llangewydd & Brynhyfryd ward in 2017.
I assume the vote count will take place at the same time as the count for the other elections on Friday 7th May (not overnight).
I’ll have a post with the Bridgend & Ogmore Senedd results and the result of the Nantymoel by-election on Oggy Bloggy Ogwr as soon as possible after they’re published, with results from the national elections over at State of Wales.
