A by-election will be held next Thursday (March 7th 2024) to fill the Aberkenfig seat on Bridgend County Borough Council.
The seat was vacated by the former county councillor for the ward – Plaid Cymru’s Ellie Richards – who resigned on health grounds in January.
Aberkenfig: Ward Profile
The Aberkenfig ward is predominantly rural. At the time of the local government review, the electorate was around 2,300 people making it, by population, one of the smaller wards in the county.
The two main villages are Aberkenfig itself and Coytrahen. The ward also (rather confusingly) includes the southern half of Tondu (mainly the Pentre Felin estate) and extends roughly as far north as the WEPA paper mill.
The area is part of what’s been dubbed by Bridgend Council as the “Valleys Gateway” – a collection of villages, small towns and industrial areas immediately north of Junction 36 of the M4.
Through its central location, Aberkenfig village has one of the most varied and interesting high streets in the county, being home to one of the few registered gun shops and, until recently, one of the few licenced sex shops in the area. Aberkenfig also has the only mosque in Bridgend.
The southern half of Tondu has seen extensive development over the last 15 years, with the new-build Pentre Felin estate currently being extended by several hundred homes. This area is also home to the county’s recycling processing centre and the largest retail park in the Valleys Gateway area (other than McArthur Glen).
Coytrahen – the heart of Llangynwyd Lower Community Council – is a small village, but retains a popular community centre.
The Aberkenfig ward is one of the least deprived in Bridgend and is ranked 1,174th out of 1,909 areas in the 2019 Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD).
The only deprivation factor to which the ward ranks poorly is the physical environment. This is likely a mix of the paper mill, air pollution caused by local road bottlenecks, the high flood risk in the area because of the confluence of several rivers and streams, as well as environmental issues related to farming.
Despite this, the ward contains some of the county’s most important wildlife habitats including the Parc Slip nature reserve (formerly a deep and opencast mine) and the Pennsylvania woods.
Welsh-speaking ability at the 2011 census was below the Welsh (19%) and Bridgend county (9.7%) averages at 8.7%.
The Issues
As hinted above, there have been longstanding concerns about over-development in and around Tondu, with significant local opposition to the extension of the Pentre Felin estate. Delays to both the delivery of a “mini bypass” and improvements to the (infamous) Maesteg Road junction haven’t helped.
Promised road safety improvements through Coytrahen – associated with the expansion of the WEPA plant – have fallen far short of expectations. There’s currently no signal-controlled crossing on the A4063, with the village’s playing fields/park and most of the village itself being on opposite sides of the road.
Another longstanding issue is on-off proposals to build a biomass power station at the former Llynfi power plant site to the north of Coytrahen. The project has been on the cards for most of the last 20 years, meeting local opposition. In 2016, South Wales Wood Recycling was prosecuted for illegally storing wood chips on the site.
As noted, the area is prone to flooding too – not just from the rivers, but from surface run-off.
There are ongoing parking issues in Aberkenfig due to the narrow streets, with the only GP surgery in Aberkenfig being located down a side street. There has been discussion for years about a new primary care centre serving the Valleys Gateway area, but no firm plans have been forthcoming to date.
While Aberkenfig and Parc Tondu are in the Newcastle Higher Community Council area, the future of Llangynwyd Lower Community Council (focused on Coytrahen) may be in doubt.
BCBC is currently undertaking a review of community councils. While there are no draft proposals yet, as one of the smallest community councils in the borough, Llangynwyd Lower would be high up the list of potential mergers with larger neighbouring community councils.
Candidates & Outlook
There are only two candidates (in alphabetical order by surname):
- Gary Haines (Labour)
- Luke Richards (Independent)
Gary Haines is a former Newcastle Higher community councillor. He stood in the Aberkenfig (county council) seat in the 2008 and 2012 local elections, finishing second each time behind the former Independent councillor, Mel Winters. He’s actively campaigned against the proposed Llynfi power station in the past. Labour put a lot of effort into trying to win the seat in 2022, up to and including a visit by Mark Drakeford.
Luke Richards – backed by the Bridgend County Independents group – already has seats on two community councils (Ynysawdre and Coity Higher). He also runs the Bridgend Political Owl Facebook page/vlog and has campaigned on the issue of homelessness having been temporarily housed himself.
The absence of a Plaid Cymru candidate means they’ve lost a seat – so the political composition of the council has already changed slightly.
The by-election has come at a difficult time for the Labour administration given some of the controversial proposals in this year’s recently-approved budget. Labour has never won the Aberkenfig ward. If they do win they’ll extend their majority and regain some credibility – so you would expect them to take this seriously.
An Independent win would close the gap between themselves and Labour. A win could be interpreted as “sending a message to the council” – but it wouldn’t impact Labour’s control of the council.
