Bridgend Council has agreed on a minimum electorate for town & community councils, as part of a BCBC-led review (pdf).
At present, Bridgend has 20 town & community councils. They all represent different-sized populations and geographical areas.
While BCBC accepts there’s no ideal size for a town or community council, they need to be “large enough to be a viable unit of local government” (particularly with the prospect of taking on more services in the future).
A large number of uncontested seats at the 2022 local elections resulted in a democratic deficit too. This was particularly evident in the county’s smallest community councils.
BCBC therefore proposed setting a minimum of 5,000 electors/voters and a maximum of 10,000 for community councils, as well as a minimum of 9,000 for town councils (with no upper limit).
In practical terms and subject to consultation, it means the following nine community councils are likely to be on the shortlist to merged with each other or with larger neighbours:
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“Arbitrary limit” threatened to break up larger community councils
As BCBC proposed setting a maximum size for community councils of 10,000 electors, this could have potentially led to larger community councils – such as Brackla Community Council and Laleston Community Council – either being broken up or merged with a larger town council.
The impact of Local Development Plan proposals also needed to be taken into consideration.
An amendment tabled by Cllr. Ian Spiller (Ind, Bryntirion, Laleston & Merthyr Mawr) to remove this upper limit was approved by the council. Cllr. Philip Jenkins (Ind, Maesteg East) thought it was an attempt to fix something that wasn’t broken.
Deputy Council Leader, Cllr. Jane Gebbie (Lab, Pyle, Kenfig Hill & Cefn Cribwr) warned that if the wishes of town & community councils were ignored on this it could be “undemocratic” to change boundaries against their will.
In response, an officer reminded members that many smaller community councils are entirely unelected.
The amended proposal – removing an upper electoral limit for community councils – was approved unanimously.
