Image Source: Google Earth, taken November 2022
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At this month’s full council meeting, councillors debated and voted on proposed reforms of Bridgend’s 20 town & community councils.
The draft proposals went out for public consultation in January 2025. The full list of responses is available here (pdf).
There appears to have been particularly strong opposition to the proposals from within Coychurch Lower.
Some community councils that formally objected to at least some of the proposals include Merthyr Mawr, Cefn Cribwr, St. Bride’s Minor, Newcastle Higher, Coychurch Higher and Coity Higher.
There was support for the proposals from Laleston Community Council, Llangynwyd Middle, Maesteg Town and Pencoed Town.
You can read the full final recommendations here (pdf), but the table below summarises it:
Council Leader, Cllr. John Spanswick (Lab, Brackla West Central), noted this work was “no small undertaking”, though he was unsure whether the minimum of 5,000 electors, which was agreed by the council, was the right decision. He also wasn’t convinced that merging smaller community councils into larger ones would address a democratic deficit at this level (lots of unelected or unfilled seats).
Although the general mood was against the proposals, there was some support.
Cllr. Ian Spiller (Ind, Bryntirion, Laleston & Merthyr Mawr) noted the large number of vacancies and unelected seats at the town & community council elections in 2022. In Coychurch Lower, more people signed the petition against the proposed reforms than voted at the last local elections.
Cllr. Malcolm James (Plaid, Llangynwyd) noted that at the last local elections, Llangynwyd Middle Community Council had 9 vacancies out of 12 seats. He hasn’t received a single objection to a proposed merger with Maesteg Town and has even been asked if the community council was “still going”.
Sizing policy "to be reviewed"
The council unanimously rejected the proposals.
The preference is for the council to review the desired minimum size of town & community councils (which the council originally agreed at 5,000 electors) at a later date.
The hope is that the Democracy & Boundary Commission would then use that new minimum size when undertaking their next review. The council will be charged for that work, the exact costs of which are unknown.
This won’t happen before the next set of local elections in May 2027, so the current town & community councils will remain in place until (as things stand) May 2032.
