The penultimate local election preview looks at the five local authorities that make up most of the former county of Gwent or the Gwent Police force area – take your pick.
- Current Administration: Labour majority.
- Current Leader: Cllr. Philippa Marsden (Lab).
- Number of Seats (2022): 69 (-4).
- Current Seat Distribution: Labour (49), Plaid Cymru (18), Independents & Non-Affiliated (6).
Previous Results:
- 1995 – Labour control.
- 1999 – Plaid Cymru control.
- 2004 – Labour control.
- 2008 – No Overall Control.
- 2012 – Labour control.
- 2017 – Labour control.
It would be hard to see anyone other than Labour coming out of this election as the largest group and, realistically, Labour ought to secure another majority on the council.
Plaid Cymru’s numbers in the county have gradually shrunk over the years, with their success in 1999 being more an outlier than a trend. Since then, Labour has solidified its grip on Caerphilly and it’ll take something special to overturn it. There are signs at possible resentment building between heads of the valleys communities like Bargoed and Rhymney and Caerphilly town itself – which has become the focal point for future investment.
A modest number of gains for Plaid is a realistic expectation and perhaps the best they can hope for. They’ve tended to put in a strong showing in the lower Rhymney valley/Ystrad Mynach area, Aber Valley and the western wards of Caerphilly town.
Plaid has put up a respectable number of candidates this year and is also seemingly guaranteed at least five seats already.
Independents have historically not done particularly well in Caerphilly with one or two exceptions – usually, councillors who built up a profile for themselves in another party then had a falling-out of some kind. The council’s Leader, Philippa Marsden, could face a stronger challenge than usual from Independents in the Ynysddu ward.
Like Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly is taking part in an advance voting pilot, where anyone registered to vote in the county can go to Penallta House/civic offices in Ystrad Mynach to vote on the weekend before the election (Saturday 30th April and Sunday 1st May) between 10 am-4 pm.
