THERE will be nine less Blaenau Gwent County Borough Councillors from next May’s local election onwards.
Welsh Government minister for finance and local government, Rebecca Evans MS has this week said that she had accepted the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales (LDBCW) recommendations for Blaenau Gwent which sees the number of councillors fall from 42 to 33.
The changes are a bid to equalise the number of electors per councillor across the county borough.
These new arrangements will see each county councillor represent an average of 1,545 electors which is up from the current 1,214 electors per councillor.
Minister for local government and finance, Rebecca Evans said: “On  September 22, I wrote to the leader and chief executive of the county of Blaenau Gwent to confirm my decision to accept the recommendations of the LDBCW with a modification.”

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Chief executive of the LDBCW, Shereen Williams said: “I’m delighted that the Welsh Government has accepted these recommendations with only minor modifications.
“These changes will mean greater electoral parity for the people of Blaenau Gwent.
“I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the review, the members of the public, councillors, the council, and everyone else who sent us a representation or contributed in any other way.”
Back in April 2019 the LDBCW came up with final recommendations for the county borough.
As well as the drop in councillors, there will also be two fewer electoral wards, dropping form the current 16 to 14.
Five current wards remain unchanged, Brynmawr, Cwm, Ebbw Vale South, Georgetown, and Sirhowy, while tweaks are made to the others.
Abertillery and Six Bells have been formed to create a new ward, while Rassau receives part of the Beufort ward and will be known as Rassau and Garnlydan.

South Wales Argus:
The new arrangements will see nine two member wards and five three member wards.
The two member wards  are:  Blaina, Cwm, Cwmtillery, Ebbw Vale North, Ebbw Vale South, Georgetown, Llanhilleth, Nantyglo, Rassau and Garnlydan.
The three member wards are: Abertillery and Six Bells, Beaufort, Brynmawr, Sirhowy and Tredegar.
The council did support dropping the number of councillors when they discussed the issue in September 2018, but recommended dropping to 34 rather than 33 councillors.