MONMOUTHSHIRE council will gain one extra councillor after changes to electoral boundaries were confirmed by the Welsh Government.

Rebecca Evans, minister for finance and local government, has accepted the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales recommendations for Monmouthshire, which will see the number of councillors increase from 45 to 46.

The number of wards will remain at 39, with 32 of these represented by one councillor and the remaining seven electing two councillors.

Thirty-one of the current wards will see no changes.

But changes will be made to remaining wards in a bid to improve electoral parity.

On average, each ward will have 1,599 electors per councillor.

Govilon and Llanfoist will become a two-member ward under the name of Llanfoist Fawr and Govilon.

Llanbadoc and Usk will also merge to create a two-member ward.

Mitchel Troy and Trellech United will be combined to create a ward represented by two councillors.

MORE NEWS:

The Drybridge and Monmouth town wards will be split up into two separate single member wards.

In Chepstow, Larkfield will be merged with Chepstow Castle to form a new two-member ward, while St Kingsmark and Mount Pleasant will each form single-member wards.

Shereen Williams, chief executive of the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales 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 Monmouthshire.

“I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the review, the members of the public, councillors, Monmouthshire council, and everyone else who sent us a representation or contributed in any other way.”

The boundary changes are expected to take effect from the local government elections in May next year.

A small number of recommendations on Welsh language ward names were not accepted by Welsh Government.

These include that St Kingsmark and St Arvans wards will also be given Welsh language names.

Different Welsh language names to those recommended by the Commission will also be given to the wards Caldicot Castle, Caldicot Cross and Portskewett.