Gwent’s largest council is heading to the polls this May. DAVID DEANS explores the issues facing Caerphilly council voters this year.
IT WASN’T formed until 1996, but Caerphilly Borough Council has, in recent years, been a hotspot for Plaid Cymru outside its North Wales heartland.
The party currently holds 32 seats in the county and runs the council as a minority administration with support from three independent councillors.
The test for Plaid, led in the county by Allan Pritchard, will be to see if it can hold back Labour from taking areas that are otherwise served by Labour constituency AMs and MPs.
See full list of Caerphilly borough candidates
In 2008 Labour lost control of the council, with Plaid and Labour ending up level pegging at 32 seats each.
Nine others also took seats, and Plaid formed an administration with the help of former Welsh secretary and now councillor for Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen, Ron Davies.
Three Labour councillors left the party in 2010.
The council has swung between Plaid and Labour – in 1999 Plaid won the council from Labour, but Labour then won it back in 2004, winning 39 seats to Plaid’s 26, while eight went to others.
Caerphilly is the product of the local government reorganisation in 1996, formed from the old Rhymney Valley district of Mid Glamorgan and Islwyn, in Gwent.
The merger formed one of the largest Welsh councils outside Cardiff and Swansea, covering a population of around 173,000.
It includes the Valleys towns of Blackwood, Newbridge and Risca, as well as Caerphilly, Bedwas, Machen and Bargoed.
Big issues in Caerphilly include the refusal by the council’s planning committee to reject proposals for a supermarket in the empty Blackwood Retail Park, and a controversial lawn policy that saw photographs, ornaments and wind chimes removed from graves at Bedwellty cemetery.
A failed bid by the council to bid for cash from the Welsh Government to dual the A472 through Maesycwmmer also proved controversial, with 1,000 people signing a petition against it.
Residents also recently voted to reject proposals to transfer the council’s housing stock to a housing association.
This year three seats out of the 73 up for grabs will go uncontested, Aberbargoed, Maesycymmer, and the Darren Valley.
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