Community councils face uncertain future after review

Lewis Smith, local democracy reporter

A number of town and community councils could be abolished or forced to merge after a recent local authority review.

The news comes after draft proposals were published by Bridgend Council for changes to the county’s town and community councils, including the introduction of a policy for a minimum electorate size.

Bridgend currently has 20 town and community councils across the county borough, which are made up of four town councils and 16 community councils. The last full review of these was carried out in 2009 and is said to follow an “approximate 10-year cycle.”

Voters

The changes could now mean that all councils in the borough would need to have a minimum of 5,000 registered voters moving forward, with smaller ones potentially being abolished and merged with larger community councils.

This would also result in a number of changes to boundaries with the amount of councils reduced from a total of 20 to 13 with additional reductions in the overall number of councillors as well.

A section of the draft proposals reads: “The council proposes a change to the arrangement of communities and community wards that should ensure that communities continue to reflect local identities and facilitate effective and convenient local government across the principal council area.

“The council proposes changes to the boundaries of all 20 communities across the principal council area. As a consequence of these changes, the council has proposed changes to the electoral arrangements of all communities.”

If approved, some of the proposed changes could see the merging of places like Brackla with Coychurch Lower, Pyle with Cefn Cribbwr, Maesteg with Llangynwyd Middle, and Pencoed with Coychurch Higher.

Consultation

Responses to the consultation were mixed with a number of positive reactions that recognised the need for the review, as well as some which firmly opposed the plans.

These included Merthyr Mawr community council which said it didn’t want to see any changes, along with Coychurch Higher which was “adamant about the importance” of maintaining its local identity.

The report will now be considered by the county borough council before a final decision is made over the proposals in the coming months.

You can read the full list of report proposals here.