Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (Welsh: Cyngor bwrdeistref Sirol Merthyr Tudful) is the governing body for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, one of the Principal Areas of Wales.

Merthyr Tydfil Council Cyngor Merthyr Tudful
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Founded	1905 (Municipal borough) 1908 (County borough) 1974 (Borough) 1 April 1996 (County Borough)
Leadership
Leader	Brent Carter, Labour since 18 September 2024[1]
Mayor (honorary)	John Thomas, Independent since 15 May 2024[2]
Chief Executive	Ellis Cooper since 17 June 2021[3]
Structure
Seats	30 councillors
Political groups	Administration (14)   Labour (14) Other parties (16)   Independent (16)
Length of term	5 years
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	5 May 2022
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Civic Centre, Castle Street, Merthyr Tydfil, CF47 8AN
Website
www.merthyr.gov.uk

History

The parish of Merthyr Tydfil was governed by a local board from 1850 until 1894, when it was replaced by an urban district council. The urban district was incorporated as a borough in 1905, creating the first Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council. In 1908 it became a county borough, making it independent from Glamorgan County Council. It retained county borough status until 1974, when there were significant changes to local government under the Local Government Act 1972. From 1974 until 1996, Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council was a lower-tier district council, with Mid Glamorgan County Council providing county-level services in the area. Since the abolition of Mid Glamorgan County Council in 1996, Merthyr Tydfil has again been a county borough.^[4][5]

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since the 2022 election, with the independents and Labour each having 15 councillors. The independents managed to form the council's administration on the mayor's casting vote.^[6] Following a number of changes of allegiance and a by-election, the independent administration was replaced in September 2024 with a minority Labour administration.^[1]

The first election to the council following the Local Government Act 1972 was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority before coming into its revised powers on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been held by the following parties:^[7]

Lower-tier borough

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1974–1976
	Plaid Cymru	1976–1979
	Labour	1979–1996

County borough

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1996–1999
	No overall control	1999–2004
	Labour	2004–2008
	Independent	2008–2012
	Labour	2012–2017
	No overall control	2017–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 2005 have been:^[8]

Councillor	Party		From	To
Harvey Jones[9]		Labour	pre-2005	4 May 2008
Jeff Edwards[10]		Independent	21 May 2008	6 May 2012
Brendan Toomey[11]		Labour	16 May 2012	7 May 2017
Kevin O'Neill[12][13]		Independent	14 Jun 2017	23 Dec 2020
Lisa Mytton		Independent	20 Jan 2021	25 May 2022
Geraint Thomas		Independent	25 May 2022	18 Sep 2024
Brent Carter		Labour	18 Sep 2024

Composition

Following the 2022 election, and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to September 2024, the composition of the council was:

Party		Councillors
	Independent	16
	Labour	14
Total		30

Twelve of the independent councillors sit together as the 'Independent Group', two form the 'Pant Community Independents' and the other two are not aligned to a group. The next election is due in 2027.^[14]

Elections

Since 2012, elections have been held every five years:^[7]

Year	Seats	Labour	Independent / Others	Liberal Democrats	Plaid Cymru	Notes
1995	33	29	4	0	0	Labour majority control
1999	33	16	13	0	4
2004	33	17	16	0	0	Labour majority control
2008	33	8	19	6	0	Independent majority control
2012	33	23	10	0	0	Labour majority control
2017	33	15	18	0	0	Independent majority control[12]
2022	30	15	15	0	0	New ward boundaries.[15] No overall control; Independent-led.

Party with the most elected councillors in bold. Coalition agreements in notes column.

Premises

Old Town Hall: Council's headquarters until 1989.

Until 1989 the council was based at Merthyr Tydfil Town Hall, which had been built between 1896 and 1898 for the old urban district council. In 1989 a new civic centre was built on Castle Street, which opened as the council's headquarters at the start of January 1990.^[16]

Electoral divisions

Electoral divisions in Merthyr Tydfil

The county borough is divided into 11 electoral wards returning 30 councillors. Most of these wards are coterminous with communities (parishes) of the same name.^[17]

Bedlinog & Trelewis Community Council is the only community council in Merthyr Tydfil.

The following table lists council wards, communities and associated geographical areas.

Ward	Communities (Parishes)	Other geographic areas
Bedlinog c	Bedlinog	Cwmfelin, Trelewis
Cyfarthfa c	Cyfarthfa	Clwydyfagwyr, Gelli-deg, Heolgerrig, Winch Fawr, Ynysfach
Dowlais	Dowlais Pantyscallog	Pantyscallog, Rhydybedd, Tair Twynau, Dowlais Top, Caeharris, Caeracca,
Gurnos c	Gurnos
Merthyr Vale c	Merthyr Vale	Aberfan, Mount Pleasant,
Park c	Park
Penydarren c	Penydarren	Galon Uchaf
Plymouth	Troed-y-rhiw	Abercanaid, Pentrebach
Town c	Town	Twynyrodyn, Penyard
Treharris c	Treharris	Quakers Yard, Pentwyn, Fiddler's Elbow, Edwardsville
Vaynor c	Vaynor	Cefn Coed, Pontsticill, Trefechan

^c = Ward coterminous with community of the same name

See also

• List of electoral wards in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough