2017 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council election

2017 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council election

4 May 2017
All 33 seats to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council 17 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Chris Barry Kevin O'Neill Paul Brown Party Labour Independent Merthyr Independents Leader's seat Park Town Cyfarthfa Seats before 25[1] 7[1] 1[1] Seats won 15 17 1
Council control before election Labour Council control after election Independent

The 2017 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council election took place on Thursday 4 May 2017 to elect the 33 members of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council in Wales. This was on the same day as other 2017 United Kingdom local elections. The Council shifted back from Labour to Independent control.

Results

2017 Merthyr Tydfil Council Election[2]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Independent	17			+10
	Labour	15			-10
	Merthyr Independents	1			0
	Liberal Democrats	0			0	0.0
	Plaid Cymru	0			0	0.0
	UKIP	0			0	0.0
	Communist	0			0	0.0
	Conservative	0			0	0.0

The outcome of the election wasn't decided until 8 June 2017, because the vote in the Cyfarthfa ward was delayed due to the death of a candidate.[3][4] At the 4 May election the Independents overtook Labour as the largest group on the council, but were 1 seat short of a majority. They gained two of the three Cyfarthfa seats on 8 June to win control of the council.[5] The former Labour leader of the council also lost his seat at the elections.[5]

Ward results

[2]

Bedlinog

Bedlinog ward (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Michael Colbran	727	65.8
	Independent	Sherelle Jago	718
	Labour	Helen Thomas	288	26.1
	Labour	Jeffrey Beard	284
	Liberal Democrats	Jasmine Sakura-Rose	90	8.1
Majority
Turnout
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Cyfarthfa

Cyfarthfa ward (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Geraint Thomas	1,369	30.0
	Merthyr Ind.	Paul Brown*	1,300	28.5
	Labour	David Chaplin*	1,202	26.4
	Labour	Margaret Davies*	1,137
	Labour	Carol Estebanez	1,072
	Merthyr Ind.	Terry Thomas	1,068	28.5
	Independent	Bleddyn Hancock	812
	Plaid Cymru	Mark Evans	685	15.0
Majority
Turnout				64.0
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing
	Merthyr Independent hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

The vote in the Cyfarthfa ward was delayed until June 8 because of the death of independent candidate, Ieuan Harris, during the campaign. The results gave the Independent group enough seats to have an overall majority on the council.[6] The current mayor, Margaret Davies, who'd won her seat at a November 2012 by-election, lost her seat.[6][7]

Dowlais

Dowlais ward (4 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Declan Salmon	1,122	64.0
	Independent	Tony Rogers	863
	Independent	David Hughes	762
	Independent	Julian Amos	777
	Labour	Phil Williams*	631	36.0
	Labour	Ray Thomas*	570
	Labour	Tom Lewis*	537
	Labour	Simon Williams	531
Majority
Turnout
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Gurnos

Gurnos ward (4 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Lee Davies	569	51.3
	Labour	Rhonda Braithwaite*	541	48.7
	Independent	Clive Tovey*	486
	Labour	Bill Smith*	479
	Labour	Deborah Isaac	423
	Labour	Mike O'Neill	421
	Independent	Mikey Mochan	402
	Independent	Gerwyn Butler	368
Turnout
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Merthyr Vale

Merthyr Vale ward (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Darren Roberts*	698	61.1
	Labour	Scott Thomas	509
	Independent	Jeff Edwards	445	38.9
	Independent	Lynne Colston	266
Majority
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Park

Park ward (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Tanya Skinner	802	51.0
	Labour	Clive Jones*	772	49.0
	Labour	Chris Barry*	689
	Labour	B. Toomey*	667
Majority
Turnout
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Penydarren

Penydarren ward (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Kevin Gibbs	656	50.3
	Independent	Chris Davies	649
	Labour	David Issac*	647	49.7
	Independent	Dougy Evans	515
	Labour	John McCarthy	467
	Labour	Dan Beard	463
Turnout
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent gain from UKIP		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Plymouth

Town

Treharris

Vaynor

Vaynor ward (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Howard Barrett*	948	66.7
	Independent	Lisa Mytton*	923
	Labour	Anthony Owen	474	33.3
	Labour	Emma Karan	371
Turnout				44.2
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

* = sitting councillor in this ward prior to election

References

1. Sands, Katie (30 April 2017). "The two leaders vying for control of Merthyr council". Wales Online. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
2. "Local Election Results 2017: Merthyr Tydfil". Andrew Teale. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
3. "Election postponed after candidate dies". South Wales Echo. 19 April 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
4. "Merthyr Tydfil: 30 seats declared - no final results". ITV News. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
5. "Independents win Merthyr Tydfil council control". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
6. Sands, Katie (9 June 2017). "Independents win control of Merthyr Tydfil council and oust Labour after delayed ward vote". Wales Online. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
7. "Her Worship the Mayor, Councillor Margaret Davies 2016 - 2017" (press release). Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2021.