Ceredigion County Council election, 2008
Encyclopedia
The elections to Ceredigion County Council
were held on May 1, 2008 along with elections to other Welsh councils, plus the London Mayor and Assembly Elections, Metropolitan English councils and Non Metropolitan English councils elections. All 42 council seats are up for election. The previous council was controlled by Independents in coalition with the Liberal Democrat group and the single Labour member. Since 2004, there have been no by-elections to the council (the only council in Wales not to have any during the last four years). Nominations for the council elections closed on April 4, 2008. The last council meeting before the elections (when the council was formally dissolved) was held on April 17, 2008. The composition of the council prior to the elections was:
2 Independents had defected to Plaid Cymru and a further 2 Independents had retired. All existing councillors bar the 2 retirees are up for re-election.
| colspan=2 style="text-align: right; margin-right: 1em" | Total
| style="text-align: right;" | 42
| colspan=5 |
| style="text-align: right;" | 27,718
| style="text-align: right;" |
|-
|}
All parties received a higher share of the vote than in 2004. This was in part due to a fall in the number of non-party independents standing and previous non-party independents joining the independent grouping, but also due to a number of parties (namely UKIP and Llais Ceredigion
) not standing candidates this time around.
Plaid Cymru made six gains. They gained a seat in the ward of Aberystwyth, Penparcau
, as well as the wards of Cardigan, Mwldan, Cardigan, Teifi, Ciliau Aeron
, Llanfarian
, Llangeitho
and Melindwr. The party also made four losses: Llandysilio-gogo, Llansantffraed
, Tirymynach and Troedyraur.
The Liberal Democrats made two gains, Tirymynach and Aberaeron
, but lost Melidwr.
The three non-party independents from 2004 were re-elected as Independents (Haydn Lewis in Pen-parc, Gethin James in Aberporth
and Ray Quant in Borth
), as well as John Ivor Williams, who had held his seat in 2004 under the label Cymraeg/Welsh. A single candidate was elected as a non-party independent (Gareth Lloyd Cletwr in Llandysilio-gogo).
Ceredigion County Council
Ceredigion County Council is the governing body for the county of Ceredigion, one of the unitary authorities of Wales.-Political makeup:Elections take place every four years...
were held on May 1, 2008 along with elections to other Welsh councils, plus the London Mayor and Assembly Elections, Metropolitan English councils and Non Metropolitan English councils elections. All 42 council seats are up for election. The previous council was controlled by Independents in coalition with the Liberal Democrat group and the single Labour member. Since 2004, there have been no by-elections to the council (the only council in Wales not to have any during the last four years). Nominations for the council elections closed on April 4, 2008. The last council meeting before the elections (when the council was formally dissolved) was held on April 17, 2008. The composition of the council prior to the elections was:
- Independents 16
- Plaid Cymru 16
- Liberal Democrats 9
- Labour 1
2 Independents had defected to Plaid Cymru and a further 2 Independents had retired. All existing councillors bar the 2 retirees are up for re-election.
Election results: overview
|-bgcolor=#F6F6F6| colspan=2 style="text-align: right; margin-right: 1em" | Total
| style="text-align: right;" | 42
| colspan=5 |
| style="text-align: right;" | 27,718
| style="text-align: right;" |
|-
|}
All parties received a higher share of the vote than in 2004. This was in part due to a fall in the number of non-party independents standing and previous non-party independents joining the independent grouping, but also due to a number of parties (namely UKIP and Llais Ceredigion
Llais Ceredigion
Llais Ceredigion was formed in 2004 with the aim to campaign for a directly elected mayor in the county of Ceredigion....
) not standing candidates this time around.
Plaid Cymru made six gains. They gained a seat in the ward of Aberystwyth, Penparcau
Penparcau
Penparcau is a suburb of Aberystwyth in Ceredigion, Wales.-Location and amenities:The original village was a small hamlet, one mile east of Aberystwyth town centre, but the building of extensive Art Deco style semi-detached social housing from the 1920s on transformed the village...
, as well as the wards of Cardigan, Mwldan, Cardigan, Teifi, Ciliau Aeron
Ciliau Aeron
Ciliau Aeron is a small village 4 miles from Aberaeron in Ceredigion, Wales on the left bank of the River Aeron.The word Ciliau comes from the Welsh for corners. Aeron Corners in English refers to the many bends taken by the river through this area.The village post office has long gone, but Ciliau...
, Llanfarian
Llanfarian
Llanfarian is a village located in the district county of Ceredigion, Mid-Wales, south of the administrative centre Aberystwyth.The 2001 census showed Llanfarian as having a population of 1442....
, Llangeitho
Llangeitho
Llangeitho is a village and community in Ceredigion, Wales situated on the upper river Aeron about 6 km due west of Tregaron and 11 km north of Lampeter. It has a population of 874....
and Melindwr. The party also made four losses: Llandysilio-gogo, Llansantffraed
Llansantffraed
Llansantffraed is a parish in Powys, Wales near Brecon.The parish is the birth and burial place of the poet Henry Vaughan whose grave in the churchyard overlooks the River Usk.- External links :* at geograph.org.uk-Notes:...
, Tirymynach and Troedyraur.
The Liberal Democrats made two gains, Tirymynach and Aberaeron
Aberaeron
Aberaeron |Aeron]] being a Welsh god of war) is a seaside resort town in Ceredigion, Wales. Situated between Aberystwyth and Cardigan, it is home to the headquarters of Ceredigion County Council. The population was 1520 in 2001.-History and design:...
, but lost Melidwr.
The three non-party independents from 2004 were re-elected as Independents (Haydn Lewis in Pen-parc, Gethin James in Aberporth
Aberporth
Aberporth is a community and small town in Ceredigion on the west coast of Wales. The population was 2,485 in 2001.- Location :The town lies at the southern end of Cardigan Bay about six miles north of Cardigan and ten miles south of New Quay approximately one mile west of the A487, on the...
and Ray Quant in Borth
Borth
Borth ) is a coastal village 7 miles north of Aberystwyth in the county of Ceredigion, Mid Wales. The population was 1,523 in 2001.-Features and history:Borth has a sandy beach and is a popular holiday seaside resort...
), as well as John Ivor Williams, who had held his seat in 2004 under the label Cymraeg/Welsh. A single candidate was elected as a non-party independent (Gareth Lloyd Cletwr in Llandysilio-gogo).
Candidates duly nominated for the 2008 elections
Nominations closed at 1200 BST on April 4, 2008 and when the nominations were published the following wards were being contested by the following duly nominated candidates. Elected candidates are in bold. All seats elect one member unless otherwise stated.| Ward | Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966... |
Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the... |
Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
Green Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including... |
Non-party independent | |||||||||
| Aberaeron | Richard Emlyn Thomas | Elizabeth Evans | ||||||||||||||
| Aberporth | Gethin James | Mark William Mainwaring | ||||||||||||||
| Aberystwyth, Bronglais | Alun Williams | Trevor Graham Shaftoe | Robert Mark Schofield | |||||||||||||
| Aberystwyth, Central | Mark Strong | Ceredig Davies | Emily Dale | |||||||||||||
| Aberystwyth, North | Aled Davies | Carl Williams | Anthony Alexander Pickles | |||||||||||||
| Aberystwyth, Penparcau (2 seats) |
Goronwy Edwards, Owen Jones | Steve Davies, Rob Gorman' | Mick Jones | Richard Boudier | David John Cogdell, Graeme Matthew David Smith | |||||||||||
| Aberystwyth, Rheidol | Susan Jane Jones-Davies | Eric John Griffiths | Jason Luke Edwards | |||||||||||||
| Beulah | William David Lyndon Lloyd | Neil Flower | ||||||||||||||
| Borth | Ray Quant | James Whitlock Davies | ||||||||||||||
| Capel Dewi | Peter Davies | |||||||||||||||
| Cardigan, Mwldan | Mair Morris | John Adams-Lewis | Bradley George Stephen Vaughan | |||||||||||||
| Cardigan, Rhydyfwuch | Ann Rees-Seabrook | Mark Cole | ||||||||||||||
| Cardigan, Teifi | Alan Wilson | Catrin Miles | ||||||||||||||
| Ceulanamaesmawr | Ellen ap Gwynn | Richard Oliver Morgan-Ash | ||||||||||||||
| Ciliau Aeron | Iain James Sheldon | Moelfryn Maskell | Harry Hayfield | |||||||||||||
| Faenor | Alan Lloyd Evans | John Roberts | Robert James MacKinnon | |||||||||||||
| Lampeter (2 seats) |
John Ivor Williams | Robert Phillips | Derek Wilson | Robert George Harris | Michael Neville James Chamberlain | Elly Foster | Dorothy Williams | |||||||||
| Llanarth | Eurfyl Evans | |||||||||||||||
| Llanbadarn Fawr, Padarn | Gareth Davies | Terry Raymond Lynch | Bob Morris | |||||||||||||
| Llanbadarn Fawr, Sulien | Paul James | Peter Jeffry Hampson | ||||||||||||||
| Llandyfriog | Benjamin Towyn Evans | Alex Bashford | ||||||||||||||
| Llandysiliogogo | Cen Llwyd | Gareth Lloyd Cletwr | ||||||||||||||
| Llandysul Town | Keith Evans | Iwan William Richards | ||||||||||||||
| Llanfarian | Alun Lloyd Jones | Elian-Lorrae Jones-Southgate | Llinos Mai Thomas | |||||||||||||
| Llanfihangel Ystrad | Owen Llywelyn | Matthew Gee | ||||||||||||||
| Llangeitho | David Evans | |||||||||||||||
| Llangybi | Odwyn Davies | Sonia Rose Williams | ||||||||||||||
| Llanrhystud | Rowland Rees-Evans | Emyr Morgan Jones | ||||||||||||||
| Llansantffraid | Dafydd Edwards | Meurig James | ||||||||||||||
| Llanwenog | Hadyn Richards | Kathy Bracy | ||||||||||||||
| Lledrod | Ifan Davies | Catrin Myfanwy Huws | ||||||||||||||
| Melindwr | Rhodri Davies | Fred Williams | ||||||||||||||
| New Quay | Gill Hopley | Luke William Ashley Evetts | ||||||||||||||
| Penbryn | Ian ap Dewi | June Perry | ||||||||||||||
| Penparc | Haydn Lewis | David Richard James | ||||||||||||||
| Tirmynach | Penri James | Paul Hinge | ||||||||||||||
| Trefeurig | Dai Suter | Martin John Squires | Kari Walker | |||||||||||||
| Tregaron | Catherine Jane Hughes | |||||||||||||||
| Troedyraur | Roy Griffiths Lloyd | Wynford Jones | ||||||||||||||
| Ystwyth | Sian Mereid Archer | Rowland Jones | Leila Kiersch | |||||||||||||
| TOTAL ELECTED | 11 | 19 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||
Councillors Elected 2008
- Cllr Peter Davies (Ind, Capel Dewi) was elected unopposed in 2008. He was first elected in 2004 (beating a Plaid Cymru candidate by 239 votes (40%) and sits on the Development Control Committee and the Standards Committee. A posting on the Vote 2007 forum by the user Meurig suggested that Cllr. Davies was in fact a member of the Conservative Party (which if confirmed would be the first Conservative councillor in Ceredigion since the current boundaries were instigated in 1987)
- Cllr. Eurfyl Evans (Lib Dem, Llanarth) was elected unopposed in 2008. He was first elected in 1995 (holding the ward from Cllr. Thomas) and won re-election in 2004 by 188 votes over Plaid Cymru (31%) and in the last Cabinet (that was dissolved at the same time as the last meeting of the council) was the Cabinet member with responsibility for Economic Development
- Cllr. David Evans (Plaid Cymru, Llangeitho) was elected unopposed in 2008. First elected in 1999 (gaining the seat from the Liberal Democrats as an Independent candidate) joined Plaid Cymru at the close of nominations in 2008. As an Independent member he sat on the Development Control Committee and was vice chair of the Environmental Services and Housing Committee.
- Cllr. Catherine Jane Hughes (Plaid Cymru, Tregaron) was elected in 2004 defeating an Independent candidate by 35 votes (5%) and is vice chair of the Social Service Committee as well as serving on the Development Control Committee and Education Committee.