Changes to electoral system are approved

PLANS to increase the number of members representing a community council has taken a major step forward after being approved at county borough level.

A request to progress proposed changes to the electoral arrangements of Coity Higher Community Council was granted at a Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) meeting on January 19.

The changes to electoral arrangement, as laid out in the final proposal, would mean an increase in the council to 13 members.

An increase in the overall population of Coity is one of the reasons why City Higher Community Council requested that BCBC review the electoral arrangements of the area last year.

BCBC Councillor for Coity, Amanda Williams, said: “Firstly I welcome the news as Coity has been under represented for quite some time.

“With Parc Derwen, Parc Farm, Trem y Castell and Gerddi’r Castell we’ve seen Coity change from 300 houses to nearing 3000 and yet for years we have only had two representatives on the community council despite also housing the prison.

“The proposal sets out a fairer representation through Coity Higher and it should allow for the workload to be shared between the elected community councillors if it’s in place by the elections in May.

“I hope that residents will consider standing for these positions at the coming elections.”

The final proposals will now be presented to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales for review. If approved an Order will be made to implement the proposed alteration.

The report of the Chief Executive of BCBC on the electoral arrangements in Coity Higher Community Council states that the Order “must be made prior to the Notice of Election on the 21 March 2022 in order for it to be implemented for the Local Elections in May 2022”.

The number of electors - people who are eligible to vote in future elections - in Coity is at 3,566 people. However, the ward only has two town councillors representing.

If the final proposals are approved by the Boundary Commission for Wales, Coity will have six town councillors representing it and both Litchard and Pendre will have fewer.

Litchard will have four town councillors and Pendre will have three.

This would have the effect of balancing the number of electors per councillor to about 590 in each ward, with the exception of Litchard, which would have 543 electors per councillor.