Labour made a dramatic gain in terms of seats but the Vale of Glamorgan council is now in no overall control. The Conservatives were elected into power in 2017 but an internal falling out saw the group split and a coalition was formed however, the party lost a number of seats.
This election, it went from 14 to 25 seats, giving it a majority. Across Wales, the Conservatives suffered major losses and it was no different here. In 2017 they had 23 councillors elected, that dropped 10 this election.
Due to recent ward boundary changes in Wales, the council had expanded from 47 seats to 54 seats. There were 170 candidates trying to win one of the 54 seats. Labour got 25 seats, Conservatives got 13, Plaid Cymru got eight seats, while Independent councillors received four as did Llantwit First. The turnout was 44,547, which is 42.9% of the 103,856 eligible voters of the county.
Read more: Wales local election 2022 updates: Results and reaction as Labour make gains and Tories lose out
The party’s leader George Dennis was comfortably re-elected as the councillor for Llandough ward, other candidates weren’t so lucky. Vincent Bailey and Leighton Rowlands lost their seats in the Dyfan ward to two Labour candidates - Belinda Loveluck-Edwards and Emma Jane Goodjohn. It was a bitter blow for both Tory candidates, especially considering Bailey won 851 votes and Rowlands won 837 of the votes in 2017. This time round, Bailey received 607 votes while Rowlands received 572 votes, while Goodjohn received 774 votes and Loveluck-Edwards got 740 votes.
Prior to the results, Leighton Rowlands had expected the Conservatives to win in the ward and predicted that the party had done “pretty well” to hold others. But it was a very different story when we spoke to him after his ward’s results. “I’m very disappointed in losing my seat,” he said. “I’ve worked really hard for Dyfan. I feel that the residents deserve much better. The two Labour candidates have a lot to live up to.”
When asked why he thought the Conservative candidates had lost their seats in the ward, he replied that it was down to the “national picture”. But he added: “If that was the case however, George Carroll would’ve lost his seat as well… On a national scale, I don’t think we do need to change. Let’s see what happens to Keir Stammer with the investigation.”
Rhys Thomas and Anthony Ernest managed to snap up both seats in the Plymouth ward away from independent and ex-Tory councillors, Ben Gray and Kathryn McCaffer, and made a gain in Rhoose, the party failed to win a new ward - St Nicholas and Llancarfan.
Lis Burnett - the deputy leader of the council before the council election, and Mark Robert Wilson regained their seats as councillors for Stanwell ward.
Labour also did well in the Cadoc ward, which due to boundary changes, saw four seats up for grabs and all four of them were snapped up by Labour candidates - Catherine Iannucci, Ewan Goodjohn, Gareth Michael Ball and Helen Payne. This resulted in Conservative candidate, Rachael Nugent-Finn, losing her seat.
Labour candidate, Naomi Marshallsea, who won a seat in the ward of Illtyd said: “I am overwhelmed and still got adrenaline. It’s amazing that my children got to see me achieve this and they’ll remember this when they’re older. I have an amazing community and that’s why I wanted to represent them. I’m so committed to doing good work there.”
Llantwit First managed to get all four seats in Llantwit Major, with all four of the councillors Jayne Margaret Norman, Gwyn John, Eddie Williams and Sally Margaret Hanks regaining the seats they won in 2017.
Plaid Cymru made an impressive gain in Baruc ward. Once again, due to boundary changes, the party won all three seats, which were claimed by re-elected councillors Steffan William and Nic Hodges, as well as newcomer Mark Jonathan Hooper.
The final results came from the ward of Dinas Powys around 11pm. Three Plaid Cymru candidates - Anne Asbrey, Chris Franks and Marianne Coupe, managed to grab Conservative seats from 2017’s election. The fourth seat of the ward was held by Vince Driscoll.
Here are the results from Vale of Glamorgan in full:
The result in 2017
In 2017, the Conservatives gained 11 seats taking their total to 23 but falling one short of an overall majority. Labour lost seven seats, reducing its presence to 14 seats. For the five years previously Labour had ruled, supported by Llantwit First Independents.
Conservatives : 23
Labour: 14
Plaid Cymru: 4
Llantwit First Independent: 4
Independent: 2
However, in 2019, the Conservative leader and entire cabinet walked away and formed an independent group. You can read about that here. It made the make-up before the election was:
Conservatives : 14
Labour: 13
Vale Independents Group: 8
Llantwit First Group: 4
Plaid Cymru : 4
Independent : 3
