Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent is a
county borough and
parliamentary constituency in South
Wales. It borders the administrative areas of
Monmouthshire and
Torfaen to the east,
Caerphilly to the west and
Powys to the north. Its main towns are
Abertillery,
Brynmawr,
Ebbw Vale and
Tredegar.
The borough was formed in
1974 as a local government
district. It was a merger of the
Monmouthshire urban districts of
Abertillery,
Ebbw Vale,
Nantyglo and Blaina and
Tredegar, along with
Brynmawr urban district and the parish of
Llanelly in
Brecknockshire.
It was reconstituted in
1996 as a county borough, excluding
Llanelly which instead was transferred to the reconstituted
Monmouthshire.
Politics
Blaenau Gwent hit the headlines at the
2005 UK General Election when an independent candidate,
Peter Law, won the
seat. He had resigned from the
Labour Party in protest at the imposition of an all-women candidates' shortlist following the retirement of incumbent MP
Llew Smith, and defeated the official Labour candidate,
Maggie Jones, by a majority of 9,121 votes. The seat had previously been held by
Aneurin Bevan and
Michael Foot, and was considered one of Labour's safest. Law died
April 25,
2006 and in the
by-election, a former supporter of his,
Dai Davis won, running as an independent candidate. Peter Law's widow,
Trish Law won his former
Assembly seat, also running as an independent candidate.
Electoral divisions
The county borough is divided into 16
electoral wards returning 42 councillors. The following table lists council wards, communities and associated geographical areas. Communities with a
community council are indicated with a '*':
*
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council Home
