2022 Torfaen County Borough Council election

A 2022 election to Torfaen County Borough Council took place on 5 May 2022 as part of the 2022 Welsh local elections. The previous full council election took place in May 2017.

Welsh Labour held the council with a majority, gaining two more seats.

Boundary review

There were numerous changes to the boundaries and representation of wards in the county borough, enacted by The County Borough of Torfaen (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2021. ^[1] Only 11 wards - Abersychan, Blaenavon, Coed Eva, Greenmeadow, Llantarnam, New Inn, Panteg, Pontnewydd, St Dials, Two Locks and Upper Cwmbran - retained their previous boundaries. ^[2]

Results

Results [3]
Party	Seats	Change
Labour Party	30	2
Independents	10	2
Conservative Party	0	4

Ward results

Abersychan

Abersychan

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Chris Tew	1,027	63.6
	Labour	Giles Davies	935	57.9
	Labour	Lynda Clarkson	772	47.8
	Independent	Wayne Tomlinson	481	29.8
	Labour	Bob Rogers	380	23.5
	Conservative	Andrew Millard	259	16.0
Turnout			1,616	32
	Independent hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

Blaenavon

Blaenavon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Janet Jones	843	55.6
	Independent	Nick Horler	818	54.0
	Labour	Liam Cowles	726	47.9
	Labour	Lewis Evans	606	40.0
	Labour	John Hunt	443	29.2
	Conservative	Alanna Senior	235	15.5
Turnout			1,515	32
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Coed Eva

Coed Eva

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fiona Cross	435	69.7
	Conservative	Nathan Edmunds	117	18.8
	Independent	Steven Clarke	72	11.5
Turnout			624	32
	Labour hold		Swing

Croesyceiliog

Croesyceiliog

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Richard Clark	950	66.1
	Labour	Joanne Gauden	948	65.9
	Conservative	Amy Bubela	421	29.3
	Conservative	Roger Morgan	380	26.4
Turnout			1,438	34
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Fairwater

Fairwater

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rose Seabourne	697	65.8
	Labour	Jayne Watkins	660	62.3
	Conservative	Andrew Leaves	329	31.0
Turnout			1,060	27
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Greenmeadow

Greenmeadow

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mandy Owen	427	62.5
	Independent	Jason O'Connell	256	37.5
Turnout			683	33
	Labour hold		Swing

Llanfrechfa & Ponthir

Llanfrechfa & Ponthir

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karl Gauden	389	50.6
	Conservative	Huw Bevan	380	49.4
Turnout			769	43
	Labour win (new seat)

Llantarnam

Llantarnam

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	David Thomas	1,081	55.5
	Independent	Alan Slade	996	51.1
	Independent	Nick Jones	950	48.7
	Labour	David Bolton	667	34.2
	Labour	Anthony Bird	550	28.2
	Labour	Leighton Johnstone	481	24.7
	Plaid Cymru	Matthew Woolfall Jones	432	22.2
	Green	Philip Davies	268	13.8
Turnout			1,949	37
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing
	Independent win (new seat)

Llanyravon

Llanyravon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Williams	469	66.6
	Conservative	Cory Scriven	235	33.4
Turnout			704	36
	Labour win (new seat)

New Inn

New Inn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nick Byrne	906	53.0
	Labour	Rosemary Matthews	859	50.2
	Labour	Jon James	848	49.6
	Conservative	David James	780	45.6
	Conservative	Richard Overton	677	39.6
	Conservative	Nicholas Jones	644	37.7
Turnout			1,710	35
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Panteg

Panteg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Anthony Hunt	1,480	74.7
	Labour	Norma Parrish	1,253	63.3
	Labour	Nathan Yeowell	1,230	62.1
	Conservative	Stephen Senior	501	25.3
	Conservative	Jonathon Martin	415	20.9
	Conservative	Adrian Lang	403	20.3
Turnout			1,981	33
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Pontnewydd

Pontnewydd

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Daniels	984	59.3
	Labour	Sue Morgan	949	57.2
	Labour	Stuart Ashley	863	52.0
	Independent	Duncan Campbell	507	30.6
	Independent	Maxine Brankley	481	29.0
	Independent	Damian Edmunds	472	28.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ryan Richards	163	9.8
Turnout			1,659	33
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Pontnewynydd & Snatchwood

Pontnewynydd & Snatchwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfie Best	412	46.0
	Labour	Nicholas Simons	389	43.4
	Independent	Gwyn Jenkins	347	38.7
	Independent	Russell Burgess	282	31.5
	Conservative	Michael Clarke	138	15.4
Turnout			896	30
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Pontypool Fawr

Pontypool Fawr

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Mark Jones	940	54.3
	Labour	Caroline Price	838	48.4
	Labour	Gaynor James	812	46.9
	Labour	Paul Stephens	639	36.9
	Conservative	Lyndon Bishop	355	20.5
Turnout			1,732	30
	Independent win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

St Dials

St Dials

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Elizabeth Haynes	630	57.2
	Independent	Catherine Bonera	530	48.1
	Labour	Fay Jones	437	39.7
	Labour	Kebba Manneh	349	31.7
	Conservative	Paul Thomas	102	9.3
Turnout			1,101	31
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Trevethin & Penygarn

Trevethin & Penygarn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sue Malson	676	74.3
	Labour	Jon Horler	574	63.1
	Conservative	Andrew White	215	23.6
Turnout			910	23
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Two Locks

Two Locks

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Colette Thomas	781	50.5
	Labour	Peter Jones	695	44.9
	Independent	Ron Burnett	597	38.6
	Labour	Kathy Evans	562	36.3
	Independent	Kevin Fortey	362	23.4
	Conservative	Jane Brown	241	15.6
	Conservative	Alexander Boyce	215	13.9
	Conservative	Rebecca Senior	189	12.2
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Davies	165	10.7
	Liberal Democrats	Brendan Roberts	127	8.2
	Freedom Alliance	Vicky Stamper	47	3.0
Turnout			1,547	23
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Upper Cwmbran

Upper Cwmbran

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Steven Evans	571	57.6
	Labour	Lucy Williams	455	45.9
	Independent	Sian Legge	387	39.0
	Independent	Robert Kemp	373	37.6
Turnout			992	22
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Changes 2022-2026

Affiliation changes

Llantarnam's three Independent councillors joined Reform UK in August 2024, forming a Reform UK group on the council. ^[4]

By-elections

Llantarnam

Llantarnam: 2 February 2023 ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Jason O'Connell	489		N/A
	Labour	David Bolton	406
	Plaid Cymru	Matthew Woolfall Jones	111
	Conservative	Stephen John Senior	85		N/A
	Green	Philip Davies	69
	Liberal Democrats	Miles Andrew Cook	13		N/A
Majority			83		N/A
Turnout				22.5
	Independent hold		Swing

The by-election was caused by the resignation of Independent councillor, Nick Jones, in November 2022. ^[6]

Trevethin & Penygarn

Trevethin & Penygarn by-election: 13 February 2025

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform UK	Stuart Keyte	457	47.0	N/A
	Labour	Toniann Phillips	259	26.6	–49.3
	Independent	Catherine Howells	117	12.0	N/A
	Independent	Louise Shepphard	114	11.7	N/A
	Green	Tony Clark	25	2.6	N/A
Majority			198	20.4	N/A
Turnout			972	24.7	+1.7
	Reform UK gain from Labour

Keyte is the first elected representative of Reform UK in Wales. ^[7]

References

1. "The County Borough of Torfaen (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2021", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 2021/1139, retrieved 28 September 2025
2. "Torfaen Council Boundary Reforms Confirmed". Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
3. "Torfaen result - Local Elections 2022". BBC News. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
4. Conor Gogarty (19 August 2024). "Reform now has its first three councillors in Wales". Wales Online . Retrieved 28 September 2025.
5. "Torfaen County Borough Council Election Results". Torfaen County Borough Council. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
6. "Torfaen council Llantarnam by-election candidate". Free Press Series. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
7. Mansfield, Mark (30 May 2025). "Reform wins council by-election in Llanelli". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 25 September 2025.