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Bigyn is an electoral ward, representing part of the community of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is a three-member ward for the purposes of elections to Carmarthenshire County Council, with the number of councillors being increased from two to three for the elections held in May 2022.
In 2014, the Bigyn electoral ward had an electorate of 4,931. [1] The total population was 6,750, of whom 83% were born in Wales. 23.0% of the population were able to speak Welsh. [1]
The Bigyn Ward is a three-member ward for the purposes of Carmarthenshire County Council elections. Since 2022 it has been represented by Independent Michael Cranham and Labour Party councillors Janet Williams and Philip Warlow. [2]
The first election to the new unitary Carmarthenshire County Council took place in 1995. Bigyn Ward had three seats, all of which were won by the Labour Party. Martin Morris, the sitting member for the ward on Dyfed County Council, was elected alongside Sandra Cooke and David Prothero, a former county councillor. Three sitting members of Llanelli Borough Council were unsuccessful.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Martin Philip Morris+ | 1,090 | |||
| Labour | Sandra Melita Cooke | 924 | |||
| Labour | David Charles Prothero | 902 | |||
| Independent | William J Marks* | 693 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Margaret N Burree* | 676 | |||
| Independent | Richard Ivor John* | 531 | |||
| Labour gain from Independent | Swing | ||||
| Labour gain from Liberal Democrats | Swing | ||||
| Labour gain from Independent | Swing | ||||
At the 1999, the boundaries remained unchanged but the number of seats were reduced from three to two. Martin Morros contested the Tyisha Ward, where he was successful, allowing his two colleagues to be returned for Bigyn.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Sandra Melita Cooke* | 1,172 | |||
| Labour | David Charles Prothero* | 1,077 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Margaret Eileen Evans | 856 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Peter Buckley Jones | 724 | |||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Labour again held both seats in 2004.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Sandra Melita Cooke* | 728 | |||
| Labour | David Charles Prothero* | 631 | |||
| Plaid Cymru | Michael Burns | 495 | |||
| Independent | Brian Davies | 410 | |||
| Independent | Lawrence Jenkins | 351 | |||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
In 2008, Labour fared badly in the Llanelli area as a whole and lost both seats in Bigyn to Plaid Cymru.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plaid Cymru | Michael Burns | 740 | |||
| Plaid Cymru | Dyfrig Thomas | 729 | |||
| Labour | Sandra Melita Cooke* | 603 | |||
| Labour | David Charles Prothero* | 476 | |||
| Independent | Brian Davies | 230 | |||
| Independent | Peter William Dunkley | 210 | |||
| Independent | Lawrence Jenkins | 202 | |||
| Independent | Dai Rees | 84 | |||
| Plaid Cymru gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
| Plaid Cymru gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
In 2012, Labour, having held all seats in Bigyn from 1995 until 2008, regained both on a low turnout. Eryl Morgan was previously county councillor for Hengoed.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Eryl Morgan | 609 | |||
| Labour | Jeff Edmunds | 565 | |||
| Plaid Cymru | Michael Burns* | 523 | |||
| Plaid Cymru | Dyfrig Thomas* | 518 | |||
| Independent | Nigel Bevan | 401 | |||
| People First | Stephen Bowen | 287 | |||
| Turnout | 33.3 | ||||
| Labour gain from Plaid Cymru | Swing | ||||
| Labour gain from Plaid Cymru | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Jeff Edmunds | 610 | 20 | ||
| Labour | Eryl Morgan | 575 | 19 | ||
| Independent | Terry Morris | 428 | 14 | ||
| Independent | Nigel Bevan | 414 | 13 | ||
| Plaid Cymru | Michael Burns | 333 | 11 | ||
| Plaid Cymru | Kathryn Lodge | 304 | 10 | ||
| Conservative | Robert Thomas | 236 | 8 | ||
| Independent | Stephen Bowen | 181 | 6 | ||
| Turnout | 3081 | 35.48 | |||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
In May 2022, Independent Michael Cranham and Labour's Janet Williams came first and second. The third place vote was tied, on 596 votes, between the other two Labour candidates Philip Warlow and David Darkin. The winner was decided by the toss of a coin, with Warlow guessing correctly. [2]
The long-standing ward boundaries in Llanelli were redrawn in the 1980s to create five new wards, namely Bigyn, Elli, Glanymor, Lliedi and Tyisha. Each of these wards returned a member to Dyfed County Council in 1989 and 1993.
When the current Carmarthenshire County Council was formed in 1995, the Bigyn Wards remained unchanged and initially returned three members to the new authority. This was reduced to two members in 1999.
From 1987, Bigyn formed an electoral ward for the purposes of elections to Llanelli Borough Council. Bigyn returned three members.
Llanelli is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1918 to 1970 the official spelling of the constituency name was Llanelly. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Since 2005, it is currently represented by Nia Griffith of the Labour Party.
Carmarthenshire County Council is the local authority for the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It provides a range of services including education, planning, transport, social services and public safety. The council is one of twenty-two unitary authorities that came into existence on 1 April 1996 under the provisions of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. It took over local government functions previously provided by the three district councils of Carmarthen, Dinefwr, and Llanelli, as well as the county-level services in the area from Dyfed County Council, all of which councils were abolished at the same time.
The first election to Dyfed County Council was held in April 1973. It was followed by the 1977 election. The vast majority of the councillors elected had been members of one of the three previous county authorities which were merged to create Dyfed, namely Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire.
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