The elections to

Ceredigion County Council Ceredigion County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Ceredigion) is the governing body for the county of Ceredigion, since 1996 one of the unitary authorities of Wales. The council's main offices are in Aberaeron. History The current council was created ...

were held on 1 May 2008 along with elections to other Welsh councils, plus the London Mayor and Assembly Elections, Metropolitan English councils and Non Metropolitan English councils elections. All 42 council seats are up for election. It was preceded by the 2004 election and followed by the 2012 election. The previous council was controlled by Independents in coalition with the Liberal Democrat group and the single Labour member. Since 2004, there have been no by-elections to the council (the only council in Wales not to have any during the last four years). Nominations for the council elections closed on 4 April 2008. The last council meeting before the elections (when the council was formally dissolved) was held on 17 April 2008. The composition of the council prior to the elections was: * Independents 16 * Plaid Cymru 16 * Liberal Democrats 9 * Labour 1 2 Independents had defected to Plaid Cymru and a further 2 Independents had retired. All existing councillors bar the 2 retirees are up for re-election.

Election results: overview

, -bgcolor=#F6F6F6 , colspan=2 style="text-align: right; margin-right: 1em" , Total , style="text-align: right;" , 42 , colspan=5 , , style="text-align: right;" , 27,718 , style="text-align: right;" , , - All parties received a higher share of the vote than in 2004. This was in part due to a fall in the number of non-party independents standing and previous non-party independents joining the independent grouping, but also due to a number of parties (namely

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...

and

Llais Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

) not standing candidates this time around. Plaid Cymru made six gains. They gained a seat in the ward of Aberystwyth, Penparcau, as well as the wards of Cardigan, Mwldan, Cardigan, Teifi,

Ciliau Aeron Ciliau Aeron ( en, where the valley of the river Aeron narrows) is a community and small village 4 miles from Aberaeron in Ceredigion, Wales on the left bank of the River Aeron. The community includes the village of Cilcennin. The word ''Ciliau ...

Llanfarian Llanfarian is a village, electoral ward and community in the district county of Ceredigion, Mid-Wales, south of the administrative centre Aberystwyth. Llanfarian village lies above the banks of the river Ystwyth in the Ystwyth Valley. The commu ...

Llangeitho Llangeitho is a village and community on the upper River Aeron in Ceredigion, Wales, about four miles (6 km) west of Tregaron and north of Lampeter. Its population of 874 in 2001 fell to 819 at the 2011 census. Nonconformism The village is l ...

and

Melindwr Melindwr is a community in the county of Ceredigion, Wales, to the east of Aberystwyth and is 71.6 miles (115.1 km) from Cardiff and 173.8 miles (279.7 km) from London London is the capital and largest city of England and the Un ...

. The party also made four losses: Llandysilio-gogo, Llansantffraid,

Tirymynach Tirymynach is a community in Ceredigion, Wales, also an electoral ward, which lies immediately to the north of Aberystwyth. Tirymynach is represented in the Senedd by Elin Jones (Plaid Cymru) and the Member of Parliament is Ben Lake (Plaid Cym ...

and

Troedyraur Troedyraur is a small village, wider rural community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales. The community consisting of several small villages, the population as of the 2011 UK Census was 1,310. The village is on a minor road about 3 miles (5& ...

. The Liberal Democrats made two gains,

and

Aberaeron Aberaeron, previously anglicised as Aberayron, is a town, community, and electoral ward between Aberystwyth and Cardigan, in Ceredigion, Wales. Ceredigion County Council offices are in Aberaeron. The name of the town is Welsh for ''mouth of ...

, but lost

. The three non-party independents from 2004 were re-elected as Independents (Haydn Lewis in Pen-parc, Gethin James in

Aberporth Aberporth is a seaside village, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales. The population at the 2001 Census, was 2,485, of whom 49 per cent could speak the Welsh language. At the 2011 Census, the population of the community was 2,374 a ...

and Ray Quant in

Borth Borth ( cy, Y Borth) is a village and seaside resort in Ceredigion, Mid Wales, 7 miles (11 km) north of Aberystwyth on the Ceredigion Coast Path. The community includes the settlement of Ynyslas. The population was 1,399 in 2011. From be ...

), as well as John Ivor Williams, who had held his seat in 2004 under the label ''Cymraeg/Welsh''. A single candidate was elected as a non-party independent (Gareth Lloyd Cletwr in Llandysilio-gogo). Nine members of the original Council elected in 1995 were again returned. 2008 Results

Ward Results

Aberaeron Aberaeron, previously anglicised as Aberayron, is a town, community, and electoral ward between Aberystwyth and Cardigan, in Ceredigion, Wales. Ceredigion County Council offices are in Aberaeron. The name of the town is Welsh for ''mouth of ...
(one seat)

Aberporth (one seat)

Aberteifi, Mwldan (one seat)

Aberteifi, Rhydyfuwch (one seat)

Aberteifi, Teifi (one seat)

Aberystwyth Bronglais (one seat)

Aberystwyth Central (one seat)

Aberystwyth North (one seat)

Aberystwyth Penparcau (two seats)

Aberystwyth Rheidol (one seat)

Beulah (one seat)

Borth (one seat)

Capel Dewi (one seat)

Cllr Peter Davies (Ind, Capel Dewi) was elected unopposed in 2008. He was first elected in 2004 (beating a Plaid Cymru candidate by 239 votes (40%) and sits on the Development Control Committee and the Standards Committee.

Ceulanamaesmawr (one seat)

Ciliau Aeron (one seat)

Plaid Cymru had captured the seat in a by-election.

Faenor (one seat)

Lampeter (two seats)

Llanarth (one seat)

Cllr. Eurfyl Evans (Lib Dem, Llanarth) was elected unopposed in 2008. He was first elected in 1995 (holding the ward from Cllr. Alan Thomas) and won re-election in 2004 by 188 votes over Plaid Cymru (31%) and in the last Cabinet (that was dissolved at the same time as the last meeting of the council) was the Cabinet member with responsibility for Economic Development

Llanbadarn Fawr Padarn (one seat)

Llanbadarn Fawr Sulien (one seat)

Llandyfriog (one seat)

Llandysiliogogo (one seat)

Llandysul Town (one seat)

Llanfarian (one seat)

Alun Lloyd Jones had left the Plaid Cymru group and joined the Independents after the 1999 election. However, since the 2004 election he rejoined the party.

Llanfihangel Ystrad (one seat)

Llangeitho (one seat)

Cllr. David Evans (Plaid Cymru, Llangeitho) was elected unopposed in 2008. First elected in 1999 (gaining the seat from the Liberal Democrats as an Independent candidate) joined Plaid Cymru at the close of nominations in 2008. As an Independent member he sat on the Development Control Committee and was vice chair of the Environmental Services and Housing Committee.

Llangybi (one seat)

Llanrhystud (one seat)

Llansantffraed (one seat)

Llanwenog (one seat)

Lledrod (one seat)

Melindwr (one seat)

New Quay (one seat)

Penbryn (one seat)

Penparc (one seat)

Tirymynach (one seat)

Trefeurig (one seat)

Tregaron (one seat)

Cllr. Catherine Jane Hughes (Plaid Cymru, Tregaron) was elected in 2004 defeating an Independent candidate by 35 votes (5%) and was vice chair of the Social Service Committee as well as serving on the Development Control Committee and Education Committee.

Troedyraur (one seat)

Ystwyth one seat)

By-elections 2008-12

Aberystwyth Rheidol 2008

A by-election was held in the Aberystwyth Rheidol ward following the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor Eric Griffiths.

References

External links

A guide to the elections in Ceredigion
{{United Kingdom local elections, 2008 2008 Welsh local elections

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

21st century in Ceredigion