Betws is an

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

, representing part of the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

of Betws, near

Ammanford Ammanford ( cy, Rhydaman) is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, with a population of 5,411 at the 2011 census. It is a former coal mining town. The built-up area had a population of 7,945 with the wider urban area even bigger. Acco ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Profile

In 2014, the Betws electoral ward had an electorate of xxx. The total population was xxx, of whom xxx were born in Wales. xxxx% of the population were able to speak Welsh.

Current representation

The Betws Ward is a single-member ward for the purposes of Carmarthenshire County Council elections. Since 2012 it has been represented by

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

councillor Betsan Wyn Jones.

Recent history

The first election to the new unitary

Carmarthenshire County Council Carmarthenshire County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin) 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 counc ...

took place in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. Dorian Evans won the seat by a comfortable majority. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, Evans was re-elected. Evans faced opposition from Plaid Cymru in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

but the majority fell to 30 votes. In

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; ...

, Evans was beaten into third place as the seat was won by an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, Labour having held the seat from 1995 until 2008, came from third place to recapture Betws with a new candidate

Earlier History

County Council Elections

Betws first became an electoral ward for county elections in the early twentieth century, having initially been part of the Llandybie ward at the formation of

. In due course, it became part of one of the two

wards for county council elections and these continued to exist until Carmarthenshire was abolished in 1974. With the formation of

Dyfed County Council Dyfed County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Dyfed) was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Dyfed in south west Wales. It operated between 1974 and 1996. The county council was based at County Hall, Carmarthen. History Dyfed County Cou ...

, Betws was part of one of the Ammanford wards. The two wards were merged in 1989. When the current

was formed in 1995, a Betws ward, based on the boundaries of the existing ward for the purposes of elections to

Dinefwr Borough Council Dinefwr was one of six local government districts of the county of Dyfed, Wales from 1974 to 1996. It was named after Dinefwr Castle which in the middle ages had been the court of the House of Dinefwr and one of the three principal royal courts o ...

was established.

District Council Elections

From 1894 until 1973, Betws formed an electoral ward for the purposes of elections to Llandeilo Rural District Council. Following re-organization in 1973, and until the creation of unitary authorities in 1996, Betws formed an electoral ward for the purposes of elections to

External links

References

Carmarthenshire electoral wards {{Carmarthenshire-geo-stub