Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew (formerly known as Yscir) is the name of 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 ...

in southern

Powys Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...

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 ...

. It covers five local government

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...

and elects a councillor to

Powys County Council Powys County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Powys) is the local authority for Powys, one of the administrative areas of Wales. The County Hall is in Llandrindod Wells. History The county of Powys was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Governme ...

Description

The Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew ward covers the sparsely populated

of Honddu Isaf,

Llanddew Llanddew is a small village and community about 2 km or 1 mile north-east of Brecon, Powys, Wales. The population as of the 2011 UK Census was 232. It is in the historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire). Its manor belongs to the ...

Merthyr Cynog Merthyr Cynog is a hamlet and a community in the modern county of Powys, Wales, in the historic county of Brecknockshire. The population of the community at the 2011 Census was 245. The Welsh name signifies the 'shrine of Cynog'. The grade II* li ...

Trallong Trallong ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a village and community in Powys, Wales, in the historic county of Brecknockshire. Description The community of Trallong is made up of the villages of Trallong, the hamlets of Soar, Aberbran and Llanfihangel Nant ...

and

Yscir Yscir (or Ysgir) is a community in the county of Powys, Wales (the historic county of Brecknockshire) and is 35.3 miles (56.7 km) from Cardiff. Cradoc and Aberyscir are villages within the boundary of this community. Also there are the se ...

, including the valleys of the

Nant Brân The Nant Brân is a short river which rises on the southern slopes of Mynydd Epynt in Powys, Wales. The word 'brân' means 'crow' in Welsh: the name may therefore allude to the dark colour of its waters. Its upper reaches are within the military ...

, Afon Honddu and

Afon Ysgir The Afon Ysgir is a river which rises on the southern slopes of Mynydd Epynt in Powys, Wales. The tributaries known as Ysgir Fawr and Ysgir Fechan flow past the hamlets of Pont Rhyd-y-berry and Merthyr Cynog to combine at Pont-faen and continu ...

. The

River Usk The River Usk (; cy, Afon Wysg) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it fl ...

partly borders the ward to the south. The

Llanwrtyd Wells Llanwrtyd Wells ( cy, Llanwrtyd "church of St Gwrtud") is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, in the historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire) on the Afon Irfon. The town is on the A483 between Llandovery and Builth Wells and is l ...

ward borders to the north, Bronllys and Felin-fach to the east, Maescar/Llywel to the west and

Talybont-on-Usk Talybont-on-Usk ( cy, Tal-y-bont ar Wysg) is a village and community in Powys, Wales, in the historic county of Brecknockshire. It lies on both the Caerfanell river and the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, about from the River Usk. In 2001, i ...

to the south. The town of

Brecon Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the coun ...

borders the southeast corner of the ward. According to the

2011 UK Census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

the population of the Yscir ward was 1,038. Following a boundary review to improve electoral parity, the Yscir ward was augmented with the addition of the communities of Honddu Isaf and

(from the former Felin-fach ward), with the ward name being changed as a result to Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew.

Events

In early 2018 county councillor Iain McIntosh visited every house in the Yscir ward to sign a petition demanding high speed broadband. Yscir had some of the poorest internet connectivity in Wales.

County elections

Since the May 1995 local government election, Yscir has been represented by one county councillor on Powys County Council. Councillor Dorothy Thomas, 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 ...

, represented the ward until 2017. She retired before the May 2017 elections. In May 2017 the Yscir ward made news by being the only ward in Wales not to hold an election, because no candidates had come forward for the vacant seat. This led to a second call for nominations and a by-election arranged to elect a new councillor. Six candidates came forward and, on 22 June 2017,

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

candidate Iain McIntosh won the contest. McIntosh had stood unsuccessfully in Brecon's St John ward in May. Former Conservative, Steve Davies, stood as an Independent in the by-election and, with only 2 votes received possibly the lowest vote in any Powys Council election.

References

{{coord, 51.9922, -3.4899, display=title Wards of Powys