Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Labour holds a majority on Torfaen County Borough Council
Ponthir is run by Torfaen County Borough Council. Labour has a majority on Torfaen County Borough Council. Its MP is Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour), member for Torfaen.
£2,156
Band D, a year, the middle band every council sets its tax from.
Where it goes →How Ponthir’s politics has changed since 2021
A majority on Torfaen County Borough Council
Labour holds a majority on Torfaen County Borough Council: 29 of its 40 seats as elected. Independents hold 9, Reform UK 2. Who’s in charge ↓
Written from the data on this page: Democracy Club results since May 2021, the UK Parliament Members API and Welsh Government council tax.
Who holds the seats
Seats by party as elected. A party needs 21 of Torfaen’s 40 seats to run the council alone.
- Labour29
- Independent9
- Reform UK2
Latest election: May 2022.
Seats are counted from election results: each ward’s most recent winners until its seats are filled. Councillors who have since changed party or resigned aren’t reflected, and which parties lead the council, and who is leader, comes from the council itself.
Results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0), elections since May 2021; seats per ward from its EveryElection.
The councils that run Ponthir
One council runs every main service in a Welsh county or county borough.
Every main council service: schools, social care, roads, bins, planning, housing and libraries.
Website ↗Who to ask
From GOV.UK’s “Understand how your council works”: here one council runs every main service.
Every part of Wales is in a community; many have a community or town council, which the county council lists. Ponthir’s communities: Ponthir.
Councils from ONS lookups (wards and councils May 2026, parishes 2025), names and websites from GOV.UK’s local council finder; parish councils from MHCLG’s 2026–27 list of precepting parishes.
From the council to Westminster
Every elected tier that speaks for Ponthir, from the most recent elections.
- 1Torfaen County Borough Council1 ward · 1 councillorKarl Gauden
- 2Police and crime commissionerGwent Police · elected May 2024Jane Mudd
- 3SeneddSir Fynwy Torfaen · 6 membersPeter FoxLynne NeagleMatthew JonesLaura Anne JonesDonna CushingStephen John Senior
- 4House of CommonsTorfaen
Party colours are neutral on purpose: they tell parties apart and aren’t the parties’ own. Tap an MP’s name for their contact page on parliament.uk.
1 councillor for 1 ward
Wards with at least 2% of the town’s residents, or half their own inside it. Each shows who won its most recent elections, newest first, until its seats are filled.
- Karl GaudenLabour · May 2022
Show as a table
| Ward | Seats | Elected | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Llanfrechfa and Ponthirmostly in Ponthir · 1,260 residents1 seat · May 2022 | 1 | Karl Gauden | May 2022 |
Councillors can resign, change party or sit as independents between elections; a by-election winner replaces someone not named here. Torfaen County Borough Council’s website lists who sits now.
Results from Democracy Club’s candidates database (CC BY 4.0; elections since May 2021) and ward seats from its EveryElection, matched to ONS wards (May 2026) and county divisions (May 2025).
Torfaen council election, May 2022
Results in the wards that make up Ponthir, as declared. Percentages are of votes cast for candidates in each ward; where a ward elects several councillors, each voter has that many votes.
1 ward voted. Every seat in the town’s wards was up.
No election is scheduled yet for Ponthir’s wards in Democracy Club’s list. Councils publish a notice of election about five weeks before polling day.
Who can I vote for? ↗769 votes for candidates
Candidates and results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0), from councils’ declared results; polling dates from Democracy Club’s EveryElection.
Ponthir is in Torfaen constituency
The constituency’s MP and the 4 July 2024 general election, the whole constituency’s result (it reaches beyond Ponthir).
35,705 votes for candidates · majority 7,322
Labour, MP since 7 May 2015.
turnout in July 2024: 35,705 votes from 71,738 registered voters. Wales: 56%.
Majority 7,322 of 35,705 votes (20.5%): wider than in 50% of Wales’s 32 constituencies.
MPs and results: UK Parliament Members API (Open Parliament Licence v3.0); constituencies from ONS (2024 boundaries). Percentages are of valid votes; turnout is votes cast over the electorate.
Members of the Senedd for Ponthir
Wales’s parliament: health, education, local government and transport in Wales. Elected 7 May 2026 under the new system of 16 six-member constituencies.
Votes are cast for party lists; seats go to lists in proportion (the D’Hondt method). Bars show seats won: list vote totals aren’t in the data yet.
All of Ponthir is in Sir Fynwy Torfaen.
Results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0). Constituencies from ONS (Senedd constituencies 2026).
Ponthir’s Band D council tax is £2,156 a year
Where a Band D bill goes, what it has cost over the years, and what the councils plan to spend per resident.
Torfaen County Borough Council sets £1,691.60 of a Band D bill (78%); the rest goes to community councils and the Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner.
Your bill by band
The average Band D home in Torfaen, 2026–27, before discounts. The Valuation Office Agency’s band search gives any home’s band.
Gwent’s councils
Average Band D in each council area, 2026–27, parish precepts included. Bars start at £1,900.
Revenue budgets 2026–27 including schools (Wales has no academies), Welsh Government; per resident on the Welsh Government’s population. Police and fire are budgeted separately.
Band D: Welsh Government, Council tax levels April 2026 to March 2027.
Having a say in how Ponthir is run
It takes about five minutes online; the deadline is 12 working days before a poll.
gov.uk ↗Type a postcode to write to each of its councillors and its MP.
WriteToThem ↗GOV.UK sends the report to the council that looks after the road.
gov.uk ↗Council and committee meetings are open to the public, with agendas and minutes online.
torfaen.gov.uk ↗Anyone can comment while an application is open for consultation.
torfaen.gov.uk ↗The rules, nomination papers and guidance for council candidates.
Electoral Commission ↗Questions about how Ponthir is run
Who is the MP for Ponthir?
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour) is the MP for Torfaen, which covers Ponthir.
How many councillors does Ponthir have?
1 ward councillors represent Ponthir’s 1 ward.
When are the next elections in Ponthir?
No election is scheduled yet in Democracy Club’s list for Ponthir’s wards. The next UK general election must be held by August 2029; the next Senedd election is due in May 2030.
How much is council tax in Ponthir?
Band D council tax in Ponthir is £2,156 for 2026–27 (the council average). Your bill depends on your home’s band, from A (6/9 of Band D) to H (18/9).
Who controls Torfaen County Borough Council?
Labour has a majority: 29 of 40 seats as elected. The council’s website lists who leads it now.
Who won the 2022 council election in Ponthir?
In Ponthir’s wards on 5 May 2022, Labour 1 of the 1 seats up. Labour had the largest share of votes, 50.6%.
Sources: ONS ward, county division, parish, constituency and Senedd constituency lookups (Census 2021 output areas; Open Government Licence v3.0) · GOV.UK local council finder · Democracy Club candidates (CC BY 4.0) and EveryElection · UK Parliament Members API (Open Parliament Licence v3.0) · Welsh Government council tax levels and revenue budgets 2026–27 (OGL v3.0). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.