Your council

Merthyr Tydfil: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council: Welsh unitary authority (unitary), Wales. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code W06000024.

Council website

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Average Band D council tax in Merthyr Tydfil for 2026–27: £2,593.60 a year. Of that, £2,186.33 is set by the council, £405.14 by the police and, on average, £2.13 by community councils.

Every band

Merthyr Tydfil: council tax by band, 2026 to 2027, including police and average community council
Band	A year
A-	£1,440.89
A	£1,729.07
B	£2,017.24
C	£2,305.42
D	£2,593.60
E	£3,169.96
F	£3,746.31
G	£4,322.67
H	£5,187.20
I	£6,051.73

Including the police and the average community council charge; band A− is for homes in band A that qualify for disabled band reduction. Source: Welsh Government, Council tax levels by billing authority and band (Open Government Licence).

Source: Welsh Government, Composition of average band D council tax by billing authority (Open Government Licence). Your own bill depends on your band, your community council and any discounts or reductions.

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Merthyr Tydfil reported it to the Welsh Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in Wales.

Merthyr Tydfil: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education	£87.0 million
Social services	£62.5 million
Council fund housing	£18.8 million
Local environmental services	£13.6 million
Roads and transport	£5.4 million
Libraries, culture, heritage, sport and recreation	£6.4 million
Planning, economic and community development	£4.4 million
Local tax collection	£709,000
Debt financing costs	£11.9 million
Law, order and protective services	none budgeted
Central administration	£4.6 million
Other revenue expenditure	£620,000
Revenue expenditure	£215.9 million

Revenue expenditure: the cost of running each service in the year, as the Welsh Government collects it.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Welsh Government, Budgeted revenue expenditure by authority and service (Open Government Licence).

Merthyr Tydfil in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 58,972 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 41 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £20,222 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £605 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 28.4% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 3.2% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £156,721 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 4.0 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 50.1 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for females born in the given year
Male healthy life expectancy: 51.7 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for males born in the given year
Greenhouse gas emissions: 4.0 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 79.1% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 139.0 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 1,360 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

30 seats in 2026. Run by: independents, as a minority administration. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Independent / Other 15, Labour Party 14, Reform UK 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 30 councillors, by ward

Gillian Preston (Labour Party) — Bedlinog and Trelewis
Michelle Symonds (Independent / Other) — Bedlinog and Trelewis
Claire Jones (Independent / Other) — Cyfarthfa
Geraint Thomas (Independent / Other) — Cyfarthfa
Michelle Jones (Independent / Other) — Cyfarthfa
David Hughes (Reform UK) — Dowlais and Pant
Declan Sammon (Independent / Other) — Dowlais and Pant
Paula Layton (Independent / Other) — Dowlais and Pant
Bill Smith (Labour Party) — Gurnos
Jeremy Davies (Independent / Other) — Gurnos
Lee Davies (Independent / Other) — Gurnos
Darren Roberts (Labour Party) — Merthyr Vale
Scott Thomas (Labour Party) — Merthyr Vale
Clive Jones (Labour Party) — Park
Louise Minett-Vokes (Labour Party) — Park
David Isaac (Labour Party) — Penydarren
Jamie Scriven (Independent / Other) — Penydarren
Kevin Gibbs (Independent / Other) — Penydarren
Anna Williams-Price (Labour Party) — Plymouth
Brent Carter (Labour Party) — Plymouth
Gareth Lewis (Labour Party) — Plymouth
Andrew Barry (Independent / Other) — Town
David Jones (Labour Party) — Town
John Thomas (Independent / Other) — Town
Julia Jenkins (Independent / Other) — Town
Ernie Galsworthy (Labour Party) — Treharris
Gareth Richards (Labour Party) — Treharris
Ian Thomas (Labour Party) — Treharris
Clive Tovey (Independent / Other) — Vaynor
Lisa Mytton (Independent / Other) — Vaynor

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.