John Yeomans becomes the new county councillor for Rhiwcynon, which includes the villages of Tregynon and Adfa, after winning a county council by-election.

Eight candidates contested the by-election with voting held on Tuesday 4th June 2024.

The by-election took place to fill the vacancy following the resignation of independent councillor, Heulwen Hulme in April.

The election was won by local farmer, John Yeomans for the Welsh Conservatives with nearly 40% of the vote.

This win for the Conservatives means their county council group now stands at 15 members, tying them with the newly formed Powys Independents (15 members) as the main opposition group(s).

Plaid Cymru's Ann Jones came second with 32%, who contested the seat again, coming in second in the 2022 local government elections.

Cllr Yeomans said:

“One issue that might seem minor in some people’s eyes but is massive for people around here is the state of the roads, it’s horrendous and loads of cars are being damaged.

“There’s a lot of worry with the local schools and the transport issues – there’s a feeling that’s unfair and I’m hoping we can do something about that.”

Cllr Yeomans thanked and his family for all their support and the Powys County Council staff who manned the polling stations during the day and later worked at the count to tally up the votes.

He also thanked Craig Williams the Conservative General Election candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, Russell George the Montgomeryshire MS and “their people” for their help during the campaign.

Candidate	Votes	%
AMY, Richard Edward (Welsh Liberal Democrats)	74	8.4%
JONES, Ann (Plaid Cymru)	286	32.4%
JONES, Richard Breese (Independent)	110	12.5%
LEWIS, Oliver (Reform UK)	18	2.0%
MARKINSON, David (Independent)	4	0.5%
PARFITT, Rhodri (Green Party)	13	1.5%
WIXEY, Paul (Welsh Labour)	25	2.8%
YEOMANS, John (Welsh Conservatives) [Elected]	352	39.9%

Total votes cast was 882.

The last election results for Rhiwcynon in 2022 can be found here.

Additional reporting by Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter.