Bridgend County Borough

Bridgend County Borough

Bridgend (Welsh: Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) is a county borough in the historic county of Glamorgan, south Wales. The county borough has a total population of 139,200 people, and contains the settlements of Bridgend, after which it is named, Maesteg, and the seaside town of Porthcawl. Its member of the National Assembly for Wales is Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales, and its Member of Parliament is Madeleine Moon.

The county borough lies at the geographical heart of south Wales. Its land area of 285 square kilometres stretches 20 km from east to west and occupies the Llynfi, Garw and Ogmore valleys. The largest town is Bridgend (pop: 39,773), followed by Maesteg (pop: 20,700) and seaside resort of Porthcawl (pop: 19,238).

It is based around the Ogmore River and its tributaries, although the Ewenny and Ogwr Fach rivers are considered the border with the Vale of Glamorgan for much of their length.

It was formed on 1 April 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. It includes all of the former Ogwr borough apart from the communities of Wick, St Bride's Major and Ewenny, which went to Vale of Glamorgan. The new act saw the abolishment of civil parishes, and the introduction of communities. Bridgend County Borough was divided into 20 communities: Brackla, Bridgend, Cefn Cribwr, Coity Higher, Coychurch Higher, Coychurch Lower, Cornelly, Garw Valley, Laleston, Llangynwyd Lower, Llangynwyd Middle, Maesteg, Merthyr Mawr, Newcastle Higher, Ogmore Valley, Pencoed, Porthcawl, Pyle, St Bride's Minor and Ynysawdre. The communities of Brackla, Bridgend and Coychurch Lower make up the town of Bridgend.