Caerphilly by-election shines new spotlight on historic town

From its magnificent castle to its industrial past, Caerphilly is a county steeped in history and this constituency has voted Labor at every Westminster and Senedd election for over a century.

Visitors come from afar to see Wales’ greatest castle, but the by-election following the sudden death of former Labor member Hefin David has shed this town in new light.

In the last Senedd election in 2021, Labor won with a 5,000 majority over Plaid Cymru, which was just ahead of the Conservatives.

But if the latest opinion polls are to be believed, it shows Labor faces a real challenge this time.

Candidate Richard Tunnicliffe, a former children’s book publisher, believes he can offer something different and says he is keen to be a “critical friend” of the Cardiff government.

During a visit to Lansbury Park, one of the poorest areas of the constituency, he said crime and anti-social behavior were big problems for people in the area.

“They want cleaner streets and a community they can be proud of,” he said.

“Basically they want people to invest in their communities, they want the problems caused by anti-social behavior to go away.”

He added that people are calling for “more investment in their communities, for things to get better.”

But other parties sense an opportunity to challenge Labour’s dominance.

Plaid Cymru candidate Lindsay Whittle has plenty of experience of fighting elections in this area, having been here 13 times before, as well as being a local councillor.

Speaking at a food bank, he said Plaid was offering “radical and real change”.

“Even though people talk all the time about stopping the boats, you’ve got problems with the NHS, you’ve got problems with the cost of living, rising food prices, rising gas, electricity, fuel prices, it’s affecting everyone’s daily life,” he said.

The reform received fewer than 500 votes in the last Senedd election in 2021 but is confident of making significant progress on the issue.

In last year’s general election in the UK, Reform came third with just over 20 per cent of the vote; however, this election was held within slightly different constituency boundaries.

Candidate Llyr Powell said he did not believe “voters have been tapped in this area for too long.”

“I understand the real issues affecting people here in Wales, I understand the issues we have when living here in Caerphilly where we are not getting an A&E service as we were promised, I understand the level of council tax we pay by living here, the closure of our front line services.

“I think Reform understands voters a lot better.”

Conservative candidate Gareth Potter said his main issue was fixing local services.

“The biggest thing for us is to fix the NHS system, which is broken by Labor and Plaid, and also our economy. We see high streets across the region and across Wales are dying, and that’s our biggest mission, as well as our education system.”

Four more parties remain standing.

The Green Party’s Gareth Hughes is calling for more green jobs for people where they live and better public services, including more evening bus services.

Liberal Democrat Steve Aicheler wants to prioritize education and “fix the social care crisis” to deregulate the Welsh NHS and cut waiting times.

Anthony Cook represents Gwlad and the UKIP candidate is Roger Quilliam.

There is clearly a strong sense of community in this part of the Rhymney Valley and people are proud of their local area.

But they too want development and people have different concerns, whether it’s buses, healthcare or the condition of high streets.

“This town should be thriving, no shops should be closed,” said Wayne, standing next to an empty retail space in Caerphilly town centre.

“We have a castle there that attracts thousands of visitors a year and they basically have to go through a rubbish dump.

“At least make it look attractive to visitors, don’t let the town die on its own feet.”

Another shopper in town, Stephanie Dickson, was also concerned about local traffic.

“Traffic is terrible, trying to get from Senghenydd to Abertridwr is a real problem,” he said.

“We have had a major development at Abertridwr on the site of the former Windsor colliery,” he explained, “traffic again seems to be a big issue, it doesn’t seem to have the infrastructure to support it.”

The region’s coal mining history is never far away. The former miners’ hospital in Caerphilly is now a café and community centre.

Ian Mickiewicz, a regular bus user, said he thought “things could be a lot better”.

“They recently built a bus stop in Nantgarw. They put it in place, but there are no seats.

“If they have half an hour [to] “You have 40 minutes to wait, and although shelter is useful, it’s no fun if you have to wait for the bus to arrive in a barren and isolated place.”

The Caerphilly constituency is much larger than the town itself; It extends north to Bargoed and east to Machen.

Childcare at a nursery in Machen was a major concern for staff, but so was the closure of the swimming pool in Bedwas.

“Kids go there on their own after school,” Heather Street said, “but if the school closes, where do they go?”

Her colleague Steph Bolter was concerned about the impact on swimming lessons at school.

“They will have to make more trips, schools won’t be able to pay for buses to the swimming pool down the road,” he said.

Many people have welcomed the focus of this by-election on their areas and each party is working hard to win their support.

Because this election is not just about sending a representative to the Senedd, it is also about creating the right foundation for success in the Senedd elections next May.