THERE will be one more councillor on the county authority after changes to electoral boundaries were confirmed by the Welsh Government.

Under the changes approved, which will see councillor numbers rise from 45 to 46, the Drybridge and Monmouth town wards will be split up into two separate single member wards, alongside St Kingsmark and Mount Pleasant in Chepstow.While 31 of the wards are unaffected, several will also be merged to create two-member wards.They include Mitchel Troy and Trellech United, Govilon and Llanfoist which will be renamed Llanfoist Fawr and Govilon, Llanbadoc and Usk, and Larkfield and Chepstow Castle to form a new two-member ward, whileRebecca Evans, Welsh Government minister for finance and local government, has accepted the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales recommendations for Monmouthshire.The number of wards will remain at 39, with 32 of these represented by one councillor and the remaining seven electing two councillors.The changes are being made in a bid to improve electoral parity. On average, each ward will have 1,599 electors per councillor.Shereen Williams, chief executive of the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales said: "I’m delighted that the Welsh Government has accepted these recommendations with only minor modifications. These changes will mean greater electoral parity for the people of Monmouthshire. I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the review, the members of the public, councillors, Monmouthshire council, and everyone else who sent us a representation or contributed in any other way."The boundary changes are expected to take effect from the local government elections in May next year.A small number of recommended Welsh language ward names were not accepted by Welsh Government. These include that St Kingsmark and St Arvans wards will also be given Welsh language names of Llangynfarch and Llanarfan respectively. Different Welsh language names to those recommended by the Commission will also be given to the wards Caldicot Castle (Castell Cil-y-coed), Caldicot Cross (Croes Cil-y-coed) and Portskewett (Porthsgiwed).