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Labour candidate Elizabeth Davies has been elected to Caerphilly County Borough Council, following a by-election in the Penmaen ward.

Speaking after the results were confirmed, Cllr Davies said she was “delighted” with the result and “really looking forward” to serving the community.

The former schoolteacher saw off five other candidates when voters went to the polls on Thursday August 31.

She will take up the seat formerly held by the late Cllr Jim Sadler, also Labour, who was elected in May 2022 but sadly died a year later, aged 71.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Davies said: “Thank you to everybody who voted for me – I’m really delighted – and thank you to all the people who came in canvassing.

“They came from here, there and everywhere to help.”

Cllr Davies also thanked voters who turned out on what was “a wet day” in the Penmaen ward, and reserved special praise for her election agent Tom Humphrey and her new ward colleague, councillor Roy Saralis.

“I’m really looking forward to doing the job,” she said, adding her thanks to the other candidates “for what was, in the main, a good and fair campaign by everybody”.

Cllr Davies worked as a teacher for 17 years at Rhiw Syr Dafydd Primary School, in Oakdale, and has lived and worked in the area for nearly all her life.

An active member of Saint David’s Church, she runs morning toddler groups there and has done so for the past 15 years.

She is also an active member of the Oakdale Partnership, and runs yoga classes locally.

The Penmaen ward by-election results in full:

Elizabeth Davies (Welsh Labour): 457 votes

Andrew Short (Plaid Cymru): 346 votes

George Edwards-Etheridge (Independent): 247 votes

Jonathan David Errington (Welsh Liberal Democrats): 125 votes

Imogen Martin (Welsh Conservatives): 120 votes

Clayton Francis Jones (Gwlad): 8 votes

Turnout in the Penmaen ward by-election was a reported 29.1%.

Cllr Davies’s win means Labour once again holds 45 of Caerphilly County Borough Council’s 69 seats.

Plaid Cymru holds 18 seats, and the remaining six are held by independent councillors.

An earlier version of this article mistakenly said Plaid held 14 seats.