Reform UK Wales candidate Stephen Eldred has won the Meliden ward by-election for Prestatyn Town Council, defeating the Welsh Conservatives by just 10 votes.
Eldred received 122 votes in the two-candidate contest held on Thursday 6 August 2026. Welsh Conservative candidate Carys Vivien Kilkelly received 112 votes.
The result gives Reform UK 52.1% of the 234 valid votes reported, compared with 47.9% for the Conservatives.
Meliden ward by-election result
| Candidate | Party or description | Votes | Vote share |
| Stephen Eldred | Reform UK Wales | 122 | 52.1% |
| Carys Vivien Kilkelly | Welsh Conservative Party | 112 | 47.9% |
Vote shares are calculated from the 234 votes reported for the two candidates and may not total exactly 100% because of rounding.
- Reform UK majority: 10 votes
- Reform UK vote share: 52.1%
- Conservative vote share: 47.9%
- Lead: 4.3 percentage points
Narrow Reform victory
The result was a tightly fought contest, with only 10 votes separating the candidates.
Eldred took 52.1% of the reported vote and Kilkelly secured 47.9%, giving Reform a lead of approximately 4.3 percentage points.
Reform representatives celebrated the result overnight, with the party’s North Wales Senedd member Art Wright congratulating Eldred after publishing the 122–112 figures.
The election is another small but notable local success for Reform UK in Wales. However, the limited size of a standalone town council contest means the result should not automatically be treated as evidence of voting intentions across Prestatyn, Denbighshire or Wales as a whole.
Official election documents
Denbighshire County Council’s official election notice confirms that one councillor was to be elected to Prestatyn Town Council’s Meliden ward on 6 August.
The council’s statement of persons nominated and notice of poll list Eldred under the description "Reform UK Wales" and Kilkelly as a "Welsh Conservative Party Candidate".
Voting took place at Meliden Community Centre between 7am and 10pm, with Helen White serving as returning officer.
At the time of publication, Denbighshire County Council had not uploaded a formal declaration giving the turnout, electorate, number of ballot papers issued or any rejected votes. Those figures have therefore not been estimated or inferred in this report.
No reliable swing calculation
A party swing has not been calculated because no verified like-for-like previous result for this town council vacancy was available in the published election documents.
This was an election to Prestatyn Town Council, the community-level authority, and should not be confused with the separate Prestatyn Meliden ward on Denbighshire County Council.
Results from the county council ward involve a different authority and cannot safely be used as the baseline for calculating a swing in this contest.
What does Prestatyn Town Council do?
Prestatyn Town Council is the local community council serving Prestatyn and Meliden. Its website says the authority has 18 councillors representing six wards.
Denbighshire County Council says city, town and community councils in the county help manage the upkeep of some local parks, benches and street lighting, as well as arranging grass and verge cutting within their communities.
The Meliden result changes representation only on Prestatyn Town Council. It does not alter the composition of Denbighshire County Council, the Senedd or the House of Commons.
Eldred takes the single vacant seat after one of the closest local election contests of the night.
Sources
- Denbighshire County Council: city, town and community council elections
- Denbighshire County Council: statement of persons nominated
- Denbighshire County Council: official notice of poll
- Britain Votes Now: published result figures
- Art Wright MS: response to the result
- Prestatyn Town Council: council and ward information