Bridgend County Borough

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Bridgend County Borough Bwrdeistref Sirol Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr (Welsh)
County borough
Left to right: Ogmore Valley to Nant-y-moel St Mary's Nolton Church, Bridgend Trecco Bay from Newton Point, Porthcawl
Coat of arms
Motto:  Onward With Confidence
Bridgend shown within Wales
Coordinates: 51°33′17″N 03°35′29″W / 51.55472°N 3.59139°W / 51.55472; -3.59139
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	Wales
Preserved county	Mid Glamorgan
Incorporated	1 April 1996
Administrative HQ	Bridgend
Government [1]
• Type	Principal council
• Body	Bridgend County Borough Council
• Control	Labour
• MPs	3 MPs Chris Bryant (L) Chris Elmore (L) Stephen Kinnock (L)
• MSs	2 MSs Huw Irranca-Davies (L) Sarah Murphy (L) +4 regional members
Area [2]
• Total	97 sq mi (251 km2)
• Rank	17th
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	146,136
• Rank	8th
• Density	1,510/sq mi (583/km2)
Welsh language (2021) [3]
• Speakers	9.2%
• Rank	19th
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ISO 3166 code	GB-BGE
GSS code	W06000013
Website	bridgend.gov.uk

Bridgend County Borough (Welsh: Bwrdeistref Sirol Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. The county borough has a total population of 139,200 people, and contains the town of Bridgend, after which it is named. Its members of the Senedd are Sarah Murphy MS, representing the Bridgend Constituency, and Huw Irranca-Davies MS representing the Ogmore Constituency, and its members of the UK parliament are Chris Bryant, Chris Elmore, and Stephen Kinnock.

The county borough lies at the geographical heart of south Wales. Its land area of 110 mi² (285 km²) stretches 12 miles (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 Porthcawl (pop: 19,238). It is situated on the Ogmore River and its tributaries, although the Ewenny and Ogwr Fach rivers form 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. 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.