IS THIS the youngest councillor in Wales?

The people of the Monmouthshire ward of The Elms have elected 18-year-old Labour member Jessica Crook, of Undy, to represent them at the county council.

The politics student from Swansea University joins a small group of young adults who have been elected to serve constituents in Gwent councils.

Miss Crook said she got involved in politics when she was an A-level student at Wyedean School, and previously worked as an intern in the office of Jessica Morden.

“I thought I had a good chance of winning, a lot of work and effort has gone into it,” she said.

She said she wanted to bring a more youthful aspect to the council: “I want to blow away the cobwebs and change the scene a little bit.”

The player for Caldicot’s Cil-y-Coed Dragons netball team said she wasn’t intimidated by anyone older than her and added: “It’s as much exciting as it is daunting.”

Emma Garland, 19, of Beechwood and also a politics student at university was elected as a Labour councillor to the Newport council seat of St Julians after two years in the party.

She said her election on the morning of May 4 came as a shock.

“If anyone got elected I thought it would be Rhys Hutchings [of the GLC],” she said of her ward colleague who was also elected.

“But I thought it was the best time to stand with the current national situation.”

Just slightly older at 23, Labour’s Jessica Powellof Northville, was elected in the Pontnewydd ward of Torfaen council.

The Ph.D student and charity worker said it was important to have a wider range of representation among councillors: “You want to have someone you can feel you can relate to.”

She said young councillors could bring a new perspective even to planning issues – as they may want to see different things compared to their elders.