Tributes were today being paid to County Councillor George Edwards, who passed away at the weekend.

Cllr Edwards had represented the Hengoed ward on Carmarthenshire County Council since his election in 2012, sitting on the Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee, Licensing Committee and Planning Committee. He was also a councillor on Llanelli Rural Council.

A Labour man, Cllr Edwards had worked hard in his community to make a difference – and it was on the first day of the new Ysgol Ffwrnes in his ward, which he had championed as a councillor and school governor – that his colleagues and friends learned of his death.

Council Leader, Cllr Kevin Madge, spoke on behalf of the local Labour Group in saying that the school would be Cllr Edwards’s legacy.

“We are all devastated with the news of George’s passing,” he said.

“He was a dedicated councillor who worked very hard in his ward to represent local people, and he was a hard-working back-bencher in the Labour Group.

“He did a lot of work as governor of the new Ysgol Ffwrnes, and this will be his legacy.

“My heart goes out to his family – his wife Penny, his children and grandchildren. He will be very sadly missed.”

Deputy Leader, Cllr Tegwen Devichand, paid her own heartfelt tribute.

“George was a true Socialist who worked hard in his community and at county level,” she said. “He was very passionate about the ward he represented and would leave no stone unturned to find a resolution to any problems that his constituents brought to his attention.”