The campaign is not over yet however, and Dean and others have lodged a claim against the process the council took with its consultation. Despite clear objections to their proposals, the council pushed ahead regardless and now face a judicial review on the 19th June. If successful, it would halt the plans for the time being and be a major victory for the campaign.

“That’s the only thing we could do in the end,” Dean tells me when we speak a couple of months later. “It would have been nice to have some dialogue with the council but that’s not the kind of people they are.”

If the leisure centre here does close, the impact will be felt across this whole community and for generations to come. In the campaign Facebook group, somebody from nearby Underwood in Newport posts a short homemade video of their long since mothballed leisure centre - closed by another Labour council and now a wasteland. The video comes with a warning that this is the future that could await Pontllanfraith.

But perhaps the hollowed-out leisure centre should also be a warning to the Labour party itself. This is what it could become if it is seen by communities as a party that closes the things that people love and cherish.

These are the warning signs being waved by Dean and others as they fight for a different path that is far more combative with the Tory government and far more ready to defend local services from cuts.

Had Corbyn not won the leadership, it would undoubtedly be harder to stay and fight. As it is, many now see a bigger picture of a radical Corbyn government that will end austerity and fundamentally change the economy so it works for the majority.

“We’re talking about getting the Tories out of government and getting a better government in who cares about people really,” Dean says. “We may lose a battle here but in the end there’s a war going on.”

He dismisses the idea that he will leave the party if the council here gets its way. “No, I’ll stay and fight,” he says with a smile. “I like fighting.” Dean’s determination may be a feeling that resonates among thousands of people in the Labour party and one which keeps them going through various internal battles.

It seems clear, however, that for every member weathering storms like the one in Pontllanfraith, there are several would be voters and supporters who cannot stick around. According to many people here, their loyalty is not being shredded by Brexit, but by Labour councils which have, in the majority, administered Tory austerity with little resistance.

The scale of a general election and people’s tendency to separate local and national, combined with Corbyn’s strong anti-austerity message, may be able to overcome these problems. In the meantime, battles like the one in Pontllanfraith continue and the longer they do, the more chance the Tories may have of clinging to power.

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