Cardiff Council

Municipal life in Cardiff dates back to the 12th century, when Cardiff was granted borough status by the Earls of Gloucester. The offices of the mayor, aldermen, and common councillors developed during the Middle Ages. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, Cardiff was considered large enough to run its own services and so it became a county borough, independent from Glamorgan County Council.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1888|year=1888|chapter=41|accessdate=26 October 2022}} The town of Cardiff was still considered the county town of Glamorgan, with Glamorgan County Council building its headquarters there. Cardiff was one of only two county boroughs in Wales created in 1889, the other being Swansea. (Newport was later elevated to county borough status in 1891, followed by Merthyr Tydfil in 1908.){{cite web |url=http://www.iwa.wales/click/wp-content/uploads/13_Factfile_Democracy_6.pdf |title=Wales Factfile - Welsh Democracy |page=1 |publisher=Institute of Welsh Affairs |access-date=12 May 2019 |archive-date=12 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190312125337/http://www.iwa.wales/click/wp-content/uploads/13_Factfile_Democracy_6.pdf |url-status=dead }} In 1905, Cardiff became a city, and thereafter Cardiff County Borough Council was allowed to call itself Cardiff City Council.

In 1974 local government across Wales and England was restructured into a two-tier system under the Local Government Act 1972. Cardiff became a lower-tier district council, called Cardiff City Council, within the new county of South Glamorgan. The South Glamorgan County Council provided county-level services in the area.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1972|year=1972|chapter=70|accessdate=26 October 2022}}

Further local government restructuring in 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 saw the city of Cardiff become a unitary authority: the present Cardiff Council. South Glamorgan County Council was abolished. Ahead of the reforms the county council had campaigned for a new "Greater Cardiff" authority to reflect the boundaries of South Glamorgan, but the Conservative government of the time decided to keep the Vale of Glamorgan (which covered a marginal Conservative parliamentary seat) separate from Cardiff.Alan Hooper; John Punter (Eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hvud9bNwTisC&pg=PA35 Capital Cardiff 1975–2020: Regeneration, Competitiveness and the Urban Environment], page 34. University of Wales Press (2006), {{ISBN|0-7083-2063-5}}.

The 1994 Act directed that the new council should be called "Cardiff County Council".{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government (Wales) Act 1994|year=1994|chapter=19|section=2|accessdate=26 October 2022}} The council's constitution calls it instead the "County Council of the City and County of Cardiff". For most purposes the council styles itself "Cardiff Council", except where the full legal name is required, when it uses the form from its constitution.{{cite web |title=Cardiff Council Constitution |url=https://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=262&bcr=1&info=1 |website=Cardiff Council |access-date=26 October 2022}}

The first election to the reconstituted council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been held by the following parties:{{cite web |title=Compositions calculator |url=https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/?page_id=3825 |website=The Elections Centre | date=4 March 2016 |access-date=26 October 2022}}

{{see also|List of mayors of Cardiff}}

The role of Lord Mayor of Cardiff is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is provided instead by the leader of the council, although the two roles were temporarily combined between 1999 and 2003. The first leader following the 1996 reforms was Russell Goodway, who had been the last leader of South Glamorgan County Council. The leaders of Cardiff Council since 1996 have been:{{cite web |title=Council minutes |url=https://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?GL=1&bcr=1&LLL=0 |website=Cardiff Council |access-date=26 October 2022}}

At the age of 31, Huw Thomas became Wales' youngest council leader when he was elected in May 2017.{{cite news|author=Ruth Mosalski |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/cardiff-labours-group-picks-huw-13004903 |title=Cardiff Labour group picks Huw Thomas as its new leader |work=Wales Online |date=8 May 2017 |access-date=17 April 2018}}

Following the 2022 election and subsequent changes of allegiance up to July 2024, the composition of the council was:{{cite web |title=Cardiff |url=https://www.localcouncils.co.uk/councils/?council=cardiff |website=Local Councils |publisher=Thorncliffe |access-date=27 July 2024}}

Common Ground is an alliance of Plaid Cymru and the Greens, with its candidates standing for both parties as "Plaid Cymru, Green Party, Common Ground". The next election is due in 2027.

Since 2012, Cardiff Council elections have taken place every five years.

The council was run by a Labour majority administration between 1995 and 2004. The Liberal Democrats ran a minority administration from 2004, in coalition with Plaid Cymru.{{cite web |url=http://yourcardiff.mediawales-1.titaninternet.co.uk/2012/04/25/election-2012-plaid-cymru-are-community-activists-not-politicians-neil-mcevoy/ |title=ELECTION 2012: 'Plaid Cymru are community activists, not politicians' – Neil McEvoy |publisher=yourCardiff |date=25 April 2012 |access-date=27 April 2018 |archive-date=28 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428180857/http://yourcardiff.mediawales-1.titaninternet.co.uk/2012/04/25/election-2012-plaid-cymru-are-community-activists-not-politicians-neil-mcevoy/ |url-status=dead }}

Following the 2008 local elections in Cardiff there was still no party with an overall majority. The Lib Dems increased their total number of councillors to 35, forming an administration with Plaid Cymru, with Rodney Berman as leader of the Council. The Conservatives replaced Labour as the official opposition. Labour suffered badly, losing 14 councillors. Plaid Cymru gained four councillors. Three independent councillors were elected; two former Conservatives who had left the group in 2006 being joined by an additional member.

In 2012, the Labour Party took overall control of the council, and remained in overall control following the 2017 and 2022 elections.

{{notelist}}

Party with the most elected councillors in bold. Coalition agreements in notes column.

File:County Hall on Atlantic Wharf.jpg

The council's main offices are at County Hall on Atlantic Wharf.{{cite web |title=General enquiries |url=https://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/Home/Contact-us/General-enquiries/Pages/default.aspx |website=Cardiff Council |access-date=26 October 2022}} It was built in 1987 as the headquarters of the former South Glamorgan County Council. The council also uses the City Hall on Cathays Park in the city centre, built in 1906 for the former Cardiff City Council. Full council meetings were held at County Hall prior to 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic required meetings to be held virtually. From the resumption of in-person meetings in May 2022, full council meetings were held at City Hall.{{cite web |title=Council agendas |url=https://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?Act=later&CId=149&D=202111251630&MD=ielistmeetings |website=Cardiff Council |access-date=26 October 2022}} City Hall closed for refurbishment in 2023 but is planned to be brought back into use as the council's meeting place once the work is complete, although this may not be until 2026.{{cite news |last1=Summer |first1=Ben |title=One of the most famous buildings in Cardiff is to remain shut for years. This is what's going on |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/one-most-famous-buildings-cardiff-29144815 |access-date=27 July 2024 |work=Wales Online |date=10 May 2024}}

{{main|List of electoral wards in Cardiff}}

File:Cardiff ward map 2022 numbered.png

Since the 2022 elections, the unitary authority area has been divided into 28 electoral wards. Many of these wards are coterminous with communities of the same name.{{cite web|title=The City and County of Cardiff (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2021 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2021/1160/made/data.xht |publisher=Legislation.gov.uk|date=18 October 2021 |access-date=31 July 2022}} The following table lists council wards, communities and associated geographical areas. Communities with a community council are indicated with an asterisk.

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{{Infobox COA wide

|image = Coat of Arms of Cardiff.svg

|escutcheon = Argent on a mount Vert a dragon rampant Gules supporting in front of a leek issuing from the mount a flag staff erect Proper flying therefrom to the sinister a banner of the third charged with three chevronels of the first. Granted 26 August 1906

|crest = A Tudor rose on three ostrich feathers Argent issuing out of a mural crown Proper. Granted 6 October 1906.

|mantling = Gules doubled Argent.{{cite web|url=http://civicheraldry.co.uk/wales_current.html |title=Wales |publisher=Civic Heraldry of Wales |accessdate=22 March 2021}}

|supporters = On the dexter side a goat and on the sinister side a sea horse both Proper as an honourable augmentation Her Majesty's Royal Badge for Wales videlicet within a circular riband Argent fimbriated Or bearing the motto Y DDRAIG GOCH DDYRY CYCHWYN in letters Vert and ensigned with a representation of the crown Proper an escutcheon per fess Argent and Vert and thereon a Red dragon passant pendent by a Golden chain from the neck of each supporter. Granted 25 February 1907 and augmented 19 October 1956.

|motto = 1st Deffro Mae'n Ddydd (Awake It Is Day) 2nd Y Ddraig Goch Ddyry Cychwyn (The Red Dragon Shall Lead)}}

• Cardiff Bay
• Flat Holm

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website}}
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=48213 List of Mayors and other secular officials of Cardiff (British History Online)]

{{Local authorities of Wales}}

{{Politics and Government in Cardiff}}

{{Cardiff council elections}}

{{South Glamorgan elections}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Politics of Cardiff

Category:Local authorities of Wales

Category:1996 establishments in Wales