Jump to content

West Glamorgan County Council

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

West Glamorgan County Council

Cyngor Sir Gorllewin Morgannwg
History
Founded1 April 1974
Disbanded31 March 1996
Preceded bySwansea County Borough Council
Glamorgan County Council
Succeeded bySwansea
Neath Port Talbot
Elections
First election
April 1973
Last election
May 1993
Next election
N/A
Meeting place
County Hall, Swansea

West Glamorgan County Council (Welsh: Cyngor Sir Gorllewin Morgannwg) was the county council of the county of West Glamorgan in south-west Wales, from its creation in 1974 to its abolition in 1996.

History

[edit]

The county was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the western part of the old administrative county of Glamorgan and the city of Swansea, which had been a county borough, independent from Glamorgan County Council.[1]

West Glamorgan County Council was abolished in 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, with the districts in the area being reorganised to become unitary authorities, taking over the functions previously performed by the county council.[2] Since 1 April 1996 the area has been divided into the two unitary authorities of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.[3]

Political control

[edit]

The first election to the county council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1974. Labour held a majority of the seats on the council throughout its existence.[4]

Party in control Years
Labour 1974–1996

Leadership

[edit]

The leaders of the council included:

Councillor Party From To
Llewellyn Heycock Labour 1 Apr 1974 May 1977
John Allison[5] Labour 1977 1989
Fred Kingdom Labour pre-1990 May 1993
Tom Jones[6] Labour May 1993 post-1995

Elections

[edit]

The first South Glamorgan County Council elections took place in April 1973, when 70 councillors were elected. The number of councillors was reduced to 61 in 1989. The results of each election were as follows:[4]

Year Seats Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats[a] Plaid Cymru Others Notes
1973 70 51 9 2 2 6
1977 70 41 10 - 3 16
1981 70 56 10 - - 4
1985 70 54 7 5 0 4
1989 61 44 6 2 1 8 New division boundaries.[7]
1993 61 47 3 3 1 7
  1. ^ Includes Liberals and SDP pre-1988

Premises

[edit]

The county council was initially based at the Guildhall in Swansea but moved to County Hall in Swansea in 1982.[8][9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Swansea CB". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Local Government (Wales) Act 1994", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1994 c. 19, retrieved 27 October 2022
  3. ^ "West Glamorgan County Council records". Archives Hub. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  5. ^ "Former Swansea council leader John Allison dies". Wales Online. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Tom is county leader". Neath Guardian. 20 May 1993. p. 11. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  7. ^ "The County of West Glamorgan (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1989", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1989/127, retrieved 27 October 2022
  8. ^ Whitaker's Almanack 1979, p. 677
  9. ^ Whitaker's Almanack 1983, p. 677