Ceredigion County Council Cyngor Sir Ceredigion | |
---|---|
History | |
Founded | 1 April 1996 |
Preceded by | Dyfed County Council Ceredigion District Council |
Leadership | |
Eifion Evans since 1 October 2017 [2] | |
Structure | |
Seats | 38 councillors |
Political groups |
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Joint committees | Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service |
Length of term | 5 Years |
Elections | |
First past the post | |
First election | 4 May 1995 |
Last election | 5 May 2022 |
Next election | 6 May 2027 |
Meeting place | |
Neuadd Cyngor Ceredigion, Penmorfa, Aberaeron, SA46 0PA | |
Website | |
www |
Ceredigion County Council (Welsh : Cyngor Sir Ceredigion) is the governing body for the county of Ceredigion, since 1996 one of the unitary authorities of Wales. The council's main offices are in Aberaeron.
The current council was created on 1 April 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, replacing Ceredigion District Council and also taking over county-level functions in the area from Dyfed County Council, which was abolished. The 1994 act specified that the new authority was to have both an English and a Welsh name: Cardiganshire / Sir Aberteifi. [3] The new authority was elected in 1995, but acted as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing district and county councils until the new arrangements took effect the following year. During that time, the shadow authority requested a change of name from Cardiganshire / Sir Aberteifi to Ceredigion for both languages. The government confirmed the change with effect from 2 April 1996, one day after the new council came into being. [4] [5]
The county had the lowest rates of people infected with or dying from COVID-19 in the British mainland, up to June 2020. The area is naturally rural and holiday attractions and the university were closed down very early. The council set up its own contact tracing system in March 2020. [6]
The first election to the new council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority before coming into its powers on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been held by the following parties: [7]
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
Independent | 1996–1999 | |
No overall control | 1999–2003 | |
Independent | 2003–2004 | |
No overall control | 2004–2022 | |
Plaid Cymru | 2022–present |
The leaders of the council since 1996 have been: [8]
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dai Lloyd Evans [9] | Independent | 1996 | 2006 | |
Keith Evans [10] | Independent | 2006 | May 2012 | |
Ellen ap Gwynn [11] | Plaid Cymru | May 2012 | 8 May 2022 | |
Bryan Davies | Plaid Cymru | 13 May 2022 |
Following the 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to November 2023, the composition of the council was: [12]
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Plaid Cymru | 21 | |
Independent | 9 | |
Liberal Democrats | 7 | |
Gwlad | 1 | |
Total | 38 |
The Gwlad councillor and eight of the independent councillors sit together as the "Independents Group". The other independent councillor is unaffiliated to any group. [13] The next election is due in 2027.
Elections take place every five years. The last full county election took place on 5 May 2022. The next election is due in May 2027. [14] [15]
Year | Seats | Plaid Cymru | Independent | Liberal Democrats | Labour | Gwlad | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 43 | 6 | 26 | 10 | 1 | N/A | Independent majority controlled |
1999 | 44 | 14 | 22 | 7 | 1 | N/A | Independent led with Lib Dem support |
2004 | 42 | 16 | 16 | 9 | 1 | N/A | Independent led with Lib Dem support |
2008 | 42 | 19 | 12 | 10 | 1 | N/A | Independent led with Lib Dem support |
2012 | 42 | 19 | 15 | 7 | 1 | N/A | Plaid Cymru led with Independent support |
2017 | 42 | 20 | 13 | 8 | 1 | N/A | Plaid Cymru led with Independent support |
2022 | 38 | 20 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | Plaid Cymru majority controlled |
Party with the most elected councillors in bold. Coalition agreements in notes column.
Since the local government reorganisation in 1996, the council has had its meeting place and main offices at Neuadd Cyngor Ceredigion (English: Ceredigion Council Hall) at Penmorfa in Aberaeron. [16] The building was erected in the early 1990s for the council's predecessor, Ceredigion District Council. [17] [18]
When the council was created in 1996 it inherited various offices from its predecessor authorities, including Swyddfa'r Sir in Aberystwyth, which had been built as the Queen's Hotel in 1866 and had served as the headquarters of the former Cardiganshire County Council from 1950 until 1974, then served as an area office for Dyfed County Council from 1974 until 1996. The council also inherited Aberystwyth Town Hall, which had been the headquarters of Ceredigion District Council. Both these Aberystwyth offices closed in 2009 when the council opened a new Aberystwyth area office at Canolfan Rheidol in Llanbadarn Fawr on the outskirts of Aberystwyth. [19] [20] The council also has area offices in Lampeter and Cardigan. [21]
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Dyfed is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel.
Ceredigion ( ), historically Cardiganshire, is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Aberystwyth is the largest settlement and, together with Aberaeron, is an administrative centre of Ceredigion County Council.
Aberaeron, previously anglicised as Aberayron, is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales. Located on the coast between Aberystwyth and Cardigan, its resident population was 1,274 in the 2021 census.
Cardigan is a town and community in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. Positioned on the tidal reach of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire, Cardigan was the county town of the historic county of Cardiganshire. Cardigan is the second-largest town in Ceredigion. The largest town, Aberystwyth, is one of the two administrative centres; the other is Aberaeron.
Lampeter is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigion, after Aberystwyth and Cardigan, and has a campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. At the 2011 Census, the population was 2,970. Lampeter is the smallest university town in the United Kingdom. The university adds approximately 1,000 people to the town's population during term time.
Ceredigion was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Created in 1536, the franchise expanded in the late 19th century and on the enfranchisement of women. Its boundaries remained virtually unchanged until 1983. From 1536 until 1885 the area had two seats : a county constituency (Cardiganshire) comprising the rural areas, the other the borough constituency known as the Cardigan District of Boroughs comprising a few separate towns; in 1885 the latter was abolished, its towns and electors incorporated into the former, reduced to one MP. The towns which comprised the Boroughs varied slightly over this long period, but primarily consisted of Cardigan, Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Adpar, the latter now a suburb of Newcastle Emlyn across the Teifi, in Carmarthenshire.
Penparcau is a village and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, situated to the south of Aberystwyth.
Carmarthenshire County Council is the local authority for the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It provides a range of services including education, planning, transport, social services and public safety. The council is one of twenty-two unitary authorities that came into existence on 1 April 1996 under the provisions of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. It took over local government functions previously provided by the three district councils of Carmarthen, Dinefwr, and Llanelli, as well as the county-level services in the area from Dyfed County Council, all of which councils were abolished at the same time.
Pembrokeshire County Council is the local authority for the county of Pembrokeshire, one of the principal areas of Wales.
Cardiganshire County Council was the local government authority for the county of Cardiganshire, Wales, between 1889 and 1974. It was superseded by Dyfed County Council.
Aberystwyth is a university and seaside town and a community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and 16 miles (26 km) from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the population of the town was 14,640.
Dyfed County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Dyfed in south west Wales. It operated between 1974 and 1996. The county council was based at County Hall, Carmarthen.
Aberystwyth Town Council is the community council that governs the ancient borough, town and community of Aberystwyth. For electoral purposes, it is divided into five electoral divisions.
John Morgan Howell (1855-1928) was a prominent figure in the public life of Cardiganshire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A supporter of the Liberal Party, he represented Aberaeron as a county councillor for over thirty years and served on many other public bodies.
The fourth election for Cardiganshire County Council took place in March 1898. They were preceded by the 1895 election and followed by the 1901 election
Ceredigion District Council was one of six district-level authorities in the county of Dyfed, Wales, from 1974 until 1996. The district had an identical area to the pre-1974 administrative county of Cardiganshire. From its creation in 1974 the district used the name "Ceredigion" rather than "Cardiganshire", which had been used for the former county council. Further local government reorganisation in 1996 saw Dyfed County Council abolished and Ceredigion become a unitary authority, with the district council taking over county-level services to become Ceredigion County Council.
Aberystwyth Rheidol is a electoral ward in the town of Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. It elects a county councillor to Ceredigion County Council and also elects town councillors to Aberystwyth Town Council.
The 2022 Ceredigion County Council election took place as of 5 May 2022 to elect 38 members to Ceredigion Council. On the same day, elections were held to the other 21 local authorities and to community councils in Wales as part of the 2022 Welsh local elections. The previous all-council election took place in May 2017 and future elections will take place every five years.
County Hall, formerly Aberaeron Town Hall, is a municipal building in Market Street, Aberaeron, Ceredigion, Wales. The structure, which is now used as a public library, is a Grade II listed building.
Ceredigion Archives is a regional archive service and the county record office for Ceredigion County Council. Located since 2012 in Aberystwyth Town Hall, the archive collects, curates, preserves and gives access to records relating to the county and its administration.