Russell Vivian Goodway [1] OBE (born 23 December 1955 [2] ) is a Welsh Labour Party councillor for Ely, Cardiff; and the former Lord Mayor of Cardiff and former CEO of Cardiff Chamber of Commerce. He was Britain's youngest council leader when he led South Glamorgan County Council in 1992.
Goodway was born in St Athan, Glamorgan, at the RAF Hospital. He was brought up in nearby Rhoose. [1] He went to Barry Boys' Comprehensive School before gaining a degree in economics and politics at University College, Swansea. [2] One of his ambitions was to become a Church in Wales vicar, before he entered politics "by mistake" in 1985. [3]
Goodway became a community councillor in Rhoose at the age of 21. [1] He was first elected to South Glamorgan County Council in 1985 and became Leader in 1992, [4] the youngest county council leader in Britain at the time. [1] South Glamorgan Council was replaced in Cardiff by Cardiff Council in 1996.
He was, for a short period at the turn of the 21st century, the highest paid council leader in Great Britain, until he agreed to cut his £58,000 salary under pressure from the Welsh Government. [5]
The "disastrous showing" for Labour at the Pentwyn by-election in September 2003 (with a Liberal Democrat landslide victory) led to a local vote of 'no confidence' in Goodway by the Cardiff Central Labour Party, with a further vote of no confidence discussed by the county Labour Party in October. [6] Following the Labour Party's loss of control of Cardiff Council at the May 2004 Local Elections, Goodway resigned as leader of the group, [7] adding that Welsh Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan wanted Goodway to be beaten by his independent opponent. [8]
Remaining an elected councillor for Ely, Goodway was subsequently elected CEO of the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce in late 2004. In late 2007/early 2008, the chamber financially collapsed spectacularly following at overpaid training grant from ELWa of £500,000, which could not be repaid thanks to interest payments totalling £500,000 and other debts of a further £1million. [9] After all 35 staff were immediately made redundant, [10] it was subsequently liquidated.
Goodway subsequently insisted he would not seek the vacant leadership of the Labour group. [11]
In 2012, Labour regained control of Cardiff Council, under Heather Joyce' leadership. Goodway was appointed Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Finance in Joyce' cabinet. During his time in that role he led the council's negotiations with development firm Rightacres, which established the Central Square partnership. [12] Following Joyce' resignation as Leader in March 2014, Goodway was not appointed to the new cabinet under Phil Bale's leadership. He has been cited by the BBC saying that " I have had to make some difficult decisions but I believe I have put forward a team that can contribute to drive forward economic development, improve standards of education and skills as well as focusing on citizen engagement, improving performance and delivering on the co-operative council agenda". [13]
Following the May 2017 Welsh Local Government elections, Goodway was appointed Cabinet Member for Investment and Development.
He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to local government. [14]
Hywel Rhodri Morgan was a Welsh Labour politician who was the First Minister of Wales and the Leader of Welsh Labour from 2000 to 2009. He was also the Assembly Member for Cardiff West from 1999 to 2011 and the Member of Parliament for Cardiff West from 1987 to 2001. He was, as of 2018, the longest-serving First Minister of Wales. He was Chancellor of Swansea University from 2011 to 2017.
Ronald Davies is a Welsh politician, former Secretary of State for Wales, former Member of Parliament and former member of the Welsh Assembly. He describes himself as a politician belonging to the "traditional left" who had "spent his life looking for a socialist progressive party". He was a member of the Labour Party, and then of Forward Wales (2004-2009); he was subsequently an independent MP and eventually joined Plaid Cymru in 2010.
Rhoose is a village and community near the sea in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, near Barry. The wider community includes villages and settlements such as Font-y-Gary, Penmark, East Aberthaw and Porthkerry. The population of the community in 2011 was 6,160.
Barry is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, on the north coast of the Bristol Channel approximately 9 miles (14 km) south-southwest of Cardiff. Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the resurrected Barry Island Pleasure Park. According to Office for National Statistics 2016 estimate data, the population of Barry was 54,673.
The Vale of Glamorgan Line is a commuter railway line in Wales, running through the Vale of Glamorgan from Barry to Bridgend, via Rhoose and Llantwit Major.
Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established in 1996 to replace the previous Cardiff City Council which had been a lower-tier authority within South Glamorgan. Cardiff Council consists of 79 councillors, representing 28 electoral wards.
The Vale of Glamorgan Council is the governing body for the Vale of Glamorgan, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. It was run by the Conservative Party after the 2008 United Kingdom local elections, taking over the council from no overall control. Following the 2012 elections, it reverted to no overall control, and remained as such following the 2017 and 2022 elections.
Cardiff City Council was the local government district authority that administered the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, from 1974 until 1996. The district council replaced the pre-1974 county borough council. It was succeeded in 1996 by Cardiff Council.
John Edward "Jack" Brooks, Baron Brooks of Tremorfa DL was a Welsh politician and boxing functionary.
Politics of Cardiff refers to the political representation of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. Cardiff is represented politically at a local, Wales and United Kingdom level and previously at the European level.
The 2012 Vale of Glamorgan Council election took place on Thursday 3 May 2012 to elect members of Vale of Glamorgan Council in Wales. This was the same day as other United Kingdom local elections. The previous full council election took place on 1 May 2008 and the next one took place on 4 May 2017.
The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party, or in Wales, simply Abolish, is a registered single issue political party in Wales. It campaigns for the abolition of the Senedd, formerly known as the "National Assembly for Wales", the devolved legislature of Wales. Abolish advocates that devolved powers be returned to the Secretary of State for Wales within the UK Central Government and the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster.
The 2017 Welsh local elections were held on 4 May 2017 to elect members of all 22 local authorities in Wales. This included the Isle of Anglesey, which was previously up for election in 2013 due to having its elections delayed for a year. Community council elections also took place on the same day. These local elections were held as part of the 2017 local elections in the United Kingdom. Apart from Anglesey, the last elections were held in 2012. Normally these elections take place every four years, but the 2017 elections were postponed for a year in order to avoid clashing with the 2016 Welsh Assembly election, which itself had been postponed by a year to avoid clashing with the 2015 general election.
Canton is the name of an electoral ward in the west of the city of Cardiff, Wales, which covers part of its namesake community, Canton. The ward elects three county councillors to the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff.
Ely is the name of an electoral ward in the west of the city of Cardiff, Wales, which covers its namesake community, Ely. The ward elects three county councillors to the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff. It has previously been represented by the Labour Party, until February 2019 when Plaid Cymru won one of the council seats.
Pentwyn is the name of an electoral ward in the northeast of Cardiff, capital city of Wales. It covers the communities of Pentwyn and Llanedeyrn. The ward has elected councillors to the post-1996 Cardiff Council and the pre-1996 Cardiff City Council.
Rhoose is the name of an electoral ward in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, which covers its namesake village, Rhoose, as well as Penmark and the neighbouring community of Llancarfan. The ward elects three county councillors to the Vale of Glamorgan Council.
Illtyd is the name of an electoral ward in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It is represented by councillors on Barry Town Council and the Vale of Glamorgan Council.
Huw Thomas is a Welsh Labour politician and leader of Cardiff Council since May 2017.
The 2022 Vale of Glamorgan Council election took place as of 5 May 2022 to elect 54 members across 24 wards to Vale of Glamorgan 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 Vale of Glamorgan all-council election took place in May 2017 and future elections will take place every five years.