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Cardiff Council

Local government of Cardiff, Wales

Field	Value
name	Cardiff Council
native_name	Cyngor Caerdydd
native_name_lang	cy
coa_caption	Council coat of arms
logo_pic	Cardiff Council.svg
logo_res	180px
logo_caption	Council logo
house_type	Council
jurisdiction	City and County of Cardiff
foundation
disbanded
preceded_by
leader1_type	Lord Mayor
leader1	Adrian Robson
party1
Conservative
election1	22 May 2025
leader2_type	Leader
leader2	Huw Thomas
party2
Labour
election2	25 May 2017
leader3_type	Chief Executive
leader3	Paul Orders
party3
election3	26 September 2013{{cite web	title=Council minutes, 26 September 2013
url	https://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/Data/Council/20130926/Agenda/Minutes%20of%20Full%20Council%2026%20September%202013%20(250k).pdf	website=Cardiff Council	access-date=26 October 2022}}
seats	79
structure1_res	250px
:	border	darkgray}} Labour (52)
:	border	darkgray}} Liberal Democrat (10)}}
:	border	darkgray}} Conservative (9)}}
:	border	darkgray}} Plaid Cymru (2)}}
:	border	darkgray}} Reform UK (1)}}
:	border	darkgray}} Green (1)}}
:	border	darkgray}} Propel (1)}}
:	border	darkgray}} Independent (4)}}
term_length	5 years
voting_system1	First past the post
first_election1	4 May 1995
last_election1	5 May 2022
next_election1	6 May 2027
session_room	Cardiff City Hall cropped.jpg
meeting_place	City Hall, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF103ND
website

Note

Conservative Labour ;Administration (52) : Labour (52) ;Other parties (26) : : : : : : :

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.

Labour has held a majority of the seats on the council since 2012. The last election was in May 2022 and the next election is due in 2027.

History

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. 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.) 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.

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.

The 1994 Act directed that the new council should be called "Cardiff County Council". 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.

Political control

The first election to the reconstituted council was held in 1995. It initially operated as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it formally came into its powers on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows:

Party in control	Years
	1996–2004
	2004–2012
	2012–present

Leadership

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:

Councillor	Party	From	To
title=Goodway clings on	url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/goodway-clings-on-2433088.amp	access-date=16 August 2025	work=Wales Online	date=11 June 2004}}		1 April 1996	June 2004
Rodney Berman		1 July 2004	May 2012
Heather Joyce		17 May 2012	27 March 2014
title=Council minutes, 27 March 2014	url=https://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/Data/Council/20140327/Agenda/Council%20Minutes%2027-03-14%20(239k).pdf	website=Cardiff Council	access-date=16 August 2025}}		27 March 2014	May 2017
Huw Thomas{{cite web	title=Council minutes, 25 May 2017	url=https://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/documents/g2950/Printed%20minutes%2025th-May-2017%2016.30%20Council.pdf?T=1	access-date=26 October 2022}}

At the age of 31, Huw Thomas became Wales' youngest council leader when he was elected in May 2017.

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to October 2025, the composition of the council was:

Party	Councillors	Total	79
	53
	9
	9
	2
	1
	1
	1
	4

Of the independent councillors, two sit together as the "Cardiff Independent" group, and the other two (one being a Liberal Democrat currently suspended from the party) do not belong to any group. Common Ground is an alliance of Plaid Cymru and the Greens, with its councillors representing both parties as "Plaid Cymru, Green Party, Common Ground" (Plaid Cymru, Plaid Werdd, Tir Cyffredin). The Green Party won its first seat on the council in its own right (rather than as part of Common Ground) at a by-election for the Grangetown ward on 14 August 2025.

The next full council election is due in 2027.

Elections

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.

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.

Year	Seats	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Conservative	Plaid Cymru	Independent / Other	Notes
1995	72	61	9	1	1	0	Labour majority control
1999	75	50	18	5	1	1	Labour majority control
2004	75	27	33	12	3	0	Lib Dem minority
2008	75	13	35	17	7	3	Lib Dem / Plaid Cymru coalition
2012	75	46	16	7	2	4	Labour majority control
2017	75	40	11	20	3	1	Labour majority control
2022	79	55	10	11	2	1	Labour majority control

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

Premises

The council's main offices are at County Hall on Atlantic Wharf. 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. 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.

Electoral wards

Main article: List of electoral wards in Cardiff

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. The following table lists council wards, communities and associated geographical areas. Communities with a community council are indicated with an asterisk.

Ward	Communities	Other geographic areas
1	Adamsdown	Adamsdown
2	Butetown	Butetown
3	Caerau	Caerau
4	Canton	Canton
5	Cathays	Cathays and Castle
6	Cyncoed	Cyncoed
7	Ely	Ely
8	Fairwater	Fairwater
9	Gabalfa	Gabalfa
10	Grangetown	Grangetown
11	Heath	Heath
12	Lisvane and Thornhill	Lisvane* and Thornhill
13	Llandaff	Llandaff
14	Llandaff North	Llandaff North
15	Llanishen	Llanishen
16	Llanrumney	Llanrumney
17	Pentwyn	Pentwyn and Llanedeyrn (since 2016)
18	Pentyrch and
St Fagans	Pentyrch and St Fagans
19	Penylan	Penylan
20	Plasnewydd	Roath
21	Pontprennau and
Old St Mellons	Old St. Mellons* and Pontprennau
22	Radyr	Radyr & Morganstown*
23	Rhiwbina	Rhiwbina
24	Riverside	Riverside and Pontcanna
25	Rumney	Rumney
26	Splott	Splott and Tremorfa
27	Trowbridge	Trowbridge
28	Whitchurch & Tongwynlais	Tongwynlais* and Whitchurch

Arms

References

"Council minutes, 22 May 2025".
"Cyfansoddiad Cyngor Caerdydd".
{{cite legislation UK. (1888)
"Wales Factfile - Welsh Democracy". Institute of Welsh Affairs.
{{cite legislation UK. (1972)
0-7083-2063-5.
{{cite legislation UK. (1994)
"Cardiff Council Constitution".
"Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
(11 June 2004). "Goodway clings on". Wales Online.
(14 June 2004). "Goodway resigns as leader". BBC News.
"Council minutes, 1 July 2004".
(4 May 2012). "Cardiff council's Rodney Berman toppled in cull of leaders". BBC News.
"Council minutes, 17 May 2012".
(28 February 2014). "Cardiff council leader Heather Joyce stands down". BBC News.
"Council minutes, 27 March 2014".
Ruth Mosalski. (8 May 2017). "Cardiff Labour group picks Huw Thomas as its new leader". Wales Online.
(7 May 2025). "Councillor to pay hundreds after police station protest". BBC News.
"Your Councillors by Political Grouping".
(15 August 2025). "Unexpected party topple Labour in Cardiff by-election". Wales Online.
"Cardiff". Thorncliffe.
(25 April 2012). "ELECTION 2012: 'Plaid Cymru are community activists, not politicians' – Neil McEvoy". yourCardiff.
"General enquiries".
"Council agendas".
(10 May 2024). "One of the most famous buildings in Cardiff is to remain shut for years. This is what's going on". Wales Online.
(18 October 2021). "The City and County of Cardiff (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2021". Legislation.gov.uk.
"Wales". Civic Heraldry of Wales.

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