The Cathays ( ) electoral ward of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, created in 1890, which since 1974 has covered the

Cathays Cathays ( ; Welsh: officially ''Cathays'' but also , 'the constant meadow') is a district and community in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is very densely populated and contain ...

and Castle communities. There is no

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...

for the area and it has elected three Cardiff councillors from the outset.

Description

The Cathays ward includes some or all of the following areas: Blackweir,

Cardiff city centre Cardiff city centre ( cy, Canol Dinas Caerdydd) is the city centre and central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bound by the River Taff to the west, the Civic Centre to the north and railway lines and two railway s ...

Cathays Park Cathays Park ( cy, Parc Cathays) or Cardiff Civic Centre is a civic centre area in the city centre of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, Alexandra Gardens. It i ...

and

Maindy Maindy ( cy, Maendy, meaning ''Stone House'') is a district of the city of Cardiff, Wales. Its boundaries are not formally recognised by Cardiff Council, and the district falls within the Cathays ward and Gabalfa. A notable facility in the area ...

in the parliamentary constituency of Cardiff Central. It is bounded by

Gabalfa Gabalfa (, ) is a district and community in the north of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is characterised by a four-lane fly over road at the Gabalfa Interchange, where the A48 road meets the A470 road (North Road) which leads from C ...

and Birchgrove to the north;

Plasnewydd Plasnewydd (meaning ''New Manor'' or ''New Place'' in English) is an electoral ward (and formerly the name of a community) of Cardiff, Wales. It falls within the parliamentary constituency of Cardiff Central. It is bounded by the electoral wa ...

and

Adamsdown Adamsdown ( cy, Waunadda or ) is an inner city area and community in the south of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. Adamsdown is generally located between Newport Road, to the north and the mainline railway to the south. The area includes ...

to the east;

Butetown Butetown (or ''The Docks'', cy, Tre-biwt) is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early 19th century by the 2nd Marquess of Bute, for whose t ...

to the south; and Riverside to the west. The

River Taff The River Taff ( cy, Afon Taf) is a river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons; the Taf Fechan (''little Taff'') and the Taf Fawr (''great Taff'') before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. Its confluence with th ...

forms its western boundary to where it meets the

South Wales Main Line The South Wales Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell De Cymru), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. ...

, the South Wales Main Line forms the southern boundary to where it meets the Valley Lines northbound branch, this railway line then forms the eastern boundary as far as the

A48 road The A48 is a trunk road in Great Britain running from the A40 at Highnam, west of Gloucester, England, to the A40 at Carmarthen, Wales. Before the Severn Bridge opened on 8 September 1966, it was a major route between England and South ...

. The Northern boundary follows the A48 as far as Allensbank Road where it follows this road south then turns north again along Whitchurch Road. It turns west along Crown Way, then south along the A470 until North Road where it bears west, passing just south of the student halls, until it meets the River Taff. The tallest building in Wales is here and is also part of the Cardiff's CBD. The ward contains a large number of Cardiff's landmarks including: * Cardiff Cathedral *Cathays Park with a number of civic buildings and public gardens *

Maindy Stadium Maindy Centre ( cy, Canolfan Maendy, formerly known as Maindy Stadium, now also known as Maindy Pool and Cycle Track) is a velodrome and indoor swimming pool facility in the Maindy area of Cardiff, Wales. The velodrome was used in the 1958 Britis ...

* Cathays Cemetery The ward has traditionally had one of the highest percentages of student residents. In 2011 70% of adults in the ward (between 16 and 74) were students.

Local elections

1995–date

In 1995 the Cathays ward elected three councillors and, since 1999 four councillors to the

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Cyngor Sir Dinas a Sir Caerdydd) is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

unitary authority. At the May 2017 elections all four seats were won by the Labour Party.

1974–1996

Between 1974 and 1996 the Cathays ward was represented on Cardiff City Council by three councillors. These included

Mike German Michael James German, Baron German, OBE (born 8 May 1945) is a British politician, serving currently as a member of the House of Lords and formerly as a member of the National Assembly for Wales for the South Wales East region. He was leader ...

, leader of the Liberal Democrats on the council; and Derek Allinson, Lord Mayor in 1992. The ward was represented mainly by the Labour Party, until 1983 when the Liberal Democrats, Mike German and Fred Hornblow, won two of the seats. Between 1983 and 1996 the ward was represented by councillors German, Hornblow and Allinson.

1890–1974

Electoral wards of Cardiff County Borough 1890

In July 1890, following the creation of

Cardiff County Borough Council Cardiff County Borough Council, known as Cardiff City Council after Cardiff achieved city status in 1905, was the elected local authority that administered the town (later city) and county borough of Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales between 1889 and ...

, Cathays was the name of one of the ten new electoral wards created in the county borough. It covered an area northeast of the

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in st ...

(with much of what is nowadays the Cathays ward, west of the railway, being part of the Central ward). Each of the three councillors took turns to stand for re-election, on a three-yearly (later a nine-yearly) cycle.

References

{{coord, 51.49499, -3.18115, type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(ST181780), display=title Politics of Cardiff

Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

Cardiff electoral wards 1890 establishments in Wales