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Mid Glamorgan County Council

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Mid Glamorgan County Council

Cyngor Sir Morgannwg Ganol
Mid Glamorgan coat of arms
Coat of arms of
Mid Glamorgan County Council
Type
Type
History
Founded1 April 1974
Disbanded31 March 1996
Preceded byGlamorgan County Council (part)
Merthyr Tydfil CBC (1908-1974)
Succeeded by
Structure
Seats85 councillors (1974–1989)
74 councillors (1989–1995)
Length of term
4 years
Elections
First past the post
First election
April 1973
Last election
May 1993
Meeting place
County Hall, Cathays Park, Cardiff

Mid Glamorgan County Council (Welsh: Cyngor Sir Morgannwg Ganol) was the upper-tier authority for the Welsh county of Mid Glamorgan between its creation in 1974 and its abolition in 1996.

History

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Local government in England and Wales was reorganised in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The old administrative county of Glamorgan was subdivided, forming Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan, which all came into existence on 1 April 1974.

Mid Glamorgan was the largest and the poorest of the new county councils in Glamorgan. In 1974 it had a population of 531,847 and the council had a revenue expenditure of £60 million.[1]

Mid 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]

Political control

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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.[3]

Party in control Years
Labour 1974–1996

Leadership

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The leaders of the council were:

Councillor Party From To
Philip Squire Labour 1 Apr 1974 May 1989
Terry Mahoney[4] Labour May 1989 31 Mar 1996

Philip Squire was appointed chairman and leader from the establishment of the shadow authority. He had previously been a member of Glamorgan County Council since 1946.[1] The chief executive was solicitor, Tom Vivian Walters, who had worked for Glamorgan County Council since 1943.[1]

Squire continued as leader of the council for 15 years, until retiring in 1989 at the age of 83. Because of the dominance of the Labour Party on the council, it was sometimes referred to as a "Squirearchy".[5]

Elections

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The first Mid Glamorgan Council elections took place in April 1973, when 85 councillors were elected from 68 electoral divisions (with 16 councillors in 14 divisions being elected unopposed). The number of councillors was reduced to 74 in 1989.[6] The results of each election were as follows:[7]

Year Seats Labour Plaid Cymru Conservative Liberal Democrats[a] Communist Independent Others Notes
1973 85 62 9 3 2 2 3 3
1977 85 48 17 8 2 1 5 4
1981 85 63 9 3 2 1 4 3
1985 85 68 7 1 2 1 4 2
1989 74 65 5 - 1 - 2 1 New division boundaries.[6]
1993 74 60 10 1 - - 3 -
  1. ^ Includes Liberals and SDP pre-1988

Premises

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County Hall (now the Glamorgan Building) in Cathays Park, Cardiff had been the headquarters for Glamorgan County Council prior to 1974[8] and, although Cardiff was in South Glamorgan, not Mid Glamorgan, it was decided to use the Glamorgan Building as the new headquarters for Mid Glamorgan County Council.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "The Counties and Districts - Mid Glamorgan". Western Mail ("The New Wales" supplement). Wales. 22 March 1974. p. 10.
  2. ^ "Local Government (Wales) Act 1994", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1994 c. 19, retrieved 27 October 2022
  3. ^ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Shake-up puts Terry at the helm". Merthyr Express. 18 May 1989. p. 11. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  5. ^ Tony Heath (8 February 1996). "Obituary: Philip Squire". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-14. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  6. ^ a b "The County of Mid Glamorgan (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1988". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. 2 March 1988. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  7. ^ "Mid Glamorgan County Council Election Results 1973-1993" (PDF). The Elections Centre. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Glamorgan County Council". Archives Hub. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  9. ^ "The Local Government Reorganisation (Wales) (Property etc.) Order 1996". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. 8 March 1996. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
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