The 1966 Cardiff City Council election was held on Thursday 12 May 1966 to elect councillors to Cardiff City Council in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales. It took place on the same day as several other county borough elections in Wales and England.

The previous elections to this one were in May 1965 and the next elections would be in May 1967.

The election saw the Labour Party lose control of the council to the Conservatives.[1]

Background

Cardiff County Borough Council had been created in 1889. Cardiff became a city in 1905. Elections to the local authority were held annually, though not all council seats were included in each contest, because each of the three councillors in each ward stood down for election in rotation.

The council also included aldermen who were elected for a six-year period by the councillors.

At the 1965 Cardiff election the Conservatives had won seven seats from Labour and the Liberal Party, leaving Labour in control of the City Council as a result of the Lord Mayor's casting vote.[2]

Overview of the result

Seventeen seats in 17 electoral wards were up for election in May 1966. All seats were contested by Labour and the Conservatives, three seats were contested by the Liberals, Independents stood in Grangetown and Gabalfa (where the Tories had won seats in 1965)[2] and a sole Plaid Cymru candidate stood in Splott.

In Grangetown, the sitting Labour councillor Maxwell Christie was deselected by the Cardiff Labour Party, but stood as an Independent Labour candidate.[3]

The Conservatives won two seats from Labour, in Grangetown and Canton, giving them a majority on the Council.

Council composition

Prior to the election the council had been divided with 34 seats held by Labour and 34 by the Conservatives.[2] By dint of winning two seats, the Conservatives now had a majority of 36 to 32.

Ward results

Contests took place in every ward at this election.[4]

Adamsdown

Adamsdown ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Iorwerth Jones * 1,485
Conservative Jeffrey Paul Sainsbury 647
Liberal Henry Charles Edwards 483
Majority 838
Labour hold Swing

Canton

Canton ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Albert John Adams 1,753
Labour George Thomas Cashman * 1,473
Majority 280
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Cathays

Cathays ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Emyr Currie-Jones * 2,057
Conservative Thomas H. Ablett 1,617
Liberal George Parsons 1,489
Majority 440
Labour hold Swing

Central

Central ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Cecil Herbert Rapport * 2,021
Labour Manuel C. Delgado 1,149
Majority 872
Conservative hold Swing

Ely

Ely ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Blanche Adelaide McDonald * 1,955
Conservative Roger Hambleton 1,265
Majority 690
Labour hold Swing

Gabalfa

Gabalfa ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Gertrude Louise Baines * 1,762
Conservative Henry Peter Farthing 1,528
Independent Labour John Francis O'Sullivan 546
Majority 234
Labour hold Swing

Grangetown

Grangetown ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Norman William Henry Leworthy 1,345
Labour David Joseph Seligman 1,289
Independent Labour Maxwell Christie * 1,147
Majority 56
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Councillor Maxwell Christie was deselected by the Cardiff Labour Party, but stood as an Independent Labour candidate. He had been a Grangetown councillor since 1962. The local Labour Party threatened to expel him and his two main supporters.[3]

Llandaff

Llandaff ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative (Sir) Charles Hallinan * 3,018
Labour Elizabeth Diane Toogood 836
Majority 2,182
Conservative hold Swing

Llanishen

Llanishen ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Joseph Gerald Gaskell * 3,349
Labour William John Phillips 1,375
Liberal John Evan Lee 1,086
Majority 1,974
Conservative hold Swing

Penylan

Penylan ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Gerard Alan Smith Turnbull * 4,295
Labour Armour Bernard Matthewson 920
Majority 3,375
Conservative hold Swing

Plasmawr

Plasmawr ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Campbell-Belfour 2,096
Conservative Robert Clive Mogridge 1,447
Majority 649
Labour hold Swing

Plasnewydd

Plasnewydd ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Margaret Sylvia Jacobs * 1,928
Conservative Desmond Griffith Rees 1,748
Majority 180
Labour hold Swing

Riverside

Riverside ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sidney William Doxsey * 1,853
Labour Doris Elizabeth Cashman 1,114
Majority 739
Conservative hold Swing

Roath

Roath ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Norman Lloyd-Edwards * 3,339
Labour David Melville Porter 843
Majority 2,496
Conservative hold Swing

Rumney

Rumney ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lilian Clarice Scrivens * 2,463
Conservative Joan Taylor 1,802
Majority 661
Labour hold Swing

South

South ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Philip Dunleavy 1,724
Conservative John Anthony Clarke 1,165
Majority 559
Labour hold Swing

Splott

Splott ward 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Myfyr Evans * 2,207
Conservative Brian Sandford Hill 1,471
Plaid Cymru Donald Arthur Nicholson 387
Majority 736
Labour hold Swing

* = 'retiring' ward councillor for re-election

References

  1. ↑ "Tories in big poll come-back". South Wales Echo. 13 May 1966. p. 1.
  2. 1 2 3 "South Wales goes to the polls - Socialists on the defensive". South Wales Echo. 12 May 1966. p. 9.
  3. 1 2 "Poll split widens as Coun. Christie again refuses to quit". South Wales Echo. 5 May 1966. p. 4.
  4. ↑ "How South Wales Voted". South Wales Echo. 13 May 1966. p. 8.
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