City and County of Swansea council

The City and County of Swansea Council (Welsh: Cyngor Dinas a Sir Abertawe) is the governing body for one of the Principal Areas of Wales covering Swansea, Gower and the surrounding area. The council consists of 72 councillors representing 36 electoral wards.

The council is controlled by the Labour Party.

Elections take place every five years. The last election was 3 May 2012.[1]

source: [2]

Between 1996 and 2004, the council was under Labour control. Since 2004 there has been no overall control and the council has been led by a Liberal Democrats coalition with an alliance with the Independents and the Conservatives, termed the Swansea Administration. However these figures changed during the 2004-2008 period with the defection of Cllr. Keith Morgan from Plaid Cymru to the Welsh Liberal Democrats in 2005 and Cllr. Rene Kinzett from the Welsh Liberal Democrats to the Conservatives in 2006.

Following the 2008 elections, the Liberal Democrats agreed with the Independents to form another coalition for the next four years.

Swansea's first charter was granted sometime between 1158-1184 by William de Newburgh, 3rd Earl of Warwick. The charter gave Swansea the status of a borough, granting the townsmen, called burgesses certain rights to develop the area. A second charter was granted in 1215 by King John. By 1888, the borough acquired the status of county borough, separating it from the administrative county of Glamorgan.

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