Local election in Cardiff, Wales
The 1972 Cardiff City Council election was held on Thursday 4 May 1972 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 1971. The 1972 election would be the final all-Cardiff election to this council before the dissolution of the unitary authority and the creation of the new second-tier district authority of Cardiff City Council in 1974.
The election saw the Labour Party taking a significant number of seats, to cut the Conservative Party majority.
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 councillors elected in 1972 would only serve for less two years, before the dissolution of the Council in April 1974.
There were a total of 76 seats on the council, including 19 aldermen.[1]
Overview of the result
Nineteen seats in 19 electoral wards were up for election in May 1972. The Labour Party won an additional ten seats on the council, mainly from the ruling Conservative Party, cutting the Tory majority to 12.[2] One of the gains was in the Whitchurch ward, which until last year had been a Tory stronghold.[2]
Ward results
Contests for one ward councillor seat took place in each of the nineteen wards at this election.[3]
Adamsdown
Adamsdown ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | John Iorwerth Jones * | 1,316 | | |
| Conservative | Christopher Paterson | 391 | | |
| Independent | Thelma Mackie | 57 | | |
Majority | 925 | | |
| Labour hold | Swing | | |
Canton
Canton ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | George E. Bayliss | 1,396 | | |
| Conservative | William Albert J. Adams * | 1,316 | | |
Majority | 80 | | |
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Cathays
Cathays ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | Derek Allinson | 1,988 | | |
| Conservative | David John Evans * | 1,587 | | |
| Plaid Cymru | Gareth Ap Sion | 430 | | |
| People's Candidate | Morris W. Bradshaw | 165 | | |
Majority | 401 | | |
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Central
Central ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | John D. Leonard * | 1,535 | | |
| Conservative | Bernard H. Rees | 932 | | |
Majority | 603 | | |
| Labour hold | Swing | | |
Ely
Ely ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | Thomas Clifford Lee | 2,674 | | |
| Conservative | John F. G. Phillips * | 775 | | |
| Plaid Cymru | Charles Stephen Cravos | 524 | | |
Majority | 1,899 | | |
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Gabalfa
Gabalfa ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | Michael Jn. Parry | 2,290 | | |
| Conservative | Gwilym Haydn Jones * | 1,405 | | |
Majority | 885 | | |
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Grangetown
Grangetown ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | (Mrs) E. M. Matthewson | 1,543 | | |
| Conservative | Lawrence Charles Johnson * | 876 | | |
Majority | 667 | | |
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Llandaff
Llandaff ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Conservative | Keith Flynn * | 2,041 | | |
| Labour | Carys Meinir Evans | 727 | | |
| Plaid Cymru | Gwen Humphreys | 614 | | |
Majority | 1,314 | | |
| Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Llanishen
Llanishen ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Conservative | Jeffrey P. Sainsbury * | 2,579 | | |
| Labour | Leslie Bernard Goodrum | 2,131 | | |
| Liberal | Olive Mary Langdon | 924 | | |
Majority | 448 | | |
| Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Penylan
Penylan ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Conservative | Stefan Terlezki | 4,087 | | |
| Labour | Violet Jones | 2,007 | | |
Majority | 2,080 | | |
| Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Plasmawr
Plasmawr ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | Fred George Tyrrell | 2,385 | | |
| Plaid Cymru | (Dr) Dafydd Hughes* | 1,584 | | |
| Conservative | Doreen Muriel Norman | 859 | | |
Majority | 801 | | |
| Labour gain from Plaid Cymru | Swing | | |
Plasnewydd
Plasnewydd ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Conservative | Geoffrey Donald Edmunds * | 1,489 | | |
| Labour | Patrick Joseph Troy | 1,361 | | |
| Plaid Cymru | Philip Brian Richards | 431 | | |
| Liberal | Henry Charles Edwards | 358 | | |
Majority | 128 | | |
| Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Rhiwbina
Rhiwbina ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Conservative | William John A. Bain * | 2,145 | | |
| Plaid Cymru | H. Lloyd Davies | 964 | | |
| Liberal | Howard John O'Brien | 803 | | |
| Labour | Mervyn G. Powell-Davies | 785 | | |
Majority | 1,191 | | |
| Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Riverside
Riverside ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Conservative | Alec Johnson * | 1,219 | | |
| Labour | John A. Hennessey | 1,013 | | |
| Plaid Cymru | Roy A. Lee | 315 | | |
| Liberal | Richard M. James | 131 | | |
Majority | 206 | | |
| Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Roath
Roath ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Conservative | Gerald Michael Brinks * | 2,093 | | |
| Labour | Fred Hodges | 802 | | |
| Plaid Cymru | Paul Anthony Cravos | 379 | | |
Majority | 1,291 | | |
| Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Rumney
Rumney ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | John Randall Phillips | 3,122 | | |
| Conservative | David Howard Burnett | 1,071 | | |
| Independent | (Dr) Bryan Sandford-Hill * | 514 | | |
Majority | 2,051 | | |
| Labour gain from Independent | Swing | | |
South
South ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | Frederick John Smith | 2,011 | | |
| Conservative | David Stanley Cooper * | 779 | | |
Majority | 1,232 | | |
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Splott
Splott ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | Dermot R. Ormond | 2,239 | | |
| Conservative | Cyril Frederick Hutchings * | 1,128 | | |
| Communist | Stella Garrett Jones | 94 | | |
Majority | 1,111 | | |
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Whitchurch
Whitchurch ward 1972 Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | Philip Norton | 2,569 | | |
| Conservative | John Meurig Davies * | 2,399 | | |
Majority | 170 | | |
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
* = 'retiring' ward councillor for re-election
See also
References
- ^ "Lady Mayoress loses city council seat to Labour". The Western Mail. 8 May 1970. p. 4.
- ^ a b "Labour sweep in with big gains". South Wales Echo. 5 May 1972. p. 1.
- ^ "South Wales Results In Detail - Cardiff". South Wales Echo. 5 May 1972. p. 6.