Post by andrewp on Jan 26, 2024 11:44:46 GMT
With credit to Penddu for the original profile and LDCaerdydd for information supplied for this profile.
Cardiff West (Gorllewin Caerdydd) has until 2024 been entirely within the City and County of Cardiff (Caerdydd) and includes most of the area to the west of the River Taff, and contains a mix of some of the poorest areas of Cardiff alongside some of the more affluent.
The core of the constituency, and about three quarters of the electorate is the built up area starting directly across Cardiff Bridge from the Western end of the city centre, Cardiff Castle and the Principality Stadium. The remaining quarter of the electorate is in a more rural area stretching some miles to the North and North West.
Across the bridges from the city centre is Riverside ward in the south east of the seat which is a classic 'inner city' area with a large ethnic population and poor housing stock - but the north of the same ward includes the popular and leafy Pontcanna area along Cathedral road. To the west of Riverside is Canton, which is becoming a trendy place to live and together with Pontcanna is home to a large Welsh speaking community which originally grew up around the locally based HTV & S4C TV studios (since moved). Both of the homes of Cardiff City football club at Leckwith and Glamorgan County Cricket Club at Sophia Gardens on the banks of the Taff are in this constituency.
Further to the west are the the suburban Ely and Careau housing estates which are former local authority estates, socially deprived and were the scene of the Ely Riots in 1991. Riverside, Canton, Ely and Careau form a formidable block of support for the Labour Party.
To the north of Riverside along the river, Llandaff was until recently home to BBC Wales 'Broadcasting House' and contains the historic Llandaff Cathedral and ruined Bishops Palace. Llandaff was a village until incorporated into Cardiff in 1922 and still has an urban village vibe. Following the river north from Llandaff is the pleasant commuter suburb of Radyr.
By contrast to the inner city at the south end of the constituency, to the north-west is the pretty village of St Fagans which contains the National Museum of History - previously known as the Welsh Folk Museum, and St Fagans castle which was the site of a major battle in the English Civil War. The seat continues into Cardiff’s rural green belt to include the commuter villages of Pentyrch and Creigiau and a large housing expanion at Plasdwr.
The northern end of this seat is Pentyrch on the border of which is Taffs Well railway station which upon completion of the South Wales Metro in 2025 will see 12 trains per hour direct to the City Centre of Cardiff so whilst on the border between Cardiff and Rhondda Cynon Taf the area is becoming very much an overspill for Cardiff with the population increasingly looking south towards Cardiff for both employment and entertainment.
The demographics for this constituency as a whole mask some differences between the various parts of the constituency. Overall it is 83.9% white, with Asian (7.7%) and black (3.8%) minorities. In Riverside the white figure is 64% and 23% of people are Asian. In Pentyrch and Pontyclun, 94 and 96% are white respectively. Over a third of people in Riverside, mostly students and young professionals, are private renters. Overall there are a relatively high percentage of under 15 year olds in the seat and it is in the top third of constituencies in England and Wales for all age groups under 50. It is 62.4% owner occupied as a whole, which is a bit more than Cardiff East or Cardiff South and Penarth with the northern end of the seat being particularly owner occupied. 37% of people have jobs classified as professional or higher professional- there are both younger people in Riverside and Canton in that category and a slightly different group in Radyr and in the north of the seat. 40.1% of residents have been educated to degree level- putting this seat in the top quartile for that measure.
In the council elections of 2022, in the wards included in this seat on the new boundaries, 16 Labour councillors were elected to 3 Conservatives, 2 Plaid Cymru, 2 Independents and 1 Propel. Labour won the 4 southern wards of Riverside, Canton, Caerau and Ely, only being seriously challenged by Plaid in Canton, and the Conservatives didn’t get more then 13% in any of them. Fairwater saw ex Labour and Plaid Cymru councillor and MS Neil McEvoy re elected under his Propel banner alongside 2 Labour councillors and the last fully urban ward Llandaff split between a Conservative and a Labour councillor. The rural wards were more split with Radyr splitting between Labour and Conservative councillors, Pentrych & St Fagans splitting between Plaid Cymru and Conservative councillors and new arrival Pontyclun electing 1 Labour and 2 Independents.
In the boundary changes, the seat edges further north and expands outside of the Cardiff City council area for the first time to add the 6000 electors from Pontyclun, which is near Llantrisant at the very southern end of the Rhondda Cynon Taff district. This is an area like many in the southern end of Rhondda Cynon Taff which have been trending towards the Conservatives given an influx of commuters in modern housing developments.
Since creation in 1950, the seat could historically be classified as a semi safe Labour seat. The Conservatives won once in 1983 in the shape of the rather distinctive Stefan Terlezki, polish born Chairman of Cardiff City football club. He was helped somewhat by Jeffrey Thomas, the sitting MP for Abertillery contesting the seat for the SDP and by George Thomas’ retirement. Either side of that Cardiff West has had 3 long serving Labour MPs,the first two of whom were quite prominent. George Thomas ( 1950-83) spent seven years as the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rhodri Morgan ( 1987-2001) went on to become First minister of Wales and then the slightly lower profile but long serving incumbent Kevin Brennan ( 2001- present)
Successive boundary changes have expanded this seat further North and North West to include more rural territory each time. In theory that should be good news for the Conservative Party and indeed the north of the constituency is fertile territory for the party. However, the core southern section of the seat which still makes up three quarters of the electorate has trended towards Labour over time. Future commons Speaker George Thomas won a majority of 3000 for Labour in 1959 when the seat contained only the urban areas and little of the rural area, Kevin Brennan would probably have been at least 15,000 ahead on those boundaries in 2019.
Whilst the northern end of this seat is very much ripe territory for the Conservatives in good times, they haven’t reached 30% of the vote in the constituency since 1992. The boundary changes reduce the Labour notional majority by about 4% to 20% or 10,500 votes but the seat overall is likely to remain solidly Labour for the foreseeable future given its overall make up.
Cardiff West (Gorllewin Caerdydd) has until 2024 been entirely within the City and County of Cardiff (Caerdydd) and includes most of the area to the west of the River Taff, and contains a mix of some of the poorest areas of Cardiff alongside some of the more affluent.
The core of the constituency, and about three quarters of the electorate is the built up area starting directly across Cardiff Bridge from the Western end of the city centre, Cardiff Castle and the Principality Stadium. The remaining quarter of the electorate is in a more rural area stretching some miles to the North and North West.
Across the bridges from the city centre is Riverside ward in the south east of the seat which is a classic 'inner city' area with a large ethnic population and poor housing stock - but the north of the same ward includes the popular and leafy Pontcanna area along Cathedral road. To the west of Riverside is Canton, which is becoming a trendy place to live and together with Pontcanna is home to a large Welsh speaking community which originally grew up around the locally based HTV & S4C TV studios (since moved). Both of the homes of Cardiff City football club at Leckwith and Glamorgan County Cricket Club at Sophia Gardens on the banks of the Taff are in this constituency.
Further to the west are the the suburban Ely and Careau housing estates which are former local authority estates, socially deprived and were the scene of the Ely Riots in 1991. Riverside, Canton, Ely and Careau form a formidable block of support for the Labour Party.
To the north of Riverside along the river, Llandaff was until recently home to BBC Wales 'Broadcasting House' and contains the historic Llandaff Cathedral and ruined Bishops Palace. Llandaff was a village until incorporated into Cardiff in 1922 and still has an urban village vibe. Following the river north from Llandaff is the pleasant commuter suburb of Radyr.
By contrast to the inner city at the south end of the constituency, to the north-west is the pretty village of St Fagans which contains the National Museum of History - previously known as the Welsh Folk Museum, and St Fagans castle which was the site of a major battle in the English Civil War. The seat continues into Cardiff’s rural green belt to include the commuter villages of Pentyrch and Creigiau and a large housing expanion at Plasdwr.
The northern end of this seat is Pentyrch on the border of which is Taffs Well railway station which upon completion of the South Wales Metro in 2025 will see 12 trains per hour direct to the City Centre of Cardiff so whilst on the border between Cardiff and Rhondda Cynon Taf the area is becoming very much an overspill for Cardiff with the population increasingly looking south towards Cardiff for both employment and entertainment.
The demographics for this constituency as a whole mask some differences between the various parts of the constituency. Overall it is 83.9% white, with Asian (7.7%) and black (3.8%) minorities. In Riverside the white figure is 64% and 23% of people are Asian. In Pentyrch and Pontyclun, 94 and 96% are white respectively. Over a third of people in Riverside, mostly students and young professionals, are private renters. Overall there are a relatively high percentage of under 15 year olds in the seat and it is in the top third of constituencies in England and Wales for all age groups under 50. It is 62.4% owner occupied as a whole, which is a bit more than Cardiff East or Cardiff South and Penarth with the northern end of the seat being particularly owner occupied. 37% of people have jobs classified as professional or higher professional- there are both younger people in Riverside and Canton in that category and a slightly different group in Radyr and in the north of the seat. 40.1% of residents have been educated to degree level- putting this seat in the top quartile for that measure.
In the council elections of 2022, in the wards included in this seat on the new boundaries, 16 Labour councillors were elected to 3 Conservatives, 2 Plaid Cymru, 2 Independents and 1 Propel. Labour won the 4 southern wards of Riverside, Canton, Caerau and Ely, only being seriously challenged by Plaid in Canton, and the Conservatives didn’t get more then 13% in any of them. Fairwater saw ex Labour and Plaid Cymru councillor and MS Neil McEvoy re elected under his Propel banner alongside 2 Labour councillors and the last fully urban ward Llandaff split between a Conservative and a Labour councillor. The rural wards were more split with Radyr splitting between Labour and Conservative councillors, Pentrych & St Fagans splitting between Plaid Cymru and Conservative councillors and new arrival Pontyclun electing 1 Labour and 2 Independents.
In the boundary changes, the seat edges further north and expands outside of the Cardiff City council area for the first time to add the 6000 electors from Pontyclun, which is near Llantrisant at the very southern end of the Rhondda Cynon Taff district. This is an area like many in the southern end of Rhondda Cynon Taff which have been trending towards the Conservatives given an influx of commuters in modern housing developments.
Since creation in 1950, the seat could historically be classified as a semi safe Labour seat. The Conservatives won once in 1983 in the shape of the rather distinctive Stefan Terlezki, polish born Chairman of Cardiff City football club. He was helped somewhat by Jeffrey Thomas, the sitting MP for Abertillery contesting the seat for the SDP and by George Thomas’ retirement. Either side of that Cardiff West has had 3 long serving Labour MPs,the first two of whom were quite prominent. George Thomas ( 1950-83) spent seven years as the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rhodri Morgan ( 1987-2001) went on to become First minister of Wales and then the slightly lower profile but long serving incumbent Kevin Brennan ( 2001- present)
Successive boundary changes have expanded this seat further North and North West to include more rural territory each time. In theory that should be good news for the Conservative Party and indeed the north of the constituency is fertile territory for the party. However, the core southern section of the seat which still makes up three quarters of the electorate has trended towards Labour over time. Future commons Speaker George Thomas won a majority of 3000 for Labour in 1959 when the seat contained only the urban areas and little of the rural area, Kevin Brennan would probably have been at least 15,000 ahead on those boundaries in 2019.
Whilst the northern end of this seat is very much ripe territory for the Conservatives in good times, they haven’t reached 30% of the vote in the constituency since 1992. The boundary changes reduce the Labour notional majority by about 4% to 20% or 10,500 votes but the seat overall is likely to remain solidly Labour for the foreseeable future given its overall make up.
