Sketty (electoral ward)

Infobox swansea electoral ward
Electoral Ward = Sketty Ward
Ward

GridReference = SS6293
Principal Locality = Sketty
Total Population = 13,799 (2001 census)
Land Area = 6.87 (2001 census)
Local Council = City and County of Swansea
NoofCouncillors = 5
PostCodes = SA2
DiallingCode = +44-1792
AssemblyConstituency = Swansea West
Constituency = Swansea West

Sketty ( _cy. Sgeti) is the name of an electoral ward, a community and a suburb in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, UK. The community is coterminous with the electoral ward.

It is bounded to the following parishes: North by Cockett, East by Uplands, South by the coast, South West by Mumbles and West by Killay. It does not have a Community Council.

The electoral ward is divided into a number of polling districts by the City and County of Swansea. They are Tycoch, Sketty Park, Vivian Road, Sketty Green, Derwen Fawr, Gwerneinon. It is the largest ward in the UK Parliament and Welsh Assembly Swansea West. It is bounded by the other Swansea electoral wards of Mayals to the south; Killay South and Killay North to the west; Cockett to the north; Uplands to the east; and Swansea Bay to the south east.

Sketty could also be described as consisting of some or all of the following areas: Carnglas, Clyne Valley (Gwerneinon), Derwen Fawr, Hendrefoilan, Killay, Singleton Park, Sketty, Tycoch, Cwmgwyn, A very small part of the Cockett postal district is in the Sketty community, and a part of the Sketty postal district is in the Uplands community.

Due to the large size of Sketty, there are recognisable sub-divisions of Sketty. Whilst the boundaries used for electoral or postal purposes are clearly defined, although they do not always correspond, in the public mind the boundaries are not totally clear. Indeed many residents of some of the sub-divisions would describe themselves as a residents of the sub-division rather than use the term Sketty. Indeed residents of the western part of the Uplands would consider their vicinity as part of "Sketty", as indeed would the post office.

Politics

The Sketty Ward is the largest in the Swansea West Parliamentary/ Welsh Assembly Constituency, and is one of only two five member wards for the purposes of City and County of Swansea Elections. This single ward five member structure allows the electorate to vote for up to five candidates, and electors are free to either put all their votes behind one party or to split their vote between parties.

The three main UK-wide parties seem to have reasonable local infrastructures in the area, and have contested the vast majority of seats since the first elections to the City and County of Swansea authority in 1995. The Conservative Party, which only contested four out of five seats in 1999, is an exception. A defeated independent candidate in those elections then stood, and won, as an official Conservative candidate in a 2000 by-election. Plaid Cymru, whilst it has not contested every seat, contests every election. There have in the past been a small number of non-party candidates, and in the 2004 elections the Green Party also put up a full slate of five candidates.

The area has seen considerable electoral volatility, and there appears to be evidence of split ticket voting. Whilst party factors remain strong, there seems to be evidence of voters taking into account other factors, such as personality and perhaps geographic factors due to the size of the ward. In recent elections, (post 1995) whilst there is evidence of considerable voting shifts between parties, no party has ever had the igmony of its vote completely collapsing, and the area has seen some hotly contested local elections.

In 1995, the ward elected four councillors. This election was a "mid-term election" towards the end of the Conservative period in Government. Labour won three seats, and an Independent candidate one one. The Independent councillor later joined the Liberal Democrats. These elections were probably the worst for the Conservative Party in the area, and the best for Labour.

In 1999, the ward elected five councillors. This election was held the same day as the first elections to the National Assembly for Wales, and was set against a controversial backdrop concerning a Welsh Labour leadership election, and the Labour vote predictably suffered. The results were the most eclectic seen. The Conservatives won two seats, the Liberal Democrats also won two seats and Labour won one.

In 2000, there was a by-election caused by the death of the Labour Councillor. The seat was then won by the Conservatives. This election confirmed the previous year's re-emergence of the Conservatives, although of course this election took place on a lower turnout than the other elections.

In 2004, the ward again elected five councillors. These elections were set against the national backdrop of a controversial war in Iraq, and the local backdrop of the closure of Swansea Leisure Centre. These elections saw Labour lose control, and a coalition of Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, and independents take control of Swansea Council, the main local issue at the time was a planning issue concerning a proposed ASDA store in Derwen Fawr; however, there was little if any dispute between the parties on this matter. In Sketty, the Conservatives won two seats and the Liberal Democrats won three. In 2007, one of the two conservative councillors became an Independent when the Conservastive group left the ruling coalition. He joined the Liberal Democrats in 2008.

2008 local council elections

In the 2004 elections, Sketty returned two conservatives and three Liberal Democrat councillors. One of the Conservative councillors defected to the independents then became a Welsh Liberal Democrat. In the 2008 local council elections, Paul Meara of the Liberal Democrats ousted the sitting Conservative councillor Tony Lloyd. It was a cleam sweep for the Liberal Democrats in the ward. The results were:

ee also

*Hendrefoilan, a village overlapping the communities of Sketty and Killay
*Singleton Park, the main park in Sketty

External links

* [http://www.swansea.ac.uk/ Swansea University]
* [http://www.swansea-tr.wales.nhs.uk/cefncoed.htm Cefn Coed Hospital]
* [http://www.swansea-tr.wales.nhs.uk/singleton.htm Singleton Hospital]
* [http://www.swancoll.ac.uk/TheCollege/ Swansea College]
* [http://www.parklandschurch.org.uk Parklands Evangelical Church]