Castle, Swansea

Castle
Welsh: *Castell*
Castle Welsh: Castell;
	Location of the (pre-2022) Castle community within Swansea
Population	15,883 (2011)
OS grid reference	SS6593
Community	Castle;
Principal area	Swansea;
Preserved county	West Glamorgan;
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SWANSEA
Postcode district	SA1
Dialling code	01792
Police	South Wales
Fire	Mid and West Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
UK Parliament	Swansea West;
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament	Swansea West;
	List of places UK Wales Swansea

Castle (Welsh: Castell) is an electoral ward and community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, UK. Castle covers most of the heart of the City of Swansea, with Swansea Castle at its centre.

Description[edit]

The electoral ward matches the community boundaries and consists of some or all of the following areas: Swansea city centre, Brynmelin, Dyfatty, Greenhill, parts of Mount Pleasant, Sandfields and Waun Wen in the parliamentary constituency of Swansea West. The ward borders the wards of St. Thomas to the east; Landore and Cwmbwrla to the north; Townhill and Uplands; and Waterfront to the south.

For electoral purposes, Castle is divided into a number of polling districts: City Centre, Sandfields, George Street, Mount Pleasant, XE1 High Street, XE2 High Street, North Hill, Baptist Well, XH1 Brynmelin and XH2 Brynmelin. Castle returns 4 councillors to the local council.

The Castle ward is a Communities First area.

The community does not have its own community council.

2021 boundary review[edit]

Following a local government boundary review, the Maritime Quarter area of Castle was removed to form part of a new Waterfront ward (and community), effective from the 2022 local elections.^[1] Despite being reduced in size, Castle ward continues to elect four county councillors.

Demographics[edit]

The overall population in the Castle ward and community according to the 2011 UK Census was 15,883.^[2]

They had an ethnic breakdown of:^[2]

Ethnic breakdown:

Ethnic group	Count	%
White British	11,742	73.9
White Irish	105	0.7
White Other	834	5.3
Black/African/Caribbean	400	2.5
Asian	1,862	11.7
Mixed ethnicity	213	1.3
Other (e.g. Arab)	727	4.6

The number of people identifying themselves as Welsh was 7,321 (46.1%), Considerably lower than the figure for the county as a whole.

Local election results[edit]

Since 1995 the Castle Ward has been a four-member ward for the purposes of City and County of Swansea Council elections. The ward is a major Labour Party stronghold.

2017[edit]

Castle 2017
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sybil Edith Crouch*	1,820
	Labour	Erika Theresa Kirchner*	1,772
	Labour	Fiona Margaret Gordon*	1,763
	Labour	David Phillips*	1,716
	Conservative	Paul Raymond Morris	568
	Conservative	Sonya Winifred Rachel Morris	534
	Conservative	Mohammad Amin Doha	425
	Conservative	Akshit Sanjiv Khanna	411
	Plaid Cymru	Shan Couch	349
	Plaid Cymru	Damian Paul Martin	254
	UKIP	Stan Robinson	247
	Liberal Democrats	Charlene Anika	237
	Liberal Democrats	Owen John Roberts	235
	Green	David John Smith	220
	Plaid Cymru	Harri Llwyd Roberts	210
	Liberal Democrats	Thomas Davies	203
	Plaid Cymru	David Richards	191
	Liberal Democrats	Benjamin James Williams	191
	TUSC	Alec Thraves	112
	TUSC	Claire Louise Job	97
	TUSC	Colin Thomas John	89
Turnout				29.8	+0.8
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

2012[edit]

Following the May 2012 election the ward was represented by four Labour Party councillors:

Castle 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Erika Theresa Kirchner*	1,629
	Labour	Sybil Crouch	1,623
	Labour	David Phillips*	1,610
	Labour	Fiona Margaret Gordon	1,582
	Liberal Democrats	Gareth Peter Jones	533
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Jeffery	531
	Liberal Democrats	Tanya Auxiliadora May	511
	Liberal Democrats	Vicky Lewis	440
	Plaid Cymru	Patrick John Powell	274
	Plaid Cymru	Gez Couch	261
	Plaid Cymru	Harri Llwyd Roberts	254
	Green	Steve Clegg	248
	Plaid Cymru	Damian Paul Martin	248
	Conservative	Paul Raymond Morris	241
	Conservative	Stephen Joseph Gallagher	230
	Conservative	Sonya Winifred Rachel Morris	228
	Conservative	Natasha Rhian Tomaszewski	207
	Independent	Phil Crayford	207
	Green	Ross Walters	193
	TUSC	Martin John White	148
Turnout				29.0	+0.7
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Prior to the 2012 election the City and County of Swansea councillors for Castle Ward were:

Erika Kirchner, Labour
Alan Lloyd, Labour
David Phillips, Labour

Councillor Barbara Hynes, who had represented Castle for 21 years, died in September 2011^[3] resulting in a byelection.

2008[edit]

In the 2008 local elections, there were 21 candidates, each hoping to secure one of four seats. All four sitting Labour councillors were looking to retain their seats. However, the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats were all fielding four candidates each. The other candidate who was hoping to take a seat represented the Socialist Party.

1999[edit]

In 1999, the number of seats increased from three to four. David Phillips had previously represented the Uplands ward.

Castle 1999
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	Alan Lloyd*	1,622
Labour	Barbara Joyce Hynes*	1,579
Labour	David Phillips	1,477
Labour	Dereck John Roberts*	1,440
Plaid Cymru	Yvonne Marie Davies	1,111
Liberal Democrats	Yvonne Marjorie Holley	937
Green	Benjamin David Grigg	632
Conservative	Paul Raymond Morris	503
Conservative	Sonya Winifred R. Morris	477
United Socialists	David Richard Warren	273
Labour hold		Swing
Labour hold		Swing
Labour hold		Swing
Labour win (new seat)

1995[edit]

The first election to the new unitary City and County of Swansea Council took place in 1995. All three seats were won by Labour.

Castle 1995
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	Alan Lloyd	1,756
Labour	Barbara Joyce Hynes	1,723
Labour	Dereck John Roberts	1,623
Liberal Democrats	Robert Speht	592
Green	Benjamin David Grigg	515
Liberal Democrats	Cynthia Wharrad	463
Wales Militant Labour	Mark Evans	378
Labour win (new seat)
Labour win (new seat)
Labour win (new seat)

1889[edit]

Castle was one of the ten wards created to Swansea County Borough Council, electing two representatives in the November 1889 elections. The election was fought on local issues and the winning candidates had no party affiliation.^[4]

* = sitting councillor prior to the election