page_title: City and County of Swansea Council
section_title: Municipal history
hierarchical_section_title: City and County of Swansea Council / Municipal history
context_page_description: The City and County of Swansea Council 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.
  Since 2012 the council has been controlled by the Labour Party.
context_section_description: 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.
  Swansea County Borough Council was created in 1889 and the first elections held in November of that year.
  In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, Swansea (which had previously been a county borough) was merged with Gower Rural District, to become a district of West Glamorgan called the District and City of Swansea.  In 1996, another local government reform saw the district of Swansea merged with parts of the Lliw Valley district to form a unitary authority under the name of the 'City and County of Swansea' (Welsh: Dinas a Sir Abertawe.)
caption: The Guildhall - council headquarters
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