Dyfed County Council

Dyfed County Council was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It took over the functions of the three previous county councils which had covered the area: Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire.^[1]

Dyfed County Council was abolished under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, being replaced on 1 April 1996 by three unitary authorities: Carmarthenshire County Council, Ceredigion County Council, and Pembrokeshire County Council. These corresponded to the former counties which had been abolished 22 years earlier. The area of Dyfed became a preserved county, being used for some ceremonial purposes, but no longer having a county council.^[2][3]

The first election to the county council was held in April 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1974. The vast majority of the councillors elected in 1973 were members of one of the three previous county councils. At the 1977 election, Plaid Cymru gained some ground although not to the extent that was seen in parts of the South Wales valleys in that year.^[4] Political control of the council from 1974 until its abolition in 1996 was as follows:^[5]