In Wales, the office of Mayor or Lord Mayor (respectively in Welsh Maer and Arglwydd Faer) had long been ceremonial posts, with little or no duties attached to it. Traditionally mayors have been elected by town, borough and city councils. Since 2000, councils can decide to have directly elected mayors with extensive powers if such a proposal is approved in a local referendum.
List of mayoralties in Wales Lord Mayors
The right to appoint a Lord Mayor is less frequently bestowed than city status.
Currently, only two cities in Wales have Lord Mayors: Cardiff and Swansea.
Mayors See also borough status in England and Wales for a list of Welsh areas having a borough charter (and therefore a mayor). County boroughs are highlighted here in bold text. Many towns have lost their borough status (for example as a consequence of the Local Government Act 1972) but continued the tradition of appointing or electing mayors to the ongoing Town Councils.
Aberaeron Ammanford Bangor (City Council) Barry Beaumaris Blaenau Gwent Bridgend County Borough Builth Wells Caernarfon Cardigan Carmarthen Colwyn Conwy Cowbridge Crickhowell Cwmamman Dolgellau Glynneath Haverfordwest Hay-on-Wye Holyhead Kidwelly Knighton Llandrindod Wells Llandudno Llanelli Llangollen Llanrwst Llanwrtyd Wells Machynlleth Merthyr Tydfil Monmouth Narberth Neath Neath Port Talbot Newport (City Council) Newtown Pembroke Pembroke Dock Pontardawe Porthcawl Port Talbot Presteigne Rhayader Rhondda Cynon Taff Saundersfoot (Community Council) St Asaph (City Council) St Davids (City Council) Talgarth Tenby Torfaen Vale of Glamorgan Welshpool Wrexham Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen (Community Council)
Mayoresses and Lady Mayoresses
The wife of a male Mayor is called the Mayoress and accompanies him to civic functions. A male or female Mayor may appoint a female consort, usually a fellow councillor, as Mayoress. The first female mayor in Wales, Gwenllian Morgan of Brecon elected in 1910, appointed her sister, Nellie, as mayoress. In May 2000 the mayor of Cwmamman, Howard Power, appointed his 15-year-old niece Marianne Coleman as mayoress, because his wife was too busy to fill the role. In 2008 the new Mayor of Narberth, Suzanne Radford-Smith, nominated her aunt to be Mayoress.
The consort of a Lord Mayor is the Lady Mayoress.
See also England and Wales mayoral referendums Local government in Wales List of mayors of Cardiff Lord Mayors of Swansea Mayor of Newport Mayor of Wrexham Mayor of Carmarthen
References