THE daughter of a former Cardiff lord mayor who died this year will take over her mother’s seat as the new councillor for Splott.
Labour’s Anny Anderson won the Cardiff Council Splott by-election on Thursday, December 5, by 419 votes.
Her mother, Jane Henshaw, served as a councillor for Splott from 2017 and became lord mayor in May, 2024. She passed away peacefully in September.
When we spoke with Cllr Anderson in October, she said she wanted to fulfil her mother’s ambition to make Splott the best place for children to grow up in.
She said: “Her ambitions for Splott, for this to be the best place that children could grow up in and for them to feel really proud of Splott – that is in all of us.
“I can’t underestimate how much of her passions and beliefs have driven me and my siblings.”
Back then, Cllr Anderson said one of her priorities would be making improvements to parks in the area, including Splott Park playground.
A total of 1,769 people cast their vote in the Splott by-election, making it a turnout of 19.45%.
Sam Coates, running for the Green Party, had the second highest share of the votes, with 362.
Following him was Kyle Cudgie Cullen for Propel, with 305 votes.
Here is a full breakdown of the results:
- Anny Anderson (Labour): 711 votes
- Sam Coates (Green Party):362 votes
- Kyle Cudgie Cullen (Propel): 305 votes
- Cadan ap Tomos (Liberal Democrat): 292 votes
- Lee Canning (Reform): 271 votes
- Leticia Gonzalez (Plaid Cymru): 88 votes
- Tomos Llewelyn (Conservatives): 60 votes
The result means there will not be any change to the political makeup of Cardiff Council, with Labour retaining the total number of seats it had in Splott following the last local government elections in May, 2022.
Alongside Cllr Anderson in her ward currently is Labour’s Cllr Ed Stubbs and Cllr Huw Thomas, who is also the leader of the city council.
The last council by-election in Cardiff took place in Grangetown in April after former Labour councillor for the area, Abdul Sattar, died.
In that by-election, Abdul Sattar’s widow, Cllr Waheeda Sattar, won by 1,470 votes.
The passing of her late husband was announced in February and was followed by an outpouring of tributes by members of the community and city councillors.
The voter turnout in Grangetown then was 21% – that is 3,106 voters in total.
