Fairwater (Cardiff electoral ward) have included Labour councillor Michael Michael, who was deputy leader of the Cardiff Council until 2008 and Plaid Cymru's Neil McEvoy, who was deputy leader of the council from 2008 to 2012. McEvoy had previously been a Labour Party councillor for the Riverside ward in the city and was also elected as a Plaid Cymru Assembly Member in the Wales Government in 2016. Plaid Cymru ("Fairwater and Pentrebane Voice") and Labour ("Fairwater and Pentrebane Fightback") both issue local campaigning newsletters containing allegations and counter-allegations against one another. These have included accusations that Cllr Michael Michael, a hairdresser, was profiting from
Cathays under the Freedom of Information Act show that over 70% of the houses in Cathays are now HMOs. The buy-to-let market has deterred young couples, families and first time buyers from setting up home in the area. Cathays High School is an 11-18 mixed comprehensive school that started as a boys Grammar school in 1903 and became a comprehensive high school in 1973. Despite the urbanisation of Cathays there is extensive parkland around the civic centre, including Gorsedd Gardens, Queen Alexandra Gardens, Bute Park and Blackweir. The area is served by Cathays railway station in the east of the area