Administrative divisions of Wales

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See also: List of Welsh principal areas by population, List of Welsh principal areas by area, and List of Welsh principal areas by percentage Welsh language

For local government purposes, Wales is divided into 22 unitary authorities. There are 9 counties, 3 cities¹, and 10 county boroughs, although all have equal powers. Collectively these are known as the principal areas of Wales. They came into being on April 1, 1996 by virtue of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (1994 c. 19).

¹ There are five cities in total in Wales — in addition to the three unitary authorities with City status, the communities of Bangor and St David's also have the status.

1 Principal areas of Wales
2 Name changes
3 Communities
4 Police and fire services
- 4.1 Police forces
- 4.2 Fire and rescue services
5 History
- 5.1 Administrative counties (1889-1974)
  - 5.1.1 Area and population
  - 5.1.2 County Boroughs
- 5.2 Local Government Act 1972: Counties and districts
6 See also
7 References

[edit] Principal areas of Wales

Areas are Counties, unless marked * (for Cities) or † (for County Boroughs). Welsh language forms are given in parentheses, where they differ from the English.

Merthyr Tydfil (Merthyr Tudful) †
Caerphilly (Caerffili) †
Blaenau Gwent †
Torfaen (Tor-faen) †
Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy)
Newport (Casnewydd) *
Cardiff (Caerdydd) *
Vale of Glamorgan (Bro Morgannwg) †
Bridgend (Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) †
Rhondda Cynon Taff (Rhondda Cynon Tâf) †
Neath Port Talbot (Castell-nedd Port Talbot) †
Swansea (Abertawe) *
Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin)
Ceredigion
Powys
Wrexham (Wrecsam) †
Flintshire (Sir y Fflint)
Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych)
Conwy †
Gwynedd
Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro)

v • d • e

Principal areas of Wales

Subdivisions created by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994
Anglesey • Blaenau Gwent • Bridgend • Caerphilly • Cardiff • Carmarthenshire • Ceredigion • Conwy • Denbighshire • Flintshire • Gwynedd • Merthyr Tydfil • Monmouthshire • Neath Port Talbot • Newport • Pembrokeshire • Powys • Rhondda Cynon Taff • Swansea • Torfaen • Vale of Glamorgan • Wrexham

[edit] Name changes

The current names of certain principal areas are different from those specified in the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. The following changes took place, all with effect from April 2, 1996 : ^[1]

Conwy from Aberconwy and Colwyn
Isle of Anglesey from Anglesey
Gwynedd from Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire
Ceredigion from Cardiganshire
Neath Port Talbot from Neath and Port Talbot

[edit] Communities

The lowest level of subdivision below principal areas are Communities. Each Welsh principal area is subdivided into communities. They have elected community councils (CCs) which perform a number of roles, such as providing local facilities, and representing their communities to larger local government bodies. Community councils are the equivlent of English parish councils. A community council may call itself a 'town council' if it wishes to do so. Two Welsh communities Bangor and St David's have city status and are therefore called 'City Councils'. Communities which are too small to have a council have a community meeting instead, an example of direct democracy.

See also List of communities in Wales

[edit] Police and fire services

[edit] Police forces

There are four police forces in Wales. These are:

North Wales Police (Heddlu Gogledd Cymru)
Dyfed-Powys Police (Heddlu Dyfed Powys)
South Wales Police (Heddlu De Cymru)
Gwent Police (Heddlu Gwent)

[edit] Fire and rescue services

There are three fire and rescue services in Wales. The present Welsh fire services date from 1996. Each covers a number of principal areas. These are:

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service (Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Gogledd Cymru)
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru)
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub De Cymru)

[edit] History

[edit] Administrative counties (1889-1974)

From 1889 to 1974, administrative counties of Wales were used for local government for the first time. These were created by the Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict, c. 41) based on the traditional counties of Wales, but they were not entirely identical.

Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy)
Glamorganshire or Glamorgan (Morgannwg)
Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin)
Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro)
Cardiganshire (Sir Aberteifi)
Brecknockshire or Breconshire (Sir Frycheiniog)
Radnorshire (Sir Faesyfed)
Montgomeryshire (Sir Drefaldwyn)
Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych)
Flintshire (Sir y Fflint)
Merionethshire (Sir Feirionnydd)
Caernarfonshire (Sir Gaernarfon)
Anglesey (Ynys Môn)

[edit] Area and population

The table shows the area and population of administrative counties in Wales and Monmouthshire as recorded at the censuses of 1891 and 1961.^[2]^[3]

Administrative county	Area 1891 (Statute acres)	Population 1891	Area 1961 (Statute acres)	Population 1961
Anglesey	175,836	50,098	176,694	51,705
Brecknockshire	469,894	51,393	469,281	55,185
Cardiganshire	443,071	63,467	443,189	53,648
Carmarthenshire	587,816	130,566	588,271	168,008
Caernarvonshire⁽¹⁾	360,138	117,233	364,108	121,767
Denbighshire	424,235	118,843	427,978	174,151
Flintshire	164,051	77,277	163,707	150,082
Glamorgan	505,815	467,954	468,808	523,253
Merionethshire	427,810	49,212	422,372	38,310
Monmouthshire⁽²⁾	342,548	203,347	346,779	336,556
Montgomeryshire	510,111	58,003	510,110	41,165
Pembrokeshire	392,710	88,296	393,008	94,124
Radnorshire	301,164	21,791	301,165	18,471

⁽¹⁾Renamed from Carnarvonshire, July 1, 1926^[4]

⁽²⁾Monmouthshire's status as a county of Wales was ambiguous until 1974.

[edit] County Boroughs

There were also a number of administratively independent county boroughs (not shown):

Cardiff created in 1889 (associated with Glamorgan)
Swansea, created in 1889 (associated with Glamorgan)
Newport, separated from Monmouthshire in 1891
Merthyr Tydfil, separated from Glamorgan in 1908

County borough	Area 1911 (Statute acres)	Population 1911	Area 1961 (Statute acres)	Population 1961
Cardiff	6,373	182,259	15,085	256,582
Merthyr Tydfil	17,761	80,990	17,760	59,039
Newport	4,504	83,691	7,691	112,298
Swansea	5,202	114,663	21,600	167,322

[edit] Local Government Act 1972: Counties and districts

In 1974, the existing administrative counties were abolished and replaced by eight new two-tier authorities, instead called 'counties' by the Local Government Act 1972 (1972 c. 70). These counties were sub-divided into lower-tier districts.

The counties were all given names in Welsh only, apart from the three in Glamorgan, which had English names as well as Welsh. The creation of these new administrative areas effectively separated the administrative function from the traditional counties, although in reality this had occurred in 1889.

When these two-tier counties were abolished in 1996, their names and areas were retained with slight modifications for some purposes such as Lieutenancy, and became known as the preserved counties of Wales. These were further amended in 2003 by S.I. 2003/974 to ensure that each unitary area is wholly within one preserved county.

[edit] Counties

Gwent
South Glamorgan
(De Morgannwg)
Mid Glamorgan
(Morgannwg Ganol)
West Glamorgan
(Gorllewin Morgannwg)
Dyfed
Powys
Gwynedd
Clwyd

[edit] Districts

Main article: Districts of Wales

The counties were sub-divided into districts, these were:

Clwyd — Alyn and Deeside, Colwyn, Delyn, Glyndwr, Rhuddlan, Wrexham Maelor
Dyfed — Carmarthen, Ceredigion, Dinefwr, Llanelli, Preseli Pembrokeshire (named Preseli until 1987), South Pembrokeshire
Gwent — Blaenau Gwent, Islwyn, Monmouth, Newport, Torfaen
Gwynedd — Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd, Anglesey
Mid Glamorgan — Cynon Valley, Ogwr, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda, Rhymney Valley, Taff–Ely
Powys — Brecknock, Montgomery, Radnor
South Glamorgan — Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan
West Glamorgan — Lliw Valley, Neath, Port Talbot (named Afan until 1986), Swansea

[edit] 1996

The redistribution of these districts into the current unitary authorities is as follows:

Unitary authority	Previous districts
Anglesey	Anglesey
Blaenau Gwent	most of Blaenau Gwent
Bridgend	most of Ogwr
Caerphilly	Islwyn, Rhymney Valley
Carmarthenshire	Carmarthen, Llanelli, Dinefwr
Cardiff	Cardiff, part of Taff–Ely
Ceredigion	Ceredigion
Conwy	Aberconwy, most of Colwyn
Denbighshire	Rhuddlan, parts of Glyndwr and Colwyn
Flintshire	Alyn and Deeside, Delyn
Gwynedd	Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd
Merthyr Tydfil	Merthyr Tydfil
Monmouthshire	Monmouth, part of Blaenau Gwent
Neath Port Talbot	Neath, Port Talbot, parts of Lliw Valley
Newport	Newport
Pembrokeshire	Preseli Pembrokeshire, South Pembrokeshire
Powys	Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Brecknock, part of Glyndwr
Rhondda Cynon Taf	Rhondda, Cynon Valley, most of Taff-Ely
Swansea	Swansea, parts of Lliw Valley
Torfaen	Torfaen
Vale of Glamorgan	most of Vale of Glamorgan
Wrexham	most of Wrexham, parts of Glyndwr

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ [1]
^ Census of England and Wales 1891, Vol. I, Table III. Administrative Counties and County Boroughs; Area, and Houses and Population in 1891 (Historic GIS Project, Queen's University, Belfast)[2]
^ 1961 Census England and Wales: County Reports (www.visionofbritain.org.uk) [3]
^ 1931 Census of England and Wales, county report for Caernarvonshire