| Principal areas of Wales Prif ardaloedd Cymru (Welsh) | |
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 Map of the 22 principal areas of Wales | |
| Category | Unitary authorities |
| Location | Wales |
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| Number | 22 |
| Possible types |
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| Government | |
| Subdivisions | |
| This article is part of a series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the |
| Politics of Wales |
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The principal areas of Wales, comprising the counties andcounty boroughs of Wales, are a form of subdivision in Wales. There are currently 22 principal areas in Wales, and they were established in 1996.
For local government, Wales is divided into 22 sub-divisions collectively called "principal areas" in the 1994 act. They may be styled as either a "county" or a "county borough". Each principal area is overseen by a "principal council", which may also adopt their principal area style, being called a "county council" (Welsh : cyngor sir) or a "county borough council" (Welsh: cyngor bwrdeistref sirol). [1] [2]
The basic framework of local government and specifically a council's constitution and general powers were set out in the Local Government Act 1972, which simplified the existing local governing structure in Wales that existed prior. The later Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 restructured local government, by significantly amending the previous act. The councils of the principal areas are generally supervised by the Welsh Government. [1] [3]
The names of the principal areas, in both English and Welsh, are set out in the 1994 amended version of the 1972 act, under Schedule 4. Section 74 of the 1972 act allows principal councils to change their names, if there is a two-third majority support for such in a specially covened meeting. Since their establishment, multiple councils have pursued a name change. Any notice of a name change has to be submitted to the Welsh Ministers and the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales. [1] [2]
The principal areas' councils are unitary authorities, and are sub-divided into communities and electoral wards. [4]
Some of the principal areas have county borough status, a largely historical status that reflects their historical existence as major population centres. [4] The eleven county boroughs of Wales are Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Conwy, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan and Wrexham. County borough status does not award any different rights compared to the other counties. The 1994 act stated they should not be treated as a "borough" as defined by earlier legislation. [2]
The other eleven have county status, and are styled as "counties".
The principal areas' boundaries are made up of its electoral wards, and the average number of electoral wards in a principal area is 40. [4]
Five of the principal areas use different names to those given in the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. In each case the council renamed the area immediately, with the changes taking effect on 2 April 1996. [5] The changes were:
Other simpler changes also took place such as:
Following the enacting of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, the pre-existing eight counties of Wales (now largely the ceremonial preserved counties of Wales) and its 37 districts were replaced on 1 April 1996, with 22 unitary authorities, the "principal areas". [4] [6] [2] The 1994 act also created the communities and preserved counties. [2]
In 2014, plans were announced to reform local government in Wales, reducing the number of principal areas from 22 to a smaller number of unitary authorities, similar to the counties that they replaced in 1996. [7] [6]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales in 2020, the principal areas were used as a basis for local lockdowns. [8]
| Principal area | Comprising (in 1996) | |
|---|---|---|
| Current name(s) | Initial name(s) in 1994 Act | Districts (and specific communities) |
| Counties | ||
| Isle of Anglesey (Welsh : Ynys Môn) | Anglesey (Welsh : Sir Fôn) |
|
| Gwynedd | Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire (Welsh : Sir Gaernarfon a Meirionnydd) | |
| Cardiff (Welsh : Caerdydd) | ||
| Ceredigion | Cardiganshire (Welsh : Sir Aberteifi) |
|
| Carmarthenshire (Welsh : Sir Gaerfyrddin) | ||
| Denbighshire (Welsh : Sir Ddinbych) |
| |
| Flintshire (Welsh : Sir y Fflint) | ||
| Monmouthshire (Welsh : Sir Fynwy) |
| |
| Pembrokeshire (Welsh : Sir Benfro) | ||
| Powys | ||
| Swansea (Welsh : Abertawe) |
| |
| County boroughs | ||
| Conwy | Aberconwy and Colwyn (Welsh : Aberconwy a Cholwyn) | |
| Blaenau Gwent |
| |
| Bridgend (Welsh : Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) |
| |
| Caerphilly (Welsh : Caerffili) | ||
| Merthyr Tydfil (Welsh : Merthyr Tudful) | ||
| Neath Port Talbot (Welsh : Castell-nedd Port Talbot) | Neath and Port Talbot (Welsh : Castell-nedd a Phort Talbot) | |
| Newport (Welsh : Casnewydd) |
| |
| Rhondda Cynon Taf | Rhondda, Cynon, Taff (Welsh : Rhondda, Cynon, Taf) |
|
| Torfaen (Welsh : Tor-faen) |
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| The Vale of Glamorgan (Welsh : Bro Morgannwg) |
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| Wrexham (Welsh : Wrecsam) |
| |
Local government in Wales is primarily undertaken by the twenty-two principal councils. The councils are unitary authorities, meaning they are responsible for providing local government services within their principal area, including education, social work, environmental protection, and most highway maintenance. The principal areas are divided into communities, most of which have an elected community council. The services provided by community councils vary, but they will typically maintain public spaces and facilities. Local councils in Wales are elected; the most recent local elections in Wales took place in 2022, and the next are due to take place in 2027.
The preserved counties of Wales are the eight current areas used in Wales for the ceremonial purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty. They are based on the counties which were used for local government and other purposes between 1974 and 1996. Each comprises one or more of the 22 single-tier principal areas which are used for administrative purposes.
Clwyd is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to the east and Shropshire to the south-east. Powys and Gwynedd lie to the south and west respectively. Clwyd also shares a maritime boundary with Merseyside along the River Dee. Between 1974 and 1996, a slightly different area had a county council, with local government functions shared with six district councils. In 1996, Clwyd was abolished, and the new principal areas of Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham County Borough were created; under this reorganisation, "Clwyd" became a preserved county, with the name being retained for certain ceremonial functions.
In England and Wales local government legislation, a principal area is one of the sub-national areas established for control by a principal council. They include most of the areas governed by the lowest level of local government above that of Parish or Community council.
North Wales is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia National Park and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, known for its mountains, waterfalls and trails, wholly within the region. Its population is concentrated in the north-east and northern coastal areas, with significant Welsh-speaking populations in its western and rural areas. North Wales is imprecisely defined, lacking any exact definition or administrative structure. It is commonly defined administratively as its six most northern principal areas, but other definitions exist, with Montgomeryshire historically considered to be part of the region.
These are lists of places in Wales.
The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to create the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as principal areas in the Act, and abolished the previous two-tier structure of counties and districts. It came into effect on 1 April 1996.
Neath was one of the four local government districts of West Glamorgan, Wales from 1974 to 1996.
Monmouthshire County Council is the governing body for the Monmouthshire principal area – one of the unitary authorities of Wales.
Gwynedd Council, which calls itself by its Welsh name Cyngor Gwynedd, is the governing body for the county of Gwynedd, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council administrates internally using the Welsh language.
The subdivisions of Wales constitute a hierarchy of administrative divisions and non-administrative ceremonial areas.
Wrexham County Borough Council is the governing body for Wrexham County Borough, a principal area with city status in north Wales, covering Wrexham and the surrounding area.
Conwy County Borough Council is the local authority for Conwy County Borough, one of the principal areas of Wales.
Menter Iaith is a community-based organisation which works to raise the profile of the Welsh language in a specific area. Each local Menter Iaith receives a basic grant from the Welsh Language Board, as well as financial support from a number of other sources, to work with individuals, organisations, and local business to promote the use of Welsh in its area.
The history of local government in Wales in a recognisably modern form emerged during the late 19th century. Administrative counties and county boroughs were first established in Wales in 1889. Urban and rural districts were formed in 1894. These were replaced in 1974 by a two-tier authority system across the country comprising eight counties and, within them, thirty-seven districts. This system was itself replaced by the introduction of 22 single-tier authorities in 1996.
In Wales, a trunk road agent,, is a partnership between two or more county and/or county borough councils for the purposes of managing, maintaining, and improving the network of trunk roads in Wales in their respective areas on behalf of the Welsh Government.
Scheduled monuments are sites of archaeological importance with specific legal protection against damage or development.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election in Wales was held on 7 May 2015 and all 40 seats in Wales were contested. The election for each seat was conducted on the basis of first-past-the-post.
West Glamorgan County Council was the county council of the county of West Glamorgan in south-west Wales, from its creation in 1974 to its abolition in 1996.
Wales has traditionally been divided into a number of ambiguous and ill-defined areas described as regions, reflecting historical, geographical, administrative, cultural and electoral boundaries within the country. Presently, the most common form of division of Wales into "regions" has been using cardinal and intercardinal references: north or south-west for example. None of the variously described "regions" have official status or defined boundaries; neither is there a fixed number of regions. Various organisations use different regions and combinations of regions for their individual purposes. This includes devolved institutions, such as Visit Wales, Natural Resources Wales, and the Welsh Government itself, using different sets of Wales' regions. Wales is most commonly sub-divided into between two and four regions, with a North–South divide, and North, Mid, South East and South West division being common. This article lists the various terms applied to be the "regions of Wales" and the regions used by various organisations.
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