Charles III
50-1026: Drefach is a small village in the community of Llanwenog , Ceredigion , Wales . Dre-fach is represented in the Senedd by Elin Jones ( Plaid Cymru ) and is part of the Ceredigion Preseli constituency in the House of Commons . This Ceredigion location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Community (Wales) Heir Apparent William, Prince of Wales First Minister ( list ) Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS ( L ) Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies MS ( L ) Counsel General-designate – Elisabeth Jones Chief Whip and Trefnydd – Jane Hutt MS (L) Permanent Secretary Sixth Senedd Llywydd (Presiding Officer) Elin Jones MS ( PC ) Leader of
100-502: A "carve up", and demanding that the east/west split be retained. The resulting South Glamorgan was the only Welsh county council the Conservatives ever controlled (from 1977 to 1981). One of the effects of the Act was to confirm the area of Monmouthshire as part of Wales. Ambiguity as to the status of Monmouthshire had been introduced by legislation in the 16th and 17th centuries, and by
150-660: A Consultative Document in February 1971, at the same time as the English White Paper. The proposals were similar to the Labour proposals of 1968, except that the county boroughs were instead two-tier districts, and that Glamorgan was to be subdivided into West Glamorgan and East Glamorgan, making 7 counties and 36 districts. In the Bill as introduced Glamorgan had been split into three authorities: with East Glamorgan further subdivided into
200-514: A Mid Glamorgan covering the valleys and South Glamorgan. The decision to split East Glamorgan further left South Glamorgan with only two districts (one of which was the Conservative-controlled Cardiff , who had requested the split) and Mid Glamorgan one of the poorest areas in the country. The Labour-controlled Glamorgan County Council strongly opposed this move, placing adverts in newspapers calling for Glamorgan to be saved from
250-505: A civil parish council, its 'town council' which could act alone in some matters such as town twinning, whereas Welwyn Garden City did not and therefore had no separate representation. The Act introduced 'agency', where one local authority (usually a district) could act as an agent for another authority. For example, since road maintenance was split depending upon the type of road, both types of council had to retain engineering departments. A county council could delegate its road maintenance to
300-661: A division in the Lords on the inclusion of Weston-super-Mare in Avon, by 42 to 41. Two more metropolitan districts were created than were originally in the Bill: As passed, the Act would have included Charlwood and Horley in West Sussex , along with Gatwick Airport . This was reversed by the Charlwood and Horley Act 1974 , passed just before the Act came into force. Charlwood was made part of
350-516: A system of single-tier unitary authorities for the whole of England, apart from three metropolitan areas of Merseyside , SELNEC (South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire, now known as Greater Manchester) and West Midlands ( Birmingham and the Black Country ), which were to have both a metropolitan council and district councils. This report was accepted by the Labour Party government of
400-642: Is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest tier of local government in Wales . Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England but, unlike English parishes, communities cover the whole of Wales. There are 878 communities in Wales. Until 1974 Wales was divided into civil parishes . These were abolished by section 20 (6) of the Local Government Act 1972 , and replaced by communities by section 27 of
450-402: The Black Country . Most of the commission's recommendations, such as its proposals to abolish Rutland or to reorganise Tyneside , were ignored in favour of the status quo. It was generally agreed that there were significant problems with the structure of local government. Despite mergers, there was still a proliferation of small district councils in rural areas, and in the major conurbations
500-691: The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 and the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 . Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Government of 1970–74 . The Act took
550-478: The Mole Valley district and Horley part of Reigate and Banstead . Gatwick Airport was still transferred. Although willing to compromise on exact boundaries, the government stood firm on the existence or abolition of county councils. The Isle of Wight (originally scheduled to be merged back into Hampshire as a district) was the only local campaign to succeed, and also the only county council in England to violate
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#1733085246254600-527: The 1990s. In Wales, too, the Act established a similar pattern of counties and districts , but these have since been entirely replaced with a system of unitary authorities . Elections were held to the new authorities in 1973, and they acted as "shadow authorities" until the handover date. Elections to county councils were held on 12 April, for metropolitan and Welsh districts on 10 May, and for non-metropolitan district councils on 7 June. Elected county councils had been established in England and Wales for
650-456: The 250,000 minimum for education authorities. The government bowed to local demand for the island to retain its status in October 1972, moving an amendment in the Lords to remove it from Hampshire, Lord Sanford noting that "nowhere else is faced with problems of communication with its neighbours which are in any way comparable". Protests from Rutland and Herefordshire failed, although Rutland
700-564: The Act came into force at midnight on 1 April 1974. Elections to the new councils had already been held, in 1973, and the new authorities were already up and running as "shadow authorities", following the example set by the London Government Act 1963 . The Act specified the composition and names of the English and Welsh counties, and the composition of the metropolitan and Welsh districts. It did not specify any names of districts, nor indeed
750-475: The Crown . In Wales, all town councils are community councils. There are now three communities with city status: Bangor , St Asaph and St Davids . The chair of a town council or city council will usually have the title mayor (Welsh: maer ). However, not every community has a council. In communities with populations too small to sustain a full community council, community meetings may be established. The communities in
800-414: The English counties were designated as metropolitan counties. The new English counties were based clearly on the traditional ones, albeit with several substantial changes. The thirteen historic counties of Wales were abandoned entirely for administrative purposes and eight new ones instituted. The Act substituted the new counties "for counties of any other description" for purposes of law. This realigned
850-557: The Leeds or Wakefield districts. (Rothwell had been planned for Wakefield, but an amendment at report stage was proposed by local MP Albert Roberts and accepted by the government, then overturned by the Lords.) Instead, the Wakefield district gained the town of Ossett , which was originally placed in the Kirklees district, following an appeal by Ossett Labour Party. The government barely won
900-619: The Local Government Bill into Parliament soon after the start of the 1971–1972 session. In the Commons it passed through Standing Committee D, who debated it in 51 sittings from 25 November 1971 to 20 March 1972. The Act abolished previous existing local government structures, and created a two-tier system of counties and districts everywhere. Some of the new counties were designated metropolitan counties , containing metropolitan boroughs instead. The allocation of functions differed between
950-588: The Middle Ages or even earlier; industrialisation had created new and very large urban areas like the West Midlands, Liverpool and Manchester which spanned traditional county boundaries and were now often bigger than and far from their traditional county towns. The Local Government Commission was wound up in 1966, and replaced with a Royal Commission (known as the Redcliffe-Maud commission ). In 1969 it recommended
1000-655: The Opposition Andrew RT Davies MS ( C ) Shadow Cabinet ( current ) Prime Minister Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP ( L ) Secretary of State for Wales Rt Hon Jo Stevens MP (L) Principal councils ( leader list ) Corporate Joint Committees Local twinning see also: Regional terms and Regional economy United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections (1979–2020) Local elections Police and crime commissioner elections Referendums A community ( Welsh : cymuned )
1050-503: The Redcliffe-Maud report, and its findings that the division of functions between town and country had been harmful, but that some functions were better performed by smaller units. The White Paper set out the proposed division of functions between districts and counties, and also suggested a minimum population of 40,000 for districts. The government aimed to introduce a Bill in the 1971/72 session of Parliament for elections in 1973, so that
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#17330852462541100-594: The act was substantially different in Wales. The Redcliffe-Maud Commission had not considered Wales, which had been the subject of the Welsh Office proposals in the 1960s. A White Paper was published in 1967 on the subject of Wales, based on the findings of the 1962 report of the Local Government Commission for Wales . The White Paper proposed five counties, and thirty-six districts. The county boroughs of Swansea , Cardiff and Newport would be retained, but
1150-519: The areas during the Bill's passage through Parliament were: In the Bill as published, the Dorset/Hampshire border was between Christchurch and Lymington. On 6 July 1972, a government amendment added Lymington to Dorset, which would have had the effect of having the entire Bournemouth conurbation in one county (although the town in Lymington itself does not form part of the built-up area, the borough
1200-496: The borders had been set before the pattern of urban development had become clear. For example, in the area that was to become the seven boroughs of the metropolitan county of West Midlands , local government was split between three administrative counties ( Staffordshire , Warwickshire , and Worcestershire ), and eight county boroughs ( Birmingham , Coventry , Dudley , Solihull , Walsall , Warley , West Bromwich , and Wolverhampton ). Many county boundaries reflected traditions of
1250-491: The borders of the non-metropolitan districts in England – these were specified by Statutory Instrument after the passing of the Act. A Boundary Commission, provided for in the Act, had already begun work on dividing England into districts whilst the Bill was still going through Parliament. In England there were 45 counties and 332 districts (excluding Greater London and the Isles of Scilly), in Wales there were 8 and 37. Six of
1300-454: The boroughs, responded to Redcliffe-Maud by putting forward a scheme where England outside London would be divided into 13 provinces, with 132 main authorities below that. The AMC argued that the Redcliffe-Maud units would be too far removed from the people they served, and suggested units that in some places were much smaller in size. The Times gave the example of Kent, which under Redcliffe-Maud would have consisted of two unitary authorities,
1350-451: The boundaries of ceremonial and judicial counties used for lieutenancy , custodes rotulorum , shrievalty , commissions of the peace and magistrates' courts to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. The Act also extended the rights of the Duchy of Lancaster to appoint Lord-Lieutenants for the shrunken Lancashire along with all of Greater Manchester and Merseyside . Before
1400-745: The community boundaries within their area every fifteen years. The councils propose changes to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales , which prepares a report and makes recommendations to the Welsh Government . If the Welsh Government accepts the recommendations, then it implements them using a statutory instrument . For example, in 2016 four new communities were created in the City and County of Cardiff . The legislation surrounding community councils in Wales has been amended significantly in
1450-587: The concept of unifying estuaries, through the creation of the county of Humberside on the Humber Estuary , and the inclusion of Harwich and Colchester in Suffolk to unify the Stour Estuary . The latter was removed from the Bill before it became law. Proposals from Plymouth for a Tamarside county were rejected. The Bill also provided names for the new counties for the first time. The main amendments made to
1500-690: The country. Many of the new boundaries proposed by the Redcliffe-Maud report were retained in the White Paper. The proposals were in large part based on ideas of the County Councils Association, the Urban District Councils Association and the Rural District Councils Association. The White Paper outlined principles, including an acceptance of the minimum population of 250,000 for education authorities in
1550-481: The county boundaries found in the Bill). A further eighteen districts were added in the final proposals of November 1972, which were then ordered. The splits were as follows (in most cases the splits were not exact, and many other changes to the borders of the districts took place at this time) The new district in Suffolk was necessitated by the decision to keep Newmarket in Suffolk; which would otherwise have become part of
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1600-443: The district council if it was confident that the district was competent. Some powers were specifically excluded from agency, such as education. The Act abolished various historic relics such as aldermen . The office previously known as sheriff was retitled high sheriff. Many existing boroughs that were too small to constitute a district, but too large to constitute a civil parish , were given charter trustees . Most provisions of
1650-555: The exception of Clwyd (which was named after the River Clwyd ) the names of the counties were taken from ancient British kingdoms. Welsh names were also used for many of the Welsh districts. There were no metropolitan counties and, unlike in England, the Secretary of State could not create future metropolitan counties there under the Act. After much comment, the proposals were introduced as
1700-400: The first time in 1888, covering areas known as administrative counties. Some large towns, known as county boroughs , were politically independent from the counties in which they were physically situated. The county areas were two-tier, with many municipal boroughs , urban districts and rural districts within them, each with its own council. Apart from the creation of new county boroughs,
1750-449: The gradual cultural anglicisation of some eastern parts of the county. By the late 19th century the area was often treated in legislation as one with Wales, using the terminology "Wales and Monmouthshire", although it remained legally part of England. Apart from the new Glamorgan authorities, all the names of the new Welsh counties were in the Welsh language , with no English equivalent. With
1800-511: The metropolitan and the non-metropolitan areas (the so-called " shire counties ") – for example, education and social services were the responsibility of the shire counties, but in metropolitan areas was given to the districts. The distribution of powers was slightly different in Wales than in England, with libraries being a county responsibility in England—but in Wales districts could opt to become library authorities themselves. One key principle
1850-651: The most significant change since 1899 (and the establishment of metropolitan boroughs in the County of London ) had been the establishment in 1965 of Greater London and its 32 London boroughs , covering a much larger area than the previous county of London . A Local Government Commission for England was set up in 1958 to review local government arrangements throughout the country, and made some changes, such as merging two pairs of small administrative counties to form Huntingdon and Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely , and creating several contiguous county boroughs in
1900-589: The new authorities could start exercising full powers on 1 April 1974. The White Paper made no commitments on regional or provincial government, since the Conservative government preferred to wait for the Crowther Commission to report. The proposals were substantially changed with the introduction of the Bill into Parliament in November 1971: The Bill as introduced also included two new major changes based on
1950-427: The passing of the Act, there were a total of 1,210 councils in England (excluding Greater London councils and the Isles of Scilly). This was made up of 1,086 rural and urban districts (including non-county boroughs), 79 county boroughs and 45 counties. The Act reduced the total number of councils outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly to 377 (45 counties and 332 districts). Most of the new districts were groups of
2000-487: The same Act. The principal areas of Wales are divided entirely into communities. Unlike in England, where unparished areas exist, no part of Wales is outside a community, even in urban areas . Most, but not all, communities are administered by community councils , which are equivalent to English parish councils in terms of their powers and the way they operate. Welsh community councils may call themselves town councils unilaterally and may have city status granted by
2050-406: The small county borough of Merthyr Tydfil would become a district. The proposed counties were as follows Implementation of reform in Wales was not immediate, pending decisions on the situation in England, and a new Secretary of State, George Thomas , announced changes to the proposals in November 1968. The large northern county of Gwynedd was to be split to form two counties (creating Gwynedd in
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2100-454: The smaller having a population of 499,000 (as of 1968), while the AMC proposal would divide the same area into seven local authorities, ranging in population from 161,000 to 306,000. The incoming government's proposals for England were presented in a White Paper published in February 1971. The White Paper substantially trimmed the metropolitan areas, and proposed a two-tier structure for the rest of
2150-563: The time despite considerable opposition, but the Conservative Party won the June 1970 general election on a manifesto that committed it to a two-tier structure. The new government made Peter Walker and Graham Page the ministers, and quickly dropped the Redcliffe-Maud report. They invited comments from interested parties regarding the previous government's proposals. The Association of Municipal Corporations, an advocacy group representing
2200-418: The total number of councils in England from 1,245 to 412 (excluding parish councils ), and in Wales to 45. Its pattern of two-tier metropolitan and non-metropolitan county and district councils remains in use today in large parts of England, although the metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986, and both county and district councils have been replaced with unitary authorities in many areas since
2250-551: The urban areas of the cities of Cardiff , Swansea and Newport do not have community councils. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census , there were 869 communities in Wales. 84 percent, or more than 730, have a council. They vary in size from Rhayader with an area of 13,945 hectares (34,460 acres) to Cefn Fforest with an area of 64 hectares (160 acres). They ranged in population from Barry with 45,053 recorded inhabitants to Baglan Bay with no permanent residents. The twenty-two principal area councils are required to review
2300-399: The west and Clwyd in the east) with various alterations to the districts. The Redcliffe-Maud report led to a reconsideration of the plans, especially with respect to Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, and a March 1970 White Paper proposed three unitary authorities for South Wales, based on Cardiff, Swansea and Newport. After the 1970 general election , the new Conservative government published
2350-811: The whole areas of former districts, although 64 rural districts were split between new districts, and there were eleven urban districts or boroughs which saw their territory split between new districts: Teesside County Borough , Whitley Bay Municipal Borough, Ashton-in-Makerfield Urban District, Billinge and Winstanley Urban District , Golborne Urban District, Lakes Urban District , Queensbury and Shelf Urban District , Ramsbottom Urban District , Seaton Valley Urban District , Thurrock Urban District , and Turton Urban District . A list of non-metropolitan districts can be found at List of English districts . The Local Government Boundary Commission originally proposed 278 non-metropolitan districts in April 1972 (still working with
2400-456: Was able to secure its treatment as a single district despite not meeting the stated minimum population of 40,000 for districts. Several metropolitan boroughs fell under the 250,000 limit, including three of Tyne and Wear 's five boroughs ( North Tyneside , South Tyneside and Gateshead ), and the four metropolitan boroughs that had resulted from the splitting of the proposed Bury / Rochdale and Knowsley / St Helens boroughs. The background of
2450-741: Was large and contained villages which do). The House of Lords reversed this amendment in September, with the government losing the division 81 to 65. In October, the government brought up this issue again, proposing an amendment to put the western part of Lymington borough in Dorset. The amendment was withdrawn. The government lost divisions in the House of Lords at Report Stage on the exclusion of Wilmslow and Poynton from Greater Manchester and their retention in Cheshire, and also on whether Rothwell should form part of
2500-626: Was that education authorities (non-metropolitan counties and metropolitan districts) were deemed to need a population base of 250,000 in order to be viable. Although called two-tier, the system was really three-tier, as it retained civil parish councils, although in Wales they were renamed community councils . Within districts some inconsistency prevailed. For example, in Welwyn Hatfield District in Hertfordshire, which comprised Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield and Old Welwyn, Hatfield retained
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