Community (Wales)

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A community ( Welsh : cymuned ) is an administrative unit in Wales that is the lowest level of the administrative division of Wales . The Welsh communities, which numbered 870 in 2016, are analogous to the Civil Parishes in England.

Up to the reform of the administrative structure triggered by the Local Government Act 1972 in 1974, Wales, like England, was divided into so-called Civil Parishes . Nowadays, each Welsh principal area is divided into communities, with the entire Welsh area being in communities, unlike England.

Most of the communities are administered by Community Councils , which are equivalent in terms of powers to the English Parish Councils . These councils can call themselves Town Councils and can be granted city ​​status by the British Crown , with Bangor , St Asaph and St Davids being the case. The chairman of the council is in most cases Mayor (Welsh: maer ).

However, not all communities have a council: while community meetings can be set up in communities with a low population , the communities in the urban areas of Cardiff , Swansea and Newport do not have councils.

The number of Welsh communities is 870, of which over 730 are councils and ranging in size from 13,945 hectares in Rhayader to just 64 hectares in Cefn Fofrest . In the 2001 census , Barry was the largest community with 45,053 residents and Baglan Bay was the small community with no permanent residents.

The twenty-two councils of the principal areas are obliged to review the boundaries of the communities every fifteen years. The councils propose changes to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales , which prepares a report and makes a recommendation to the Welsh government. If the latter agrees to the recommendation, it will be implemented by means of an executive order. For example, four new communities were created in Cardiff in 2016.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Parishes and Communities. Office for National Statistics , archived from the original on January 12, 2016 ; accessed on August 31, 2019 (English).
  2. ^ Community councils. Cardiff Council , 2019, accessed September 6, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Community / Town Council contact details. City and County of Swansea, 2011, accessed September 6, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Liz Day: Communities in Cardiff could be merged, re-shaped or abolished under plans to change the electoral landscape. WalesOnline, February 22, 2015, accessed September 6, 2019 .
  5. ↑ 2016 No. 1155 (W. 277). The City and County of Cardiff, 2016, accessed September 6, 2019 .