Records of the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales

DD

1971-2002

Records of the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales relating to the review of local government boundaries including internal electoral boundaries.

Annual and occasional reports on the Commission's work can be found in DD 1. Registered files are in DD 11. Records on Special Community Reviews are in DD 2 and DD 8; on Boundary Reviews in DD 3; on District Electoral Reviews in DD 4; on County Electoral Reviews in DD 5 and DD 9; on Unitary Authority Electoral Reviews in DD 7; on District Electoral Reviews in DD 10; and on Community Review in DD13. Unregistered files on Special Boundary Reviews are in DD 12. Sealed maps are in DD 6.

See also the records of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England: AX

Public Record(s)

English and Welsh

13 series

Open

From 1985 Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales

Topics

International

Maps and plans

Local Government

The Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales was appointed in June 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. Under the Act, communities replaced parishes in Wales. A community is the unit of local government that lies below the level of the principal council (a county or county borough). Community areas cover the whole of Wales and many, but not all, have an elected town council or community council that provides services to their community area. A community in Wales can be considered the equivalent of an English parish, and Community and Town Councils in Wales can be considered equivalents of English Parish Councils.

The Commission's main function was to review particular local government boundaries in Wales at the time it was felt to be desirable in the interests of effective and convenient local government, and also to conduct a general review of all boundaries including internal electoral boundaries every ten to fifteen years.

The Act also required the Commission to undertake a Special Community Review of the whole of Wales as soon as practicable in order to define the boundaries of community councils which replaced parish councils in 1974. This was completed in 1983. Implementation of the recommended changes is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Wales.

The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 implemented local government reorganisation in Wales. In February 1995, under the Local Government Act 1972 as substituted by the 1994 Act, the Commission were directed by the Secretary of State for Wales to undertake boundary reviews, where it was felt that the re-organisation of local government may have created anomalies in respect of individual towns and villages.