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. They are a single-tier form of local government, each governed by a principal council. They replaced the previous two-tier system of eight counties and 37 districts that were in place in Wales from 1974 to 1996.
Description
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 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 convened 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. The 1972 changes were enacted in 1974 by the then Conservative administration.[1][2][4]
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.[5]
Name changes
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.[6] The changes were:
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 in place since 1974 were replaced on 1 April 1996, with 22 unitary authorities, the "principal areas".[5][7][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.[8][7]
