Preserved counties of Wales
The
Preserved counties of Wales are the current areas used in
Wales for ceremonial purposes such as
Lieutenancy. They are based on the
administrative counties created by the
Local Government Act 1972 and used for local government and other purposes between
1974—
1996.
| Preserved counties of Wales |
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The
Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 8 administrative counties created by the
Local Government Act 1972. However, it created the concept of preserved counties based on their areas, to be used for purposes such as
Lieutenancy. [
1]
The preserved counties were originally almost identical to the 1974—1996 counties, but with a few minor changes intended to ensure preserved counties were composed of whole principal areas.
Llanrhaedr-ym-Mochant,
Llansilin and
Llangedwyn were transferred from
Clwyd to
Powys, and
Wick,
St Brides Major,
Ewenny and
Pentyrch were transferred from
Mid Glamorgan to
South Glamorgan. However, these changes still left two county boroughs,
Conwy and
Caerphilly split between preserved counties.
In order to rectify this, the
Preserved Counties (Amendment to Boundaries) (Wales) Order 2003 made two changes of substance to the boundaries. These changes came into effect on
April 2,
2003. The part of the local government area of
Conwy which had been in
Gwynedd was transferred to
Clwyd, and the part of the local government area of
Caerphilly which had been in Mid Glamorgan was transferred to Gwent. The boundary between Mid Glamorgan and South Glamorgan was also re-aligned to reflect small changes in local government boundaries. Each Preserved county now encompasses between 1 and 5 whole local government areas.
*
Clwyd -
Conwy,
Denbighshire,
Flintshire,
Wrexham*
Dyfed -
Carmarthenshire,
Ceredigion,
Pembrokeshire*
Gwent -
Blaenau Gwent,
Caerphilly,
Torfaen,
Monmouthshire,
Newport*
Gwynedd -
Anglesey,
Gwynedd*
Mid Glamorgan -
Bridgend,
Merthyr Tydfil,
Rhondda Cynon Taff*
Powys - Powys
*
South Glamorgan -
Cardiff,
Vale of Glamorgan*
West Glamorgan -
Neath Port Talbot,
Swansea*
Subdivisions of Wales*
Traditional counties of Wales*
Ceremonial counties of England*
Lieutenancy areas of Scotland.
