Local Government Commission for Wales facts for kids

The Local Government Commission for Wales was a special group set up in 1958. Its job was to look at how local government worked in Wales. They wanted to find ways to make it better and suggest changes. The group finished its report in 1963 and closed down in 1967. However, their ideas were not put into action.

How Wales Was Studied

To do its work, the Commission divided Wales into three main areas. They looked at each area carefully to understand its local government.

• West and Mid Wales Review Area: This area included places like Breconshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, and Radnorshire. The review for this part of Wales started on May 5, 1959.
• Glamorgan and Monmouthshire Review Area: This area covered Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. It also included bigger towns called county boroughs, such as Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport, and Swansea. This review also began on May 5, 1959.
• North Wales Review Area: This part of the study focused on Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merioneth, and Montgomeryshire. The review here started a bit later, on March 28, 1960.

The Commission shared its first ideas in May 1961. They then gave their final report in March 1963.

What Changes Were Suggested?

The Commission made several recommendations for how local government in Wales should change:

• They suggested reducing the number of administrative counties from 13 down to 7.
• They wanted to make the county boroughs of Cardiff, Newport, and Swansea larger.
• They recommended that Merthyr Tydfil should no longer be a county borough. Instead, it would become a non-county borough within Glamorgan.

The Commission also decided that Rhondda and Wrexham should not become county boroughs.

Why the Ideas Weren't Used

The government at the time did not accept the changes suggested in the 1963 report.

In 1965, a special group was formed to look at the issue again. This led to a new plan, called a White Paper, which was released in 1967. This new plan included some of the 1963 ideas but also added some new ones.

The White Paper suggested a different way to organize local government:

• It proposed 5 "administrative areas" to replace the 13 existing counties:
  • North West Wales county (combining Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, Merionethshire)
  • North East Wales county (combining Denbighshire, Flintshire, Montgomeryshire)
  • South West Wales county (combining Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire)
  • Glamorgan (combining Glamorgan and Merthyr Tydfil county borough)
  • South East Wales county (combining Breconshire, Monmouthshire, Radnorshire)
• These administrative areas would then be divided into 36 smaller districts.
• The county boroughs of Cardiff, Newport, and Swansea would continue to exist.
• There would also be "Common Councils" and a "Welsh Council" to manage services shared by different areas.

These new areas would mostly follow the old county lines, but there would be some small changes. For example, parts of Caernarvonshire and Denbighshire would be adjusted.

On February 26, 1964, Sir Keith Joseph, who was a government minister, told the House of Commons that the government would not put the Commission's ideas into practice. He said that changes were needed, but the government wanted to think more about how local government should be set up. They planned to release a new White Paper and then create new laws.

Local government in Wales stayed the same until 1974. That's when the Local Government Act 1972 was put into action. This act created a new system with two levels of government: counties and districts. Interestingly, two of the new counties created in 1974, Dyfed and Gwynedd, were very similar to the South West and North West Wales areas that the Commission had suggested.