Community (Wales)

Until 1974 Wales was divided into civil parishes.{{cite web|title=Parishes and Communities|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/geography/beginner-s-guide/administrative/england/parishes-and-communities/index.html|access-date=17 January 2016|publisher=Office for National Statistics}} These were abolished by section 20 (6) of the Local Government Act 1972, and replaced by communities by section 27 of the same Act. The principal areas of Wales are divided entirely into communities. Unlike in England, where unparished areas exist, no part of Wales is outside a community, even in urban areas.

Most, but not all, communities are administered by community councils, which are equivalent to English parish councils in terms of their powers and the way they operate. Welsh community councils may call themselves town councils unilaterally and may have city status granted by the Crown. In Wales, all town councils are community councils. There are now three communities with city status: Bangor, St Asaph and St Davids. The chair of a town council or city council will usually have the title mayor ({{langx|cy|maer|link=no}}). However, not every community has a council. In communities with populations too small to sustain a full community council, community meetings may be established. The communities in the urban areas of the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport do not have community councils.{{cite web|title=Community councils|url=https://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/Your-Council/Voting-and-elections/Community-councils/Pages/Community-councils.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906014120/https://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/Your-Council/Voting-and-elections/Community-councils/Pages/Community-councils.aspx|archive-date=6 September 2018|access-date=7 April 2017|publisher=Cardiff Council}}{{cite web|title=Community/Town Council contact details|url=https://democracy.swansea.gov.uk/mgParishCouncilDetails.aspx?bcr=1&LLL=0|access-date=7 April 2017|website=City and County of Swansea}}{{cite web|title=Community council contact details|url=https://democracy.newport.gov.uk/mgParishCouncilDetails.aspx?ls=12&SLS=5&bcr=1|access-date=7 April 2017|website=Newport City Council}}

At the 2001 United Kingdom census, there were 869 communities in Wales. 84 percent, or more than 730, have a council. They vary in size from Rhayader with an area of {{convert|13945|ha|acre}} to Cefn Fforest with an area of {{convert|64|ha|acre}}. They ranged in population, from Barry with 45,053 recorded inhabitants to Baglan Bay with no permanent residents.

As of 2025, there are 878 communities, although the number of them having community/town councils have remained the same at 730.

The twenty-two principal area councils are required to review the community boundaries within their area every fifteen years.{{cite news|last=Day|first=Liz|date=22 February 2015|title=Communities in Cardiff could be merged, re-shaped or abolished under plans to change the electoral landscape|work=Wales Online|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/communities-cardiff-could-merged-re-shaped-8696184|access-date=9 April 2017}} The councils propose changes to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales, which prepares a report and makes recommendations to the Welsh Government. If the Welsh Government accepts the recommendations, then it implements them using a statutory instrument.{{cite web|title=Community reviews – Orders|url=http://ldbc.gov.wales/reviews/communityreviews/orders/?lang=en|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816193403/http://ldbc.gov.wales/reviews/communityreviews/orders/?lang=en|archive-date=16 August 2017|access-date=10 April 2017|website=Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales}} For example, in 2016 four new communities were created in the City and County of Cardiff.{{cite book|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2016/1155/pdfs/wsi_20161155_mi.pdf|title=The City and County of Cardiff (Communities) Order – 2016 No. 1155 (W. 277)|date=2016|publisher=Welsh Statutory Instruments}}

The legislation surrounding community councils in Wales has been amended significantly in the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 and the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011.{{Cite web |title=Community councils {{!}} Law Wales |url=https://law.gov.wales/community-councils |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804220643/https://law.gov.wales/community-councils |archive-date=2021-08-04 |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=law.gov.wales}}

• List of communities in Wales
• Community councils
• Wards of the United Kingdom

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=John |last2=Jenkins |first2=Nigel |last3=Baines |first3=Menna |last4=Lynch |first4=Peredur I |year=2008 |title=The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press }}{{page needed|date=June 2013}}

• {{cite book|author=Professor Michael Woods |url=https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/media/departmental/dges/research/newpoliticalgeographies/140120-developing-comprehensive-understanding-community-town-councils1-en.pdf |title=Developing a Comprehensive Understanding of Community and Town Councils in Wales |publisher=Aberystwyth University |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4734-0874-6 }}

{{Geography of Wales}}

{{Administrative geography of the United Kingdom}}

Communities

Category:Types of subdivision in the United Kingdom