For local government purposes, Wales is divided into 22 unitary authorities. There are 9 counties, 3 cities1, and 10 county boroughs, although all have equal powers. Collectively these are known as the 'principal areas of Wales'. They came into being on April 1, 1996 by virtue of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (1994 c. 19). 1 There are five cities in total in Wales — in addition to the three unitary authorities with City status, the communities of Bangor and St David's also have the status.
The current names of certain principal areas are different from those specified in the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. The following changes took place, all with effect from April 2, 1996 : [1]
The lowest level of subdivision below principal areas are 'Communities'. Each Welsh principal area is subdivided into communities. They have elected community councils (CCs) which perform a number of roles, such as providing local facilities, and representing their communities to larger local government bodies. Community councils are the equivalent of English parish councils. A community council may call itself a 'town council' if it wishes to do so. Two Welsh communities Bangor and St David's have city status and are therefore called 'City Councils'. Communities which are too small to have a council have a community meeting instead, an example of direct democracy.
''See also List of communities in Wales''
From 1889 to 1974, administrative counties of Wales were used for local government for the first time. These were created by the Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict, c. 41) based on the traditional counties of Wales, but they were not entirely identical.
In 1974, the existing administrative counties were abolished and replaced by eight new two-tier authorities, instead called 'counties' by the Local Government Act 1972 (1972 c. 70). These counties were sub-divided into lower-tier districts.
The counties were all given names in Welsh only, apart from the three in Glamorgan, which had English names as well as Welsh. The creation of these new administrative areas effectively separated the administrative function from the traditional counties, although in reality this had occurred in 1889.
When these two-tier counties were abolished in 1996, their names and areas were retained with slight modifications for some purposes such as Lieutenancy, and became known as the preserved counties of Wales. These were further amended in 2003 by S.I. 2003/974 to ensure that each unitary area is wholly within one preserved county.
1.[1] 2. Census of England and Wales 1891, Vol. I, Table III. Administrative Counties and County Boroughs; Area, and Houses and Population in 1891 (Historic GIS Project, Queen's University, Belfast)[2] 3. 1961 Census England and Wales: County Reports (www.visionofbritain.org.uk) [3] 4. 1931 Census of England and Wales, county report for Caernarvonshire
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