2021 No. 1111 (W. 266)
Local Government, Wales

The County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2021

Made
Coming into force in accordance with article 1(2) and (3)
The Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales1 has, in accordance with section 36(5) of the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 20132 (“the 2013 Act”), submitted to the Welsh Ministers a report dated October 2019 containing its recommendations for change and the details of its review of the electoral arrangements for the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil.

The Welsh Ministers have, after consideration of the matters referred to and set out in section 37(2)(a) and (c) of the 2013 Act, decided to give effect to those recommendations with modifications.

In accordance with section 37(3) of the 2013 Act, more than 6 weeks have elapsed since those recommendations were submitted to the Welsh Ministers.

The Welsh Ministers make the following Order in exercise of their powers conferred by section 37(1) of the 2013 Act.

Title, commencement and interpretation1.

(1)

The title of this Order is the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2021.

(2)

For any purpose set out in regulation 4(1) of the Local Government Area Changes Regulations 19763, this Order comes into force on the second day after the day on which it is made.

(3)

For all other purposes, this Order comes into force on the ordinary day of election of councillors in 20224.

(4)

In this Order—

“electoral ward” (“ward etholiadol”) means any area for which members are elected to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council;

words and expressions used in this Order have the same meaning as they have in Part 3 of the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 2013, except so far as a contrary intention appears.

Electoral arrangements for the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil2.

(1)

The electoral wards of the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil, as they exist immediately before the ordinary day of election of councillors in 2022, are abolished.

(2)

The County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil is divided into 11 electoral wards each bearing the English language name listed in column 1 and the Welsh language name listed in column 2 of the Table in the Schedule to this Order.

(3)

Each electoral ward comprises the areas specified in relation to that electoral ward in column 3 of the Table in the Schedule to this Order.

(4)

The number of members of the council to be elected for each electoral ward is the number specified in column 4 of the Table in the Schedule to this Order.

(5)

The provisions in this Order take precedence over any conflicting provision in any previous statutory instrument made under section 58(2) of the Local Government Act 19725.
Rebecca Evans
Minister for Finance and Local Government, one of the Welsh Ministers

SCHEDULENAMES AND AREAS OF ELECTORAL WARDS AND NUMBER OF MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL

Article 2

Table

Column (1)

Column (2)

Column (3)

Column (4)

English language name of electoral ward

Welsh language name of electoral ward

Area of electoral ward

Number of members of the council

Bedlinog and Trelewis

Bedlinog a Threlewis

The community of Bedlinog

2

Cyfarthfa

Cyfarthfa

The community of Cyfarthfa

3

Dowlais and Pant

Dowlais a Phant

The communities of Dowlais and Pant

3

Gurnos

Gurnos

The community of Gurnos

3

Merthyr Vale

Ynysowen

The community of Merthyr Vale

2

Park

Y Parc

The community of Park

2

Penydarren

Penydarren

The community of Penydarren

3

Plymouth

Plymouth

The community of Troed-y-rhiw

3

Town

Y Dref

The community of Town

4

Treharris

Treharris

The community of Treharris

3

Vaynor

Faenor

The community of Vaynor

2

EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order implements the recommendations of the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales (“the Commission”), which reported in October 2019 on its review of the electoral arrangements for the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil. The Commission’s report proposed no changes to the number of electoral wards but a reduction in the number of councillors from 33 to 30.

This Order implements the Commission’s recommendations, with modifications.

Article 2 of this Order abolishes the existing electoral arrangements for the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil and introduces the Schedule, which sets out the new electoral arrangements for the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to this Order. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with this Order.