The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru () is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for defining local government boundaries and Senedd constituency boundaries in Wales, also known as . The Commission was established originally as the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales () in 1972 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. Its purpose is to: keep under review all local government areas in Wales, and the electoral arrangements for the principal areas, and to make such proposals to the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

as seem desirable in the interests of effective and convenient local government. The work of the Commission was modified by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. Electoral arrangements in six authorities were reviewed after the penultimate round of Welsh local elections in 1999, and the changes were implemented at the elections on 10 June 2004. In 2002, the commission also reviewed and amended some of the boundaries of the

preserved counties of Wales Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * Preservation (magazine), ''Preservation'' (magazin ...

. In February 2009 the Minister for Local government and Social Justice issued Directions to the commission to begin an Electoral Review across all the 22 local authorities in Wales. His stated aim was to rationalise representation at "... no lower than a ratio of 1 councillor to 1,750 electors ". The name and functioning of the commission was changed in 2013 to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales (), as a result of the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 2013. It was renamed again by the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024 to its current name and given responsibility over reviewing the borders of Senedd constituencies. As part of electoral reform in the

Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

it has proposed 16 new constituencies by pairing the 32 Westminster constituencies, these are to be used in the

next Senedd election The next Senedd election is due to be held by 7 May 2026 to elect 96 members to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). It will be the seventh devolved general election since the Senedd (formerly the National Assembly for Wales) was established in 1 ...

in 2026. Following that election the Commission will conduct a full review of Senedd boundaries and do so every 8 years. From 31 March 2025, the commission would be responsible for setting the

remuneration Remuneration is the pay or other financial compensation provided in exchange for an employee's ''services performed'' (not to be confused with giving (away), or donating, or the act of providing to). Remuneration is one component of reward managem ...

for members of principal councils (councillors of the 22 principal areas), town and community councils, Corporate Joint Committees, fire and rescue authorities and national park authorities in Wales, replacing the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales which will be abolished from that date.

External links

Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru

References

Welsh Government sponsored bodies Elections in Wales Local government in Wales Boundary commissions in the United Kingdom {{UK-election-stub

See also

External links

References