Local government in Wales is primarily undertaken by the twenty-two principal councils, who govern their respective principal area (county or county borough). The councils are unitary authorities, meaning they are responsible for providing local government services within their principal area, including education, social work, environmental protection, and most highway maintenance. The principal areas are divided into communities, most of which have an elected community council. The services provided by community councils vary, but they will typically maintain public spaces and facilities. Local councils in Wales are elected; the most recent local elections in Wales took place in 2022, and the next are due to take place in 2027.
Governance
Local government is generally supervised by the (devolved) Welsh Ministers, who allocate funding of the majority of local government yearly revenue and capital settlements. The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the Welsh Ministers the responsibility of setting up a scheme on how they are to propose and exercise their functions for the promotion and sustainability of Welsh local government.
Principal councils
thumb|The principal areas of Wales
Like councils throughout the UK, Welsh councils are composed of elected councillors and local government elections normally take place every four years. The Wales Act 2017 prevents local government elections from taking place in the same year as elections to the Senedd, meaning the May 2021 local elections were postponed to May 2022. There are currently 22 principal areas (styled as a county or a county borough) in Wales, with the current configuration established in the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, enacted on 1 April 1996, while the framework was established earlier in the Local Government Act 1972. Like community councils, they are composed of councillors.
Council decisions may be taken by the entire council, some legally defined committees (e.g. scrutiny, audit, licensing, planning and governance committees), or by the council's executive, largely made up of a majority of councillors. All principal councils in Wales have an executive leader and cabinet, although directly-elected mayor model can be adopted by a council if there is public support through a referendum. Some decisions are required by law to be voted on by the entire council, such as the council budget and the amount of council tax. Most committees must be "politically balanced", proportionally representative of the council's political make up. Councils in Wales cannot operate a "committee system" as done in England.
- Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council
- Bridgend County Borough Council
- Caerphilly County Borough Council
- Cardiff Council
- Carmarthenshire County Council
- Ceredigion County Council
- Conwy County Borough Council
- Denbighshire County Council
- Flintshire County Council
- Gwynedd Council
- Isle of Anglesey County Council
- Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
- Monmouthshire County Council
- Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council
- Newport City Council
- Pembrokeshire County Council
- Powys County Council
- Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council
- City and County of Swansea Council
- Torfaen County Borough Council
- Vale of Glamorgan Council
- Wrexham County Borough Council
Community councils
At the lowest level of administrative subdivision in Wales are the communities, into which each principal area is subdivided. They may have elected community councils 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 so wishes. The councils of three communities with city status – Bangor, St Asaph, and St Davids – are known as "city councils". Communities which are too small to have a council may have a community meeting instead: an example of direct democracy. The communities in the urban areas of the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport do not have community councils.
Every part of Wales is covered by a community. There are 878 communities in Wales, however only 734 communities have a community council (also styled as a "town council" for some communities). The current configuration of communities was established in the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, while the framework was established earlier in the Local Government Act 1972. Like principal councils, they are made up of councillors.
Each council, both principal and community, are divided into electoral wards, which are decided by the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales. Some wards may be represented by more than one member, and therefore are called "multi-member" wards. CJCs have powers relating to economic well-being, strategic planning and the development of regional transport policies. There are four CJCs, covering Mid Wales, North Wales, South East Wales, and South West Wales. These are considered to be "local government" by the Welsh Government.
There are seven RPBs:
- Cardiff and Vale RPB
- Cwm Taf Morgannwg RPB
- Gwent RPB
- West Wales RPB
- North Wales RPB
- West Glamorgan RPB
- Powys RPB
Trunk road agents
Trunk road agents are partnerships between two or more local authorities for the purposes of managing, maintaining, and improving the network of trunk roads (including any motorways) in their respective areas. Each trunk road agent can employ Welsh Government traffic officers. There are two agents, covering North and Mid Wales and South Wales.
Collaborative bodies
Partnership Council for Wales
The Partnership Council for Wales (PCfW), (), was established under the Government of Wales Act 2006 (section 72) and encourages co-operation between the Welsh Government and local governments. The council's membership includes Welsh Government cabinet members, such as the first minister, and local government leaders, such as the leaders of principal, community, and town councils, and other public service representatives. Their meetings have representatives from organisations such as Wales TUC, Wales Council for Voluntary Action and other partners, as observers, like the Auditor General for Wales. The PCfW is responsible to encourage collaboration and dialogue on local government matters, and provide collective political accountability than can improve the outcomes for citizens.
The Commission reported on 20 January 2014. It recommended that the number of councils be reduced, through mergers rather than through boundary changes, from 22 to 10, 11 or 12; and suggested that the cost of merging the councils would be met through savings made within about two years.
Carwyn Jones, first minister of Wales, stated that the report "addresses many [of the] issues [...] [as] the need for public services is outstripping the resources available to provide them", and that he's "always been clear that the status quo is not an option" and that change is essential and has to be done "so that our public services can become more efficient, effective, accessible and responsive". The draft bill contained two proposals, one for eight local authorities and one for nine local authorities. The difference between the two proposals is related to North Wales (two or three local authorities). The bill did not propose names for the local authorities, only listing them by number as a combination of existing principal areas. Powys was not affected by either proposal. The changes were planned to take effect in April 2020.
Eight local authorities model
right|thumb|Proposed 8 local authorities model
{| class="wikitable"
!Proposed local authority
!Proposed area
|-
|Area 1
|Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy
|-
|Area 2
|Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham
|-
|Area 3
|Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire
|-
|Area 4
|Swansea, Neath Port Talbot
|-
|Area 5
|Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Merthyr Tydfil
|-
|Area 6
|Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan
|-
|Area 7
|Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Torfaen and Newport
|-
|Powys
|Powys
|}
Nine local authorities model
right|thumb|Proposed 9 local authorities model
{| class="wikitable"
!Proposed local authority
!Proposed area
|-
|Area 1
|Anglesey, Gwynedd
|-
|Area 2
|Conwy, Denbighshire
|-
|Area 3
|Flintshire, Wrexham
|-
|Area 4
|Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire
|-
|Area 5
|Swansea, Neath Port Talbot
|-
|Area 6
|Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Merthyr Tydfil
|-
|Area 7
|Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan
|-
|Area 8
|Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Torfaen and Newport
|-
|Powys
|Powys
|-
|}
2016 redrafting and abandonment
Following the 2016 assembly elections, Carwyn Jones, first minister of Wales, announced that the proposals for local government reform would be taken "back to the drawing board" and that a new consensus on how to reform local government in Wales would be sought. The merger plans were formally dropped in January 2017, when the Welsh Government instead began a consultation on wider reform of local governance arrangements. The number of councils are to remain as they currently are, unless two or more local authorities wish to pursue a voluntary merger.
2017 white paper
A white paper titled "Reforming Local Government: Resilient and Renewed" was published in January 2017. It proposed the formation of regional bodies to encourage better collaboration between existing local authorities and a possible change in the electoral system used in local elections from "first past the post" to the "Single transferable vote" system. The paper makes the case for a reduction of the number of local authorities from 22 to 10 and suggested three possible approaches, a system of voluntary mergers, a phased approach with authorities merging in either 2022 or 2026 or a comprehensive system of mergers to occur in 2022.
thumb|Proposed 10 authority model
{| class="wikitable"
!Proposed local authority
!Proposed area
|-
|Area 1
|Anglesey, Gwynedd
|-
|Area 2
|Conwy, Denbighshire
|-
|Area 3
|Flintshire, Wrexham
|-
|Area 4
|Powys
|-
|Area 5
|Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire
|-
|Area 6
|Swansea, Neath Port Talbot
|-
|Area 7
|Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Merthyr Tydfil
|-
|Area 8
|Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan
|-
|Area 9
|Caerphilly, Newport
|-
|Area 10
|Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire, Torfaen
|-
|}
Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021
A bill was introduced by the Welsh Government in November 2019 to reform local government in Wales. The bill contains provisions to reduce the voting age from 18 to 16 for local elections in Wales and will extend the franchise to include eligible foreign nationals. It extends the term of local councillors from four years to five years. The bill will allow local councils to decide to continue to hold elections under first past the post system or to switch to the single transferable vote system. The bill does not include provisions to restructure local councils but does contain mechanisms that can allow for two or more authorities to merge on a voluntary basis. It also creates a framework for joint regional coordination between local authorities through the formation of "Corporate Joint Committees". The bill received Royal Assent in January 2021 and four Corporate Joint Committees covering all of Wales, were established the following month by statutory instruments.
Mayors
There are some mayors in Wales, however they are ceremonial posts with no governing role.
Directly-elected mayors
Principal councils in Wales can consider introducing a directly-elected mayor, like those in England. However, no Welsh council has introduced the role, with Ceredigion voters rejecting the idea in a 2004 referendum. For a council to adopt the model, either the public in the local authority's area must start a petition, which then must pass a threshold to trigger a local referendum, or the council announces it wishes to adopt such a system, but must call a referendum to approve such system. If such a referendum passes in favour of a directly-elected mayor, then a subsequent election is held to elect such mayor, who would then create a cabinet in the council. A directly-elected mayor is an additional member to the existing number of councillors usually elected in local elections.