Port Talbot was one of the four local government districts of the county of

West Glamorgan , HQ= County Hall, Swansea , Government= West Glamorgan County Council (abolished 1996) , Status= , Start= 1974 , End= 1996 , Arms= ''Coat of arms of Wes ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

from 1974 to 1996. The borough was initially called Afan, changing its name to Port Talbot in 1986.

History

The district was formed as Afan on 1 April 1974 as part of a general reorganisation of local government in England and Wales 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 ...

. The new district was named after the

River Afan , name_etymology = , image = The_Afon_Afan,_Cymmer_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1001060.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = The Afan near Cymmer , map = , map_size = , map_caption ...

and was granted a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

bestowing the status of a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

. The Borough of Afan was created by the amalgamation of the areas of the

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

of Port Talbot and the

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

of Glyncorrwg, both previously part of the administrative county of

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

. Following a resolution passed by the borough council, the borough was renamed as Port Talbot on 1 January 1986. On 1 April 1996 the two-tier system of councils introduced in Wales in 1974 was replaced, and the country was divided into twenty-two unitary " principal areas" by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. Port Talbot was amalgamated with the neighbouring Borough of Neath to form the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

of Neath Port Talbot.

Political control

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council from 1974 until the council's abolition in 1996 was held by the following parties:

Premises

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council HQ

The council was initially based at the former Port Talbot Borough Council's offices at the Municipal Buildings on Bevin Avenue at

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a distri ...

seafront. This was a temporary prefabricated building erected in 1970 when the council vacated the old Aberavon Town Hall and Municipal Buildings (built 1915) on Water Street in Aberavon. The old town hall had then been demolished, along with a large part of the town centre, to make way for the Aberafan shopping centre. In 1987 the council moved to a new purpose-built Civic Centre adjoining the Aberafan shopping centre. The building at Bevin Avenue was later demolished and a cinema built on the site.

References

{{West Glamorgan elections port Talbot 1974 establishments in Wales