I.

Introduction

Bridgend (county borough) (Welsh, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr), unitary authority and county borough, South Wales, bounded on the east and north by the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, on the south by the county borough of the Vale of Glamorgan and the Bristol Channel, and on the west and north by the county borough of Neath Port Talbot. The county borough came into existence as a unitary authority on April 1, 1996, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1994, which changed the structure of local administration in Wales from a two-tier system of county and district councils to a single-tier system of unitary authorities. It comprises all of the district of Ogwr in the south-west of the former county of Mid Glamorgan, apart from some 20 sq km (7• sq mi) in the south-east of the district which were transferred to the Vale of Glamorgan. Before 1974, when Mid Glamorgan was created under the local government reorganization implemented in that year, the territory covered by the county borough was part of the county of Glamorganshire. Bridgend borough has an area of 264 sq km (102 sq mi).