I.

Introduction

Rhondda Cynon Taff (Welsh, Rhondda Cynon Taf), county borough and unitary authority, South Wales, bounded on the north by the county of Powys, on the east by the county boroughs of Merthyr Tydfil and Caerphilly, on the south by the county of Cardiff and by the county borough of the Vale of Glamorgan, and on the west by the county boroughs of Bridgend, and 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 country and district councils to a single-tier system of unitary authorities. It comprises the central area of the former county of Mid Glamorgan: all the districts of Rhondda and Cynon Valley in the north, and the majority of the district of Taff-Ely in the south. 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 Glamorgan. Rhondda Cynon Taff has an area of 424 sq km (164 sq mi).