Jayne Bryant MS, Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru etc. Act 2013 (the 2013 Act) requires each principal council to monitor the communities and the electoral arrangements for those communities in its area.
These reviews are important as they reflect the changing nature of each community, their populations and planned development, to ensure that each community has fair and equal representation.
Under the 2013 Act, a council can either undertake a community review itself, or it can agree for the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru (the Commission) to undertake the review on its behalf. Under the latter arrangement, the Commission is required to submit its Report and recommendations to the Welsh Ministers for determination.
The Commission has completed a review on behalf of Pembrokeshire County Council. Having considered the Report and recommendations together with the representations received, I wrote to the Leader and Chief Executive of Pembrokeshire County Council yesterday to advise them of my decision that the changes recommended in the Report will be implemented apart from the recommendation listing Caldey and St Margaret’s Islands as a town ward, because as it is part of the electoral ward of Tenby South, it should not have been included as part of the review.
Work will now be undertaken to progress the drafting of the Order required to implement this decision with the changes coming into force on 6 May 2027.
The preparations for the revised arrangements will require careful consideration and planning to ensure a smooth transition from the current structures to the new arrangements. I have encouraged the Council to begin discussions with the community councils in the County area as soon as possible.