Rejected petition Re-establish a County Council for Montgomeryshire, reversing the creation of Powys in 1974
Powys is an unmanageably large county with decision-making and most services centralised in Llandrindod Wells, a four-hour return trip from a number of locations around Powys such as north Montgomeryshire. Montgomeryshire is home to most of Powys's population and contributes most of its council tax income. Re-creating a County Council for Montgomeryshire will resolve these scale issues, and reverse the democratic deficit created by Powys being so large.
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Powys is the largest county in Wales, covering 1/4 of the landmass of the nation, and is one of the largest unitary authorities in the UK. The modern 'county' was created in 1974, but Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Breconshire retained their own District Councils responsible for planning and other local services. Controversially, and without local referendums, these district councils were abolished in 1996 by the then Conservative Government.
At the same time other unmanageable 'super counties' covering vast geographical areas, similar to today's Powys, such as the former 'super county' of Dyfed, were abolished and the old counties of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion were restored. In Scotland, 'super counties' there were also abolished em-masse in 1996, restoring for the most part the historic counties 'abolished' in 1974. In England, the super county of 'Hereford and Worcester' was abolished in 1998. There is thus clear precedent for dissolving 'super counties'.
Why was this petition rejected?
It did not collect enough signatures to be referred to the Petitions Committee.
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