Community council bid to change name rooted in centuries old parish

Dale Spridgeon Local Democracy Reporter

A Gwynedd community council is bidding to alter its name in an act of “fairness” towards the larger population of a nearby village.

Cyngor Gwynedd has received a request from Llanaelhaearn’s community council to change from “Llanhaelhaearn” to “Trefor a Llanaelhaearn”.

The change is being recommend for approval ahead of a meeting of the full council on Thursday, December 5.

The original name came from the old parochial order with the ecclesiastical parish being just “Llanaelhaearn”, a community council document notes.

The parish church at Llanaelhaearn dates back to the sixth century and the parish of Llanaelhaearn became the local government name for a wider scattered area from the 16th century onwards, a letter to Cyngor Gwynedd from the area’s community council explains.

Population growth

It adds: “During the 19th century there was great population growth due to the coming of the granite industry and as a result the creation of the new village of Trefor (1856) in the lower part of the parish area.

“Trefor village is the most populous in the community although the name is not recognised in the name of the new community council.”

Recent statistics show 511 electors in Trefor and 287 in Llanaelhaearn.

The letter adds: “It should be noted that there are 12 community councillors, and the arrangement is that two thirds – eight of the twelve – represent the village of Trefor.”

It described how in September 2021 the community council had received a letter from residents in Trefor calling for “fairness for the village of Trefor”.

The request was to change the name of the community council to include the whole area, with the matter discussed at a community council meeting on October 4, 2021.

Letter

The letter said: “The application was completely reasonable and unanimously supported by the council.”

County Councillor Aled Wyn Jones had taken up the matter following this meeting.

The report said: “In January 2022, Aled confirmed that a change was possible, but that a proposal needed to be put before the county council proposing a new name. ‘Bro’r Eifl’ was the natural choice.”

However, that name had just been given to the county ward. “After discussion it was decided on ‘Trefor a Llanaelhaearn’ – in that order to avoid mutation,” it noted.

Mutation is the process by which the Welsh language changes letters in certain grammatical situations.

The letter stated that in 2024, the current county councillor Jina Gwyrfai had taken up the issue, with local views being sought over 21 days, between June 4-25.

“We agreed the form of consultation by inviting observations rather than arranging costly, public meetings,” the community council stated.

The letter reported there was only one written reply supporting the change – but a number of “verbal supportive comments, and a number of ‘narrative’ comments on Facebook”.

“There has been no objection to the intention,” it added.

Review

The letter concluded: “Although response to the public consultation was disappointing, community councillors do not believe there is no purpose in enquiring further or further delay.

“This document is therefore submitted as our request to change the name of our community council as previously stated, to ‘Cyngor Cymuned Trefor a Llanaelhaearn’.”

If agreed by Cyngor Gwynedd a notice will be sent to the Welsh Ministers, the Boundary and Local Democracy Commission for Wales, the Director General of the Ordnance Survey and to the Registrar General; and a notice published.

Cyngor Gwynedd is currently undertaking a Community Review process under the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 2013 looking at community boundaries and electoral arrangements.

But that process “does not provide a means for changing the name of an existing community,” a council report noted.