AN “UNCOMMON REQUEST” to change the name of a Welsh community has been approved by Cyngor Gwynedd.
Llanaelhaearn Community Council has succeeded in a bid to alter the name in an act of “fairness” towards the larger population of a nearby village.
Cyngor Gwynedd had received the request from Llanaelhaearn’s community council to update its historic name from just “Llanaelhaearn” to “Trefor a Llanaelhaearn”.
The change won approval by councillors at the full meeting of Cyngor Gwynedd last week. ( Thursday, December 5.)
The original name had come from the old parochial order with the ecclesiastical parish being just called “Llanaelhaearn”, a community council document had noted.
The church of Llanaelhaearn dates back to the sixth century, and the parish of Llanaelhaearn had become the name for the local government of “a wide and scattered” area from the 16th century onwards, the report had noted.
A letter to Cyngor Gwynedd from the area’s community council had explained that nearby Trefor village was now the most populous area in the community – but that the name was not recognised in the name of the new community.
Recent data had showed 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 the change in “fairness for the village of Trefor”.
Introducing the matter the cabinet member for corporate and legal services Cllr Menna Trenholme said it was an “uncommon request,” but added: “Cyngor Gwynedd has a right to change the name of a community if it receives a request from the relevant community council.
“It is recommended that the name is changed from Llanaelhaearn to ‘Trefor a Llanaelhaearn.”
Councillors agreed to the request voting 53 in favour.
A notice will now 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 did not provide a means for changing the name of an existing community, a council report noted.
