The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru submitted their final recommendations to the Welsh Government on 5 November 2024.
During the draft consultation period, the Commission received 32 representations concerning the Communities of Reynoldston, Penrice, Rhossili and Port Eynon, including a response from the Rhossili Community Council, and 24 Members of the Public.
The Commission received 6 representations after the draft consultation period had closed on 10 July 2024. The Commission note3d these representations when formulating the Final Recommendations for the Community Areas.
A big thank you to everyone who contacted the Commission with their views, and those who completed the village survey.
The Commission’s final recommendations for Rhossili include:
- The creation of a new community known as Gower South or De Gŵyr, which will include the 6 community wards of Horton, Knelston, Penrice (including Oxwich), Port Eynon (including Llandewi), Rhosili, and Reynoldston.
- The new community will have a total electorate of 1,385 and be represented by 11 community councillors. This is a larger number of councillors than outlined in the Swansea Council’s council size policy (which stipulates 8 councillors for this size of community). The Commission has stated 11 councillors will provide fairer representation and improve the variance across the new community area.
- Rhosili is to be represented by 2 councillors, as opposed to the single councillor proposed in the draft recommendations.
- A name change for the community ward from “Rhossili” to “Rhosili”, as recommended by the Welsh Language Commissioner.
- Minor changes to the boundary of the Rhosili community including the transfer of “The Cottage” from the Rhosili ward to the Llangennith ward of the new community of Gower North, and the adjustment of the boundary to include Keenmore Farm within the Rhosili ward, which is currently included in the Port Eynon area.
It now falls to the Welsh Government, to approve the recommendations, either as submitted, or with modifications. The Welsh Government may also decide to take no action.
We now have 6 weeks to provide any feedback directly to the Welsh Government.
The final recommendations will be discussed at the next Rhossili Community Council meeting at 7:15pm on Thursday, 21st November 2024. Please come along if you would like to be a part of the discussion and share your views.
The full report can be found here.
