Rhondda Cynon Taff

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For other uses of "Rhondda", see Rhondda (disambiguation).

**Rhondda Cynon Taff county borough**

Geography
Area - Total - % Water	Ranked 13th 424 km² ? %
Admin HQ	Tonypandy
ISO 3166-2	GB-RCT
ONS code	00PF
Demographics
Population: - Total (2005 est.) - Density	Ranked 2nd 231,600 Ranked 7th 547 / km²
Ethnicity	98.9% White.
Welsh language - Any skills	Ranked 13th 21.1%
Politics
Rhondda Cynon Taff Council
Control	Labour
MPs	Chris Bryant Ann Clwyd Kim Howells Huw Irranca-Davies

Rhondda Cynon Taff (Welsh: Rhondda Cynon Taf) is a county borough in Glamorgan, south Wales.

The district borders Merthyr Tydfil and Caerphilly to the east, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan to the south, Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Aberdare, Mountain Ash and Pontypridd.

See List of places in Rhondda Cynon Taff for a list of towns and villages.

1 History
2 Industry
3 Environment
4 Government
5 External links

[edit] History

The county borough was formed on April 1, 1996, by the merger of the former Mid Glamorgan districts of Cynon Valley, Rhondda and Taff-Ely (with the exceptions of Creigiau and Pentyrch, which were added to Cardiff). Its name reflects all these, and the rivers Cynon, Rhondda and Taff.

[edit] Industry

The district developed from the discovery and mining, primarily for export, of high quality Welsh coals, such as Anthracite, via Cardiff and Barry docks. The landscape was dominated by coal waste heaps and deep mine pit-heads. Many of the roads are lined with semi-ribbon development of closely packed Victorian terraces of houses which have given the Rhondda valleys their distinctive appearance. In the 1980s, privatisation of British Coal resulted in the closure of many of the coal mining activities in the valleys, devastating the local economy.

As deep mines closed, a number of very large open-cast coal mines were created and remain in operation especially towards the north of the area.

The Welsh Development Agency, which was formed in 1976 to help reverse the economic down-turn in Wales caused by the recession in both the coal and Steel industries, was very active in the Rhondda Cynon Taff area in supporting and encouraging industrial and commercial re-generation. Recent investment in the area has included the Dragon International Film Studios, currently under construction (2006) on the site of Llanillyd open cast mine. This project is headed by Sir Richard Attenborough and will include TV studios, editing suites and a large film studio complex. The location of the project has lead it to become known locally as "Valleywood", even though the Welsh Valleys are some miles away.

[edit] Environment

The Coal industry has had major adverse impacts on the quality of the environment such that most of the rivers were severely polluted to the exclusion of all fish life. Recent decades have shown great improvement with Salmon recorded from the River Taff and the River Rhondda but the continued presence of man-made obstacles in the rivers is inhibiting their return to their pre-industrial condition.