Rhondda Cynon Taff

This page is about Rhondda; for other meanings, see Rhondda Cynon Taff (disambiguation).

Rhondda Cynon Taff (Welsh: Rhondda Cynon Tâf) 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.

Settlements in the district include:

• Aberdare
• Glyncoch
• Hirwaun
• Llanharan, Llantrisant
• Maerdy, Miskin, Mountain Ash
• Pontypridd, Porth
• Tonypandy, Tonyrefail, Treherbert
• Ynysybwl Ynyshir

The district was formerly part of the Mid Glamorgan County Council. Yet the MGCC Council Hall and employees were actually headquartered outside the county, in Cardiff, South Glamorgan. The administration department was formerly located in Greyfriars Road, Cardiff until the county borough was formed on April 1, 1996 by the merger of the former districts of Cynon Valley, Rhondda and part of Taff-Ely.

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 heapsand deep mine pit-heads. Many of the roads sre lined with semi-ribbon development of closely packed Victorian terraces of houses which have given the Rhondda valleys their distinctive appearance. In the 1980's privatisation of British Coal resulted in the closure of many of the coal mining activites 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, has been very active in the Rhondda Cynon Taff area in supporting and encouraging industrial and commercial re-generation.

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.