Introduction

An overview of Merthyr Tydfil

Geography

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council sits in a natural basin at the head of the Taff Valley. The Authority is almost wholly situated within this valley, with just a small part of Bedlinog outside this geographical boundary in the Taff Bargoed valley. At just over 11,000 hectares, it is the second smallest authority in Wales.

The floor of the Taff Valley at Merthyr Tydfil is around 150 metres above sea level, with the valley sides rising up to 450 metres. This topography has historically shaped the pattern of the area, with all development and communication running north/south along the valley floor. There are no direct communications link to the valleys running parallel to the Taff between Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon.

Merthyr Tydfil has borders with three other authorities, Caerphilly to the south and east, Rhondda Cynon Taff to the west and Powys to the north. It occupies a strategically advantageous location at the junction of the Heads of the Valleys road (A465) and the A470, which are the main routes connecting the west and south to mid and north Wales, and is roughly 20 miles from both Cardiff and Swansea. The northern end of the authority lies within the boundary of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

History

The beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, which eventually played the dominant role in Merthyr’s development, initially by-passed the town. Lead and silver were the first minerals to be mined on an industrial scale in south Wales, soon overtaken in importance by the copper mines of the Swansea valley; none of these metals were found in the Merthyr valley. The origins of the Welsh iron industry were centred around Pontypool, but as coal overtook charcoal as the main ingredient for smelting the iron ore, this became the major factor in the distribution of foundries.

A fortuitous combination of geography, geology and national politics combined to make Merthyr, which had no industrial tradition, the biggest winner in Wales during the industrial revolution.

A combination of geological natural resources, notably iron ore, coal, timber, limestone, combined with a plentiful water supply, all in close proximity to each other, created the ideal conditions for the production of iron ore. During the eighteenth century, Britain was at war more often than not, so armaments were in great demand. At the same time, as means of production became more efficient, the resultant drop in the price of iron made iron more widely used; agriculturalists bought more iron implements, households bought more iron utensils. Much of this manufacturing took place elsewhere, so transport links had to be built to export the iron.

All these factors allowed Merthyr Tydfil to grow rapidly during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The first ironworks were opened in 1759 at Cyfarthfa, three others followed in the next 25 years at Dowlais, Plymouth and Penydarren. By 1801, Merthyr Tydfil had grown into the largest town in Wales on the back of this development, with a population of 7,700.  This increased six-fold in the first half of the 19^th century to a maximum of 40,000 in 1845 as Merthyr Tydfil became the biggest single producer of iron in the world.

During the decade from 1841 to 1851, there was an increase of 86,000 in the population living in the industrial districts between Llanelli and Pontypool.

The 1840s saw the development of the coalfields, based almost entirely on the global creation of railway networks. The Merthyr area benefited twice over from this phenomenon. Firstly, the formation of the Taff Vale Railway, which linked Cardiff to Merthyr and the Cynon and Rhonnda valleys, revolutionised the transportation of coal from the area. The capacity of the railway meant that an entire month’s coal cargo, previously transported by canal, could now reach Cardiff in little more than an hour. The export potential of coal could now be fully realised. The volume of coal exported rose from 1.5 million tonnes in 1840 to 2.6 million tonnes in just 14 years.

Secondly, the new networks of railways across the globe needed both rails and coal to fire the engines. Rails of Welsh manufacture were laid across the world and production at Cyfarthfa increased threefold in just 15 years. At its peak production levels in 1847, Cyfarthfa was the world’s largest iron company and quite probably the largest single employer in the world as well.

This development came at a cost however, as ironmasters diverted most of the town’s freshwater to supply their steam engines. What was left of the Taff became an open sewer and outbreaks of cholera and typhoid were prevalent. Merthyr Tydfil’s mortality rate was the third highest in Britain and over 60% of all burials in the first half of the 19^th century were for children under the age of five.

Demography

The 2006 mid-year Census showed Merthyr Tydfil to have a population of 55,500. This is down from the 2001 Census figure of 55,981 and the 1981 figure of 60,500. This downward trend is in marked contrast to the whole of Wales, whose population has grown over this period.

The only other local authority apart from Merthyr Tydfil to have experienced a decline in population since 2001 is Blaenau Gwent; their rate of decline is slower and less sustained than that Merthyr’s

Since 1981, there has been a 14% difference in the change in population between Merthyr Tydfil and Wales as a whole.

In the period between the 1991 and 2001 Censuses, only five of the 376 authorities in England and Wales combined had a great percentage reduction in their population compared to Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr’s population density is three and a half times greater than Wales as a whole, with over 500 people per square kilometre.

The distribution of population in the area in terms of age and sex is very similar to Wales although there are proportionally more children aged less than 16 years. Over 90% of the population were born in Wales, substantially higher than the national average of 75%.

Actual live birth and death rates in Merthyr Tydfil

Looking at the births and deaths figures from 2001-05, their respective levels have remained constant and there has only been a net decrease of 161 people. However, the population has decreased by 600 over this period, which suggests that outward migration is the dominant factor affecting the population decrease within Merthyr Tydfil currently.

Household sizes in Merthyr Tydfil closely match those for the whole of Wales, except for a smaller proportion of 2 person households and a larger proportion of 3 and 4 person households, although none of the above varies greatly from the Wales average.

The average household size in Merthyr Tydfil is 2.4, compared to the Wales average of 2.37. This is the 6^th highest figure in Wales and ranks 120 out of all 376 authorities in England and Wales.

Population distribution

Based on the 2001 Census figures, the six wards that make up the town of Merthyr Tydfil have a combined population of 34,000, which is 60% of the authority area’s total population.

Within all 11 wards, the proportion of 0-24yr olds as a percentage of the overall population is in line with the figure for the authority as a whole

Merthyr Tydfil today

The number of jobs in Merthyr Tydfil has been steadily increasing since 1998, mainly due to the increases in public administration, education and health sectors. However, of the sectors of employment that Merthyr Tydfil is particularly strong in – for example; mining and quarrying, printing and publishing, manufacturing, retailing, communications and health and social work – many of these are not expected to grow over the next 15years. Key growth sectors such as air transport, computing services and financial and professional services are not well represented in the borough.

Levels of economic activity have increased markedly, up from 64.4% of the population aged 16-59/64yrs old in 2000, to 69.6% in 2006. However, this is still well below the current Wales average of 75.1%.

The average gross weekly full-time wage has risen 18% in the past five years to its current rate of £367. This is still well below the national rate, which has risen comparatively equally, to £408. This is 11% higher than the Merthyr Tydfil level.

The level of unemployment in Merthyr Tydfil has also fallen during this period, but remains, at 8.0%, well above the national average of 5.2%, and this gap has widened over the past five years.

June 2008 data released by the Land Registry Office show house prices rising faster than anywhere else in the House prices, rising 7.7% in the last year, are still the second lowest of all local authorities in Wales. The Merthyr average is £85,704 compared with the all Wales figure of £136, 280. 80% of all dwellings in Merthyr Tydfil are in Council Tax bands A and B, compared to 37% for the whole of Wales.

Index of Multiple Deprivation

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (2005) is a measure of deprivation at a small area level. It indicates the level of deprivation experienced by people living in an area in the following domains: Income; Employment; Health; Education, Skills and Training; Geographical access to Services; Housing, and Physical Environment. There are 31 indicators used in the overall Index.

The geographical area used for the WIMD is the Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA). Because electoral divisions (Wards) vary greatly in size in Wales, they are not suitable. They are also subject to boundary changes that cause problems in comparing year on year data. LSOAs have a minimum population of 1,000 and mean value for Wales of just over 1,500. There are 1,896 LSOAs in Wales. This is the smallest geographical area for which data is regularly collected in Wales.

The vast majority of the poorest LSOAs are found within the south Wales valleys. This is equally true when looking at the domains individually, with the exception of housing deprivation, which, apart from Cardiff and Swansea, is an issue mainly for west, mid and north Wales, Anglesey and Gwynedd in particular; and geographical access to services, which is a major issue across the whole of Wales except for Cardiff, Newport, Swansea and the south Wales valleys.

Of Merthyr’s 36 LSOAs, 13 fall within the 10% most deprived LSOAs in Wales. These 13 LSOAs account for 19,000 people (35%) of Merthyr’s total population, a disproportionately large percentage of its overall population.

Number of LSOAs in each local authority that are ranked in the top most deprived 10%, 20%, 30% and 50% LSOAs in Wales.

Merthyr Tydfil has the highest percentage of its LSOAs in the most deprived 10%, 20% and 30% of all LSOAs in Wales and the second highest percentage of LSOAs in the most deprived 50% of all LSOAs in Wales.

Breaking the data down into the individual domains, in the 10% most deprived LSOA's for each domain, Merthyr has above average numbers of LSOA's in four domains (as well overall deprivation), below average in Environment and Housing, and no LSOAs in the most deprived 10% for geographical access to services.