The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the
Local Government Act 1972. It covered the whole area of four former districts and most of a fifth from the
administrative county of
Caernarfonshire, which were all abolished at the same time: •
Bangor Municipal Borough •
Bethesda Urban District •
Caernarfon Municipal Borough •
Gwyrfai Rural District, except the parishes of
Beddgelert and
Clynnog which went to
Dwyfor •
Ogwen Rural District Under the 1972 legislation the district was referred to as 'Gwynedd District 3', with the merging councils invited to suggest names. The
Secretary of State for Wales had the power to make the final decision. Bangor City Council, Bethesda Urban District Council and Ogwen Rural District Council favoured '
Nant Ffrancon'.
Caernarvon Borough Council suggested 'Arfon' or '
Eryri' and Gwyrfai Rural District Council also supported 'Arfon'.
Peter Thomas, the Secretary of State, chose Arfon as 'the most appropriate'. The new district was named Arfon by
statutory instrument. An
order in council authorised the granting of a charter conferring
borough status. Under the
Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, the previous two tier system of counties and districts was replaced with new principal areas (each designated either a "county" or a "county borough"), whose councils perform the functions previously divided between the county and district councils. The Arfon area merged with Dwyfor and
Meirionnydd to become a county which the government initially called "Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire". During the transition to the new system, the shadow authority requested a change of name from "Caernarfonshire and Meirionethshire" to "Gwynedd". The government confirmed the change with effect from 2 April 1996, one day after the new council came into being. ==Political control==