Llanaelhaearn community council want to alter its to include a nearby village.

Gwynedd Council has received a request from the community council to change from Llanhaelhaearn to Trefor a Llanaelhaearn.

The change is recommend for approval ahead of a full council meeting on 5 December.

The original name came from the old parochial order with the ecclesiastical parish being just Llanaelhaearn, a community council document notes.

The parish church at Llanaelhaearn dates back to the sixth century and the parish of Llanaelhaearn became the local government name for a wider scattered area from the 16th century onwards, a letter to Gwynedd explains.

It adds: “During the 19th century there was great population growth due to the coming of the granite industry and as a result the creation of the new village of Trefor (1856) in the lower part of the parish area.

“Trefor village is the most populous in the community although the name is not recognised in the name of the new community council.”

Statistics record 511 electors in Trefor and 287 in Llanaelhaearn.

The letter adds: “It should be noted there are 12 community councillors, and the arrangement is two thirds – eight of the 12 – represent Trefor.”

In September 2021 the community council received a letter from Trefor residents calling for “fairness for the village of Trefor”.

The request to change the name of the community council to include the whole area was discussed at a community council meeting on 4 October, 2021.

The application was noted as “completely reasonable and unanimously supported by the council”.

County councillor Aled Wyn Jones took up the matter following this meeting.

The report said: “In January 2022, Aled confirmed that a change was possible, but that a proposal needed to be put before the county council proposing a new name. Bro’r Eifl was the natural choice.”

However, that name had just been given to the county ward. “After discussion it was decided on Trefor a Llanaelhaearn – in that order to avoid mutation,” it noted.

In 2024, current county councillor Jina Gwyrfai took up the issue, with local views sought over 21 days, from 4-25 June.

One written reply supported the change and there were some “verbal supportive comments, and a number of ‘narrative’ comments on Facebook”.

The letter concluded: “Although response to the public consultation was disappointing, community councillors do not believe there is no purpose in enquiring further or further delay.

“This document is therefore submitted as our request to change the name of our community council as previously stated, to Cyngor Cymuned Trefor a Llanaelhaearn.”

If agreeda notice will be sent to Welsh ministers, the Boundary and Local Democracy Commission for Wales, the Director General of the Ordnance Survey, the Registrar Generala, nd a notice published.

Gwynedd Council is currently undertaking a Community Review process under the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 2013 looking at community boundaries and electoral arrangements but that process “does not provide a means for changing the name of an existing community,” a council report noted.