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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:
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. The landscape was dominated by coal heaps, mine hoist wheels and miners cottages. In the 1980's privatisation of British Coal closed many of the coal mining activites in the valleys, devastating the local economy. To cope with the increasing unemployment across the region, the WDA (Welsh Development Agency) was formed and tasked with creating employment.
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