Editing Hay-on-Wye (section)

==Governance==
[[File:The Town Hall, Hay-on-Wye - geograph.org.uk - 3026669.jpg|thumb|Former Hay-on-Wye Town Hall, the Cheese Market (Statue of Henry VII)|207x207px]]
There are two tiers of local government covering Hay, at [[Community (Wales)|community]] (town) and [[Principal areas of Wales|county]] level: Hay Town Council and [[Powys County Council]]. The town council is based at offices on Brecon Road.<ref>{{cite web |title=Get in touch |url=https://www.haytowncouncil.gov.uk/contact.html |website=Hay Town Council |access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref> For elections to Powys County Council, there is a [[Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom|ward]] called Hay which covers the same area as the community of Hay.<ref>{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref>

===Administrative history===
[[File:Hay - Brecknockshire.jpeg|alt=Hay-on-Wye, Brecknockshire 1860|thumb|150x150px|Hay-on-Wye, Brecknockshire 1860]]
[[File:Wales 14C Map.png|alt=Marcher lordships in the 14th-century Wales|thumb|159x159px|Marcher lordships in the 14th-century Wales]]
The parish of Hay was created around 1135 from the north-eastern parts of the older parish of Llanigon.<ref name=parish/> Until 1536 Hay was a [[marcher lordship]]. In 1536 the Hay lordship was included in the new county of Brecknockshire.<ref>{{cite book |title=Laws in Wales Act 1535 |date=1536 |page=246 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Statutes_at_Large_of_England_and_of/do1KAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA246&printsec=frontcover |access-date=14 November 2024}}</ref>

The area of the fortified town was sometimes described as a [[ancient borough|borough]], but it was never given a [[Municipal charter|charter]] and it appears that no borough council ever operated; instead the town was administered by officials appointed by the [[lord of the manor]].<ref>{{cite book |title=First Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales: Part 1 |date=1835 |page=250 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/First_Report_of_the_Commissioners_Appoin/7pNRAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA1-PA250&printsec=frontcover |access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref> Any residual claim Hay may have had to be called a borough was extinguished under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1883]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Municipal Corporations Act 1883 (46 & 46 Vict. Ch. 18) |date=1883 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1883/18/pdfs/ukpga_18830018_en.pdf | access-date=2 September 2023}}</ref>

In 1864 the north-eastern part of the parish of Hay, covering the built-up area as it then was and some adjacent areas, was made a [[Local board of health#Local Government Act 1858|local government district]], administered by an elected local board.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22905|page=5008|date=25 October 1864}}</ref> Such districts were reconstituted as [[Urban district (England and Wales)|urban districts]] under the [[Local Government Act 1894]]. The 1894 Act also directed that parishes were no longer allowed to straddle district boundaries, and so the parish of Hay was split into a Hay Urban parish covering the same area as the urban district, and a Hay Rural parish covering the part of the old parish outside the urban district.<ref name=1971map/>

Hay Urban District was abolished in 1974, with its area instead becoming a community called Hay within the [[Borough of Brecknock]] in the new county of [[Powys]]. The former urban district council's functions therefore passed to Brecknock Borough Council, which was in turn abolished in 1996 and its functions passed to Powys County Council.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1972|year=1972|chapter=70|accessdate=6 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government (Wales) Act 1994|year=1994|chapter=19|accessdate=9 October 2022}}</ref> The Hay Rural parish also became a community in 1974, but was abolished in 1986 and its area absorbed into the neighbouring parish of Llanigon.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Langston |first1=Brett |title=Hay Registration District |url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/hay.html |website=UK BMD |access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref>