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Torfaen county borough

Geography
Area - Total - % Water	Ranked 20th 126 km² ? %
Admin HQ	Pontypool
ISO 3166-2	GB-TOF
ONS code	00PM
Demographics
Population: - Total (2005 est.) - Density	Ranked 17th 90,300 Ranked 3rd 717 / km²
Ethnicity	99.2% White.
Welsh language - Any skills	Ranked 19th 14.5%
Politics
Torfaen County Borough Council http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/
Control	Labour
MP	Paul Murphy

Torfaen (Welsh: Tor-faen) is a county borough in South Wales. It is situated in what was near enough the centre of the traditional county of Monmouthshire. Between 1974 and 1996 it was a district in the preserved county of Gwent.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Location 3 Area characteristics 4 Local landmarks 4.1 Pontypool Park 4.2 Cwmbran Shopping Centre 4.3 Blaenavon Booktown 5 Politics

The name Torfaen is corrupted Welsh for rock breaker and refers to the river that flows through the county borough from its source in Blaenavon. The river in question is now known as the Afon Llwyd (English: grey river).

Torfaen borders the city and county borough of Newport to the south, the county of Monmouthshire to the east and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the north and north-west.

The area is fairly well urbanised with a population of around 91,000. Much of the southern parts of the county borough are now wholly urbanised around the Cwmbran New Town conurbation. The north of the county borough is greener and retains vast acres of countryside, especially on the route to Blaenavon.

The county town is Pontypool in the centre of the area. Most of the administration of Torfaen County Borough Council is conducted from the Civic Centre here, although facilities at the County Hall in Cwmbran are shared with Monmouthshire County Council.

Torfaen, although a relatively small county borough, has a number of notable landmarks:

Main article: Pontypool Park

• Pontypool Park the name given to the former principle residence of Pontypool (now a secondary school) and the 160-acre park that surrounds it. The park contains the town's leisure centre, sports facilities and is the home of Pontypool RFC. The park includes a folly, shell grotto and ornamental ponds. Much of the area is given to woodland but there is extensive open grassland.

Main article: Cwmbran Shopping Centre

• Cwmbran Shopping Centre is the largest under-cover shopping centre in Wales. The centre is anchored by a large ASDA store, but boasts many other familiar high street stores.

Main article: Blaenavon

• The former mining town of Blaenavon in the northern part of the county borough is now a recognised UNESCO World Heritage Site and booktown.

Torfaen is one of the safest Labour Party seats in the United Kingdom. At present the MP is Paul Murphy. Torfaen is also a Welsh Assembly Government constituency, presided over by Labour AM, Lynne Neagle.