This series contains two distinct types of files: general and policy files, and individual case files, relating to the involvement of central government in local government environmental and public health services in Wales. They deal with the approval of capital schemes for loan sanction and Treasury grants and subsidies; approval of compulsory purchase orders and the making of subordinate legislation by statutory instruments.
The main subjects covered are housing, water supply and sewerage, but also include coastal protection, flooding, provision of markets, burial grounds, parks and pleasure grounds, and public buildings. Some files relate to the Aberfan Disaster of 1966 and its aftermath.
The records were successively created in and held by the Local Government Board, the Ministry of Health, the Welsh Board of Health, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, and finally the Welsh Office. One file (BD 11/534) predates the formation of the Local Government Board in 1871, and this contains a small number of Home Office papers.