Catalogue description Records of the Transport Commissioner for Wales and Monmouthshire

The Office of the Transport Commissioner for Wales and Monmouthshire was established by the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation in October 1958 as a result of pressure from the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire and others for more regional devolution of authority. The commissioner was to be the senior representative of the ministry in Wales and was supposed to be 'accessible to people in Wales and Monmouthshire in regard to any matter which falls within the Ministry's field', from highways to civil aviation.

The commissioner represented the ministry on committees in Wales and was responsible for maintaining good relations with all local authorities and bodies in his area, acting as a channel of communication with headquarters. He had no administrative or executive functions and the ministry always resisted proposals that greater authority in Wales should be delegated to him.

For the purposes of the Road Traffic Act 1930, which had established Road Traffic Areas, based on the flow of road passenger traffic, South Wales was a Road Traffic Area but North Wales formed part of the North-Western Road Traffic Area. In case of serious emergency the chairman of the traffic commissioners of the South Wales area was to become regional traffic commissioner for all Wales and this function also was transferred to the Office of the Transport Commissioner for Wales and Monmouthshire.

In 1959, the civil aviation functions of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation passed to the Ministry of Aviation but the Transport Commissioner continued to act as the representative of that ministry on civil aviation matters in Wales, sitting as administrative representative on the Welsh Advisory Council for Civil Aviation, which was established in 1961, and providing its secretariat.

On the establishment of the Welsh Office in 1965, the Office of the Transport Commissioner was abolished.