Comines-Warneton

Comines-Warneton is a city and municipality of Wallonia in the province of Hainaut, Belgium, lying directly against the identically named Comines on the French side of the border. It had a total population of 17,562 on 1 January 2006 and a total area of 61.09 square kilometres. The municipality has language facilities for Dutch-speakers. It is made up of the districts of Bas-Warneton, Comines, Houthem, Ploegsteert and Warneton, which were moved in 1963 from the arrondissement of Ypres in West Flanders to the newly created arrondissement of Mouscron in Hainaut, and which merged into one municipality in 1977. Since then it has formed an exclave of both Hainaut and Wallonia, surrounded by the Flemish province of West Flanders and the French department of Nord and not connected to the rest of the French-speaking area of Belgium. It is twinned with Hedge End in England and with Argenton-les-Vallées in France.