Christopher Paul Franks (born 2 August 1951) is a

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

Politician. He was a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

between 2007 and 2011 for the

South Wales Central South Wales Central () is an electoral region of the Senedd, consisting of eight constituencies. The region elects 12 members, eight directly elected constituency members and four additional members. The electoral region was first used in 1999, ...

constituency, and

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...

councillor for

Dinas Powys Dinas Powys (; also spelt "Dinas Powis" in English) is a town and community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. Its name means "fort of the provincial place" and refers to the Dinas Powys hillfort, Iron Age hillfort which ...

from 2004-2017 and 2017-present. He has previously led the Plaid Cymru group on the council.

Career

Franks was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, and educated at Llandaff College. He qualified as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

, and worked in the Highways and Transport Department of a local authority.

Political career

Local Government

Franks was a

councillor for Dinas Powys on

South Glamorgan County Council South Glamorgan County Council () was the local government authority that administered the county of South Glamorgan, Wales from its creation in 1974 until its abolition in 1996. History Local government in England and Wales was reorganised in 1 ...

from 1981 until the council's dissolution. He was elected to

Vale of Glamorgan Council The Vale of Glamorgan Council is the governing body for the Vale of Glamorgan, one of the Subdivisions of Wales, Principal Areas of Wales. History The new Vale of Glamorgan Council unitary authority came into effect on 1 April 1996, following th ...

from Dinas Powys ward, and also to

Community Council. In 2001, he was chosen as Plaid Cymru group leader on the Vale of Glamorgan Council. After the 2004 elections to Vale of Glamorgan Council the Plaid Cymru group found itself with the 'balance of power' and Franks held meetings with both the Conservative and Labour leaders."Key held by Plaid", ''South Wales Echo'', 16 June 2004. Eventually, the Conservatives formed a minority administration which lasted until November 2006 when a crisis over social services cuts led to a

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

in the Conservative leader being passed. Franks declared that an all-party coalition was preferable.Peter Collins, "Crisis-hit council's emergency talks", ''South Wales Echo'', 24 November 2006. A coalition between Labour, Plaid Cymru and Independent councillors was agreed that December under which Franks became the cabinet member for Legal and Public Protection, a post that he no longer holds. Franks was neutral in his support for the coalition having abstained in the vote of no confidence. In the 2017 elections, Franks lost his seat to the Conservatives but regained his seat in the 2022 elections.

National Assembly for Wales and UK Parliament

Franks contested the

constituency in the 1999 and 2003 elections to the National Assembly for Wales, and the UK Parliament constituency in the 2001 General Election, and was unsuccessful in all cases. He also challenged Owen John Thomas for the top placement on Plaid Cymru's

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

for the

region for the 2003 election, but was unsuccessful.Clive Betts, "Two prepare to challenge Plaid spokesman", ''Western Mail'', 15 July 2002. Franks was selected in May 2006 as second on Plaid Cymru's list for

following the retirement of Owen John Thomas; Plaid had won two seats from the regional list in both previous elections to the Assembly.Phillip Nifield, "Franks set for assembly", ''South Wales Echo'', 15 May 2006. He duly retained the seat in the 2007 election.

References

Biography
on the Plaid Cymru website

External links

Chris Franks'website

Offices held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franks, Chris 1951 births Living people Plaid Cymru members of the Senedd Wales AMs 2007–2011 Members of the Vale of Glamorgan Council Plaid Cymru councillors Members of South Glamorgan County Council