Denbighshire County Council

Denbighshire County Council is the unitary local authority for the county of Denbighshire, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council is based at County Hall in Ruthin. There have been two bodies called Denbighshire County Council. The first existed from 1889 until 1974, and the current one was created in 1996.

Elections take place every five years. The last election was on 5 May 2022. The council is under no overall control, being administered by a multi-party cabinet led by Jason McLellan of the Labour Party.

History

Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over administrative functions previously performed by unelected magistrates at each county's quarter sessions. County boundaries were adjusted at the same time such that each urban sanitary district which straddled county boundaries was placed entirely in the county which had the majority of the district's population. There were two such districts on Denbighshire's borders; Denbighshire gained the part of Colwyn Bay which had been in Caernarfonshire, but ceded a small part of Rhyl to Flintshire.

The first elections were held in January 1889. The council formally came into being on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first meeting at the County Buildings, Wrexham, one of the county's courthouses. Thomas Gee, a Liberal, was the first chairman of the council. At that first meeting, the council debated where future meetings should be held. It was decided that the county council would meet alternately at Denbigh and Wrexham. When meeting in Denbigh, the council met at the County Hall there, another of the county's courthouses (built 1572).

At a subsequent meeting in 1891, the council decided to hold its meetings in rotation at Denbigh, Ruthin and Wrexham. Colwyn Bay was added to the cycle of places where the council met in 1900. The council then held its regular meetings in rotation at Denbigh, Colwyn Bay, Ruthin and Wrexham until the abolition of the first incarnation of the county council in 1974. Although the council held its meetings in multiple towns, it decided to consolidate its main offices in a central location. It therefore built the County Offices at Ruthin, which opened in 1909.

That county council and the administrative county of Denbighshire were abolished in 1974, when the area merged with neighbouring Flintshire to become the new county of Clwyd, except for six parishes on the western edge of Denbighshire in the Conwy valley, which went instead to the Aberconwy district of Gwynedd. The remainder of the former administrative county of Denbighshire was split between three of the six districts of Clwyd: Colwyn, Glyndŵr, and Wrexham Maelor.

Under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, Clwyd County Council and the county's constituent districts were abolished, being replaced by principal areas, whose councils perform the functions which had previously been divided between the county and district councils. A new principal area and county of Denbighshire was created with effect from 1 April 1996, covering most of Glyndŵr, two communities from Colwyn, and all of Rhuddlan (the latter having been created in 1974 from areas in Flintshire rather than Denbighshire). The new Denbighshire County Council created in 1996 therefore covers a different area to the pre-1974 county.

Political control

The first election to the new council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority before coming into its powers on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows: The last election was 5 May 2022 when the number of councillors elected increased from 47 to 48.

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 2000 have been:

Since May 2022 the council has been led by Jason McLellan, of Labour. The cabinet is formed of six Labour and three Plaid Cymru councillors. He was preceded by Hugh Evans, a farmer from Llanelidan, who led the council for over 14 years, who was first elected as leader of the council on 6 November 2007. This followed a vote of no confidence in the previous leader, Rhiannon Hughes, two weeks beforehand. Prior to Hughes, Plaid Cymru councillor Eryl Williams was leader, from 2002 until 2004.

From April 2022 the council leader was paid a salary of £53,550.

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to March 2025, the composition of the council was:

Of the independent councillors, nine sit together as the 'Independent Group' (which also includes the Liberal Democrat), three form the 'Denbighshire Independent Alliance' group, and the other is not aligned to any group. The next election is due in 2027.

One seat (Alyn Valley, Con) was elected unopposed at the 2022 election.

Elections

Summary of the council composition after council elections, click on the year for full details of each election.

Party with the most elected councillors in bold. Coalition agreements in notes column.

Premises

The council is based at County Hall in Ruthin. The building was originally built in 1909 as offices for the old Denbighshire County Council, and was initially called County Offices. Between 1974 and 1996 the building served as the headquarters of Glyndŵr District Council. Most of the building was demolished in 2002 and a modern building called County Hall built behind the retained frontage of the 1909 original, with the rebuilt headquarters being completed in 2004. The council also has offices at Russell House on Churton Road in Rhyl, which had been built in 1991 for the former Rhuddlan Borough Council.

Electoral divisions

The county borough is divided into 29 electoral wards returning 48 councillors. Few communities in Denbighshire are coterminous with electoral wards. The following table lists council wards, communities and associated geographical areas based on the 2017 election:

* = Communities which elect a community council

^c = Ward coterminous with community of the same name

Democratic Alliance of Wales

The Democratic Alliance of Wales (DAW) was a political party partly comprising former Labour Party members,

The DAW stood 14 candidates in the 1999 Denbighshire Council election, with five winning seats in Prestatyn. The three successful DAW candidates in Prestatyn North—Michael German, Isobel German and Jeff Hughes—had been elected as Labour councillors at the 1995 elections. One of the DAW founders, Gwynn Clague, was elected as a county councillor for Prestatyn South West, and became mayor of Prestatyn Town Council. He was particularly known for his criticisms of the county council's performance, as well as the town council's finances. By October 2003, he had left DAW and was unaligned.

At the 2004 all-council election, the three DAW councillors in the Prestatyn North ward stood for re-election, retaining their seats.

Following the rejection of Denbighshire council leader Rhiannon Hughes in October 2007, DAW group leader Mike German was touted as a possible successor.

At the 2008 all-council election, the three remaining DAW councillors stood as Independents, losing to the Conservatives.

References

External links

Denbighshire County Council
(official site)

{{Authority control

Government of Denbighshire
County councils of Wales
Local authorities of Wales