| Denbighshire Council | |
| Native Name: | Cyngor Sir Ddinbych |
| Native Name Lang: | cym |
| Coa Pic: | Arms of Denbighshire County Council.svg |
| Coa Res: | 150px |
| Logo Pic: | Denbighshire County Council.svg |
| Logo Res: | 250px |
| House Type: | Unitary authority |
| Foundation: | 1 April 1996 |
| Preceded By: | Clwyd County Council Rhuddlan Glyndŵr (part) Colwyn (part) |
| Leader1 Type: | Chair |
| Leader1: | Peter Scott |
| Party1: | Conservative |
| Election1: | 14 November 2023[1] |
| Leader2 Type: | Leader |
| Leader2: | Jason McLellan |
| Party2: | Labour |
| Election2: | 24 May 2022[2] |
| Leader3 Type: | Chief Executive |
| Leader3: | Graham Boase |
| Election3: | 1 August 2021[3] |
| Seats: | 48 councillors |
| Term Length: | 5 years |
| Voting System1: | First-past-the-post |
| First Election1: | 4 May 1995 |
| Last Election1: | 5 May 2022 |
| Next Election1: | 6 May 2027 |
| Session Room: | County Hall, Ruthin (geograph 5572875).jpg |
| Session Res: | 250 |
| Meeting Place: | County Hall, Wynnstay Road, Ruthin, LL151YN |
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.
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.
Denbighshire County Council was first created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, which established elected county councils to take over the administrative functions of the quarter sessions. 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.[4]
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.[5]
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:[6] [7] The last election was 5 May 2022 when the number of councillors elected increased from 47 to 48.[8]
The leaders of the council since 2000 have been:[9]
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elwyn Edwards[10] | 6 Jun 2000 | 14 May 2002 | ||
| Eryl Williams | 14 May 2002 | 24 Jun 2004 | ||
| Rhiannon Hughes[11] | 24 Jun 2004 | 22 Oct 2007 | ||
| 6 Nov 2007 | 24 May 2022 | |||
| Jason McLellan | 24 May 2022 | |||
From April 2022 the council leader was paid a salary of £53,550.[14]
Following the 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to October 2023, the composition of the council was:
| Party | Councillors | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | |||
| 13 | |||
| 8 | |||
| 7 | |||
| 2 | |||
| 1 | |||
| Total | 48 | ||
One seat (Alyn Valley, Con) was elected unopposed at the 2022 election.[16]
Summary of the council composition after council elections, click on the year for full details of each election.[17] [18]
| Year | Seats | Labour | Independent | Plaid Cymru | Conservative | Green | Liberal Democrats | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 49 | 20 | 19 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 1999 | 47 | 13 | 23 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | New ward boundaries.[19] | |
| 2004 | 47 | 8 | 23 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2008 | 47 | 7 | 13 | 8 | 18 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2012 | 47 | 18 | 12 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2017 | 47 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2022 | 48 | 19 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1 | New ward boundaries.[20] | |
The council is based at County Hall in Ruthin. The building was originally built in 1909 for the old Denbighshire County Council. 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 built behind the retained frontage of the 1909 original, with the rebuilt headquarters being completed in 2004.[21] [22] [23] 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.[24]
The county borough is divided into 29 electoral wards returning 48 councillors.[25] 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:
| Ward[26] | County Councillors | Communities (and community wards) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bodelwyddan c | 1 | Bodelwyddan (town) * | ||
| Corwen c | 1 | Corwen (town) * | ||
| Denbigh Central | 1 | Denbigh (town) | (Central ward) | |
| Denbigh Lower | 2 | (Lower ward) | ||
| Denbigh Upper/Henllan | 2 | (Upper ward) | ||
| Dyserth c | 1 | Dyserth * | ||
| Efenechtyd | 1 |
| ||
| Llanarmon-yn-Ial/Llandegla | 1 | |||
| Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd/Llangynhafal | 1 | |||
| Llandrillo | 1 |
| ||
| Llandyrnog | 1 |
| ||
| Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd/Gwyddelwern | 1 | |||
| Llangollen | 2 |
| ||
| Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch | 1 |
| ||
| Prestatyn Central | 2 | Prestatyn (town) | (Central ward) | |
| Prestatyn East | 2 | (East ward) | ||
| Prestatyn Meliden | 1 | (Meliden ward) | ||
| Prestatyn North | 3 | (North and North West wards) | ||
| Prestatyn South West | 2 | (South West ward) | ||
| Rhuddlan c | 2 | Rhuddlan (town) | ||
| Rhyl East | 2 | Rhyl (town) | (East ward) | |
| Rhyl South | 2 | (South ward) | ||
| Rhyl South East | 3 | (South East ward) | ||
| Rhyl South West | 2 | (South West ward) | ||
| Rhyl West | 2 | (West ward) | ||
| Ruthin c | 3 | Ruthin (town) | ||
| St. Asaph East | 1 | St. Asaph (town) | (East ward) | |
| St. Asaph West | 1 | (West ward) | ||
| Trefnant | 1 |
| ||
| Tremeirchion | 1 |
| ||
* = Communities which elect a community council
c = Ward coterminous with community of the same name[27]
The Democratic Alliance of Wales (DAW) was a political party[28] 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.[29] 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.[30]
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.[31]
At the 2008 all-council election, the three remaining DAW councillors stood as Independents, losing to the Conservatives.[32]