Denbighshire County Council () is the 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. Following the collapse of the previous Labour-Plaid Cymru administration and the resignation of leader Jason McLellan and the Labour cabinet members in late August 2026, the council currently has no formal political administration pending the appointment of a new leader and cabinet.
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 council has been under no overall control since its creation in 1996. A Labour and Plaid Cymru coalition formed to run the council following the May 2022 election. The leader of the council is Jason McLellan, of Labour, and the council's cabinet comprises six Labour and three Plaid Cymru councillors.
The first election to the new council was held in 1995. It initially operated as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until coming into its powers on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows: (Put "Denbighshire" in search box to see specific results.)
Party in controlYears 1996–present
Leadership The leaders of the council since 2000 have been:
Councillor Party From To Elwyn Edwards 6 Jun 2000 14 May 2002 Eryl Williams 14 May 2002 24 Jun 2004 Rhiannon Hughes 24 Jun 2004 22 Oct 2007 Hugh Evans 6 Nov 2007 May 2022 Jason McLellan 24 May 2022 28 August 2026
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 July 2025, the composition of the council was: Party Councillors 15 13 9 8 2 1Total48 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 The last council-wide election was held on 5 May 2022, when the number of councillors elected increased from 47 to 48.
Summary of the council composition after council elections, click on the year for full details of each election.
YearSeatsLabourIndependentPlaid CymruConservativeGreenLiberal DemocratsNotes 1995 49 20 19 7 0 0 3 1999 47 13 23 8 2 0 1New ward boundaries. 2004 47 8 23 7 7 0 2 2008 47 7 13 8 18 0 1 2012 47 18 12 7 9 0 1 201747 13 8 9 16 0 1 202248 19 12 8 6 2 1New ward boundaries.
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:
WardCountyCouncillorsCommunities (and community wards)Bodelwyddan c 1Bodelwyddan (town) *Corwen c 1Corwen (town) *Denbigh Central 1Denbigh (town) (Central ward)Denbigh Lower 2(Lower ward)Denbigh Upper/Henllan 2(Upper ward)Henllan Dyserth c 1Dyserth *Efenechtyd 1Betws Gwerfil Goch * Clocaenog * Derwen * Efenechtyd *Llanarmon-yn-Ial/Llandegla 1Llanarmon-yn-Ial * Llandegla * Llanferres *Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd/Llangynhafal 1Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd * Llangynhafal *Llandrillo 1Cynwyd * Llandrillo *Llandyrnog 1Aberwheeler * Llandyrnog * Llanynys *Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd/Gwyddelwern 1Bryneglwys * Gwyddelwern * Llanelidan * Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd *Llangollen 2Llangollen (town) * Llantysilio *Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch 1Cyffylliog * Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch* Nantglyn *Prestatyn Central 2Prestatyn (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 2Rhuddlan (town)Rhyl East 2Rhyl (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 3Ruthin (town)St. Asaph East 1St. Asaph (town)(East ward)St. Asaph West 1(West ward)Trefnant 1Cefn Meiriadog * Trefnant *Tremeirchion 1Bodfari * Cwm Tremeirchion * Waen *
* = Communities which elect a community council c = Ward coterminous with community of the same nameElection Maps, Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
Democratic Alliance of Wales
The Democratic Alliance of Wales (DAW) was a political party The Minister has raised the spectre of small political parties, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Democratic Alliance of Wales, committing offences during an election and, because it is the party that appears in court and can be convicted of whatever misdemeanour it is accused of, the party can then disband and the members can go off and form another party, perhaps the democratic alliance of Wales 2001 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)