Flintshire County Council () is the local authority for the county of Flintshire, one of the principal areas of Wales. It is based at Tŷ Dewi Sant in Ewloe. Elections take place every five years. The last election was on 5 May 2022. The council has been under no overall control since 2008. Since October 2024 the council has been run by a coalition of Labour and some of the independent councillors.
History Flintshire 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 Flintshire were abolished in 1974, when the area merged with neighbouring Denbighshire to become the new county of Clwyd. Flintshire was unusual in retaining exclaves right up until the 1974 reforms. The contiguous part of the county was split to become three of the six districts of Clwyd: Alyn and Deeside, Delyn, and Rhuddlan. The county's exclaves of Maelor Rural District and the parish of Marford and Hoseley both went to the Wrexham Maelor district.
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. The two districts of Alyn and Deeside and Delyn were merged to become a new county of Flintshire, which came into effect on 1 April 1996. The Flintshire County Council created in 1996 therefore covers a smaller area than the pre-1974 county, omitting the Rhuddlan district, which went to the new Denbighshire county, and omitting the pre-1974 exclaves, which form part of Wrexham County Borough.
Political control The council has been under no overall control since 2008. Following the 2022 election Labour formed a minority administration with informal support from the Liberal Democrats. A new coalition administration subsequently formed in October 2024, comprising Labour and the Independent and Eagle groupings of independent councillors, led by Labour councillor Dave Hughes.
The first election to the new council was held in 1995. It initially operated as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities before coming into its powers on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows: (Put "Flintshire" in search box to see specific results.)
Party in controlYears 1996–2008 2008–present
Leadership The leaders of the council since 1996 have been:
Councillor Party From To Tom Middlehurst 1 Apr 1996 May 1999 Alex Aldridge 18 May 1999 10 Jan 2006 Derek Darlington 10 Jan 2006 27 Nov 2006 Aaron Shotton 19 Dec 2006 May 2008 Arnold Woolley 13 May 2008 May 2012 Aaron Shotton 15 May 2012 9 Apr 2019 Ian Roberts 9 Apr 2019 30 Jul 2024 Dave Hughes 24 Sep 2024
Composition Following the 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to August 2026, the composition of the council was: Party Councillors 27 21 8 Flintshire People's Voice 6 4 1Total67 Of the independent councillors, ten form the "Independent Group", five form the "True Independent" group, three form the "Eagle" group, and the other two are not aligned to any group. Cabinet positions are shared between Labour, the Independent Group, and Eagle, which therefore form the council's administration. In April 2024 several sitting councillors left Labour to form Flintshire People's Voice.
The next election is due in 2027.
Elections Since 2012, elections have taken place every five years. The last election was 5 May 2022. YearSeatsLabourIndependentLiberal DemocratsConservativePlaid CymruGreenNotes1995 72 46 17 5 3 1 0 Labour majority controlled1999 70 42 17 7 1 2 1 Labour majority control. New ward boundaries.2004 70 37 18 10 4 1 0 Labour majority control2008 70 22 27 11 9 1 0 2012 70 30 24 7 8 1 0 2017 70 34 25 5 6 0 0 Fourteen (13 Lab & 1 Ind) of the seventy seats were elected unopposed.Local Elections Archive Project - 2017 - Flintshire2022 67 31 30 4 2 0 0 New ward boundaries. Party with the most elected councillors in bold.
Premises The council is based at Tŷ Dewi Sant () in Ewloe, which forms part of the community of Hawarden and comes under the post town of Deeside. Search postcode CH5 3FF to see the official postal address.
The modern council was previously based at County Hall on Raikes Lane in Mold, which was built in 1967 for the original Flintshire County Council. Between 1974 and 1996, County Hall had been the headquarters of Clwyd County Council. When Flintshire was re-established as an administrative area in 1996, the new council inherited County Hall and the relatively new offices (built 1992) of Alyn and Deeside Borough Council at St David's Park in Ewloe. The building at Ewloe was leased to Unilever for some years and was renamed "Unity House". By 2018, County Hall was proving very costly to maintain, while Unilever's lease of Unity House had ended and the council had tried to sell it without success. The council therefore decided to move several departments to Unity House, which it renamed Tŷ Dewi Sant. The rear wings of County Hall were then demolished in 2020, retaining only the front part of the building which included the council chamber and some office space. A new council chamber was subsequently created at Tŷ Dewi Sant in 2025, allowing that building to also become the council's meeting place. The council then fully vacated County Hall in March 2025.
The council also has an area office at Chapel Street in Flint called County Offices (formerly Delyn House) which it inherited from Delyn Borough Council.
Electoral divisions
Since the 2022 elections, the county has been divided into 45 wards, returning 67 councillors.
Few communities in Flintshire are coterminous with electoral wards. The following table lists the wards as existed prior to 2022 along with the communities and associated geographical areas. Communities with a community council are indicated by *:
WardCommunitiesOther geographic areasArgoedArgoed* (East and South wards)AstonHawarden* (Aston ward)Bagillt EastBagillt* (East and Merllyn wards)Bagillt WestBagillt* (Central and West wards)Broughton North EastBroughton and Bretton* (East and North wards)Broughton SouthBroughton and Bretton* (South ward)BrynfordBrynford* Halkyn* (Pentre Halkyn ward)Buckley Bistre EastBuckley (town)* (Bistre East ward)Buckley Bistre WestBuckley (town)* (Bistre West ward)Buckley MountainBuckley (town)* (Mountain ward)Buckley PentrobinBuckley (town)* (Pentrobin ward)CaergwrleHope* (Caergwrle ward)CaerwysCaerwys (town)* Ysceifiog*CilcainCilcain* Nannerch*Connah's Quay CentralConnah's Quay (town)* (Central ward)Connah's Quay GolftynConnah's Quay (town)* (Golftyn ward)Connah's Quay SouthConnah's Quay (town)* (South ward)Connah's Quay WepreConnah's Quay (town)* (Wepre ward)EwloeHawarden* (Ewloe ward)FfynnongroywLlanasa* (Ffynnongroyw ward)Flint CastleFlint (town)* (Castle ward)Flint ColeshillFlint (town)* (Coleshill ward)Flint OakenholtFlint (town)* (Oakenholt ward)Flint TrelawnyFlint (town)* (Trelawny ward)GreenfieldHolywell (town)* (Greenfield ward)GronantLlanasa* (Gronant ward)GwernaffieldGwernaffield*GwernymynyddGwernymynydd* Nercwys*HalkynHalkyn* (Halkyn, Rhesycae and Rhosesmor wards)HawardenHawarden* (Hawarden ward)Higher KinnertonHigher Kinnerton*Holywell CentralHolywell (town)* (Central ward)Holywell EastHolywell (town)* (East ward)Holywell WestHolywell (town)* (West ward)HopeHope* (Hope ward)LeeswoodLeeswood*LlanfynyddLlanfynydd*MancotHawarden* (Mancot ward)Mold BroncoedMold (town)* (Broncoed ward)Mold EastMold (town)* (East ward)Mold SouthMold (town)* (South ward)Mold WestMold (town)* (West ward)MostynMostyn*New BrightonArgoed* (New Brighton and West wards)NorthopNorthop*Northop HallNorthop Hall*PenyfforddPenyffordd*QueensferryQueensferry*Saltney Mold JunctionSaltney* (Mold Junction ward)Saltney StonebridgeSaltney* (Stonebridge ward)SealandSealand*Shotton EastShotton (town)* (East ward)Shotton HigherShotton (town)* (Higher ward)Shotton WestShotton (town)* (West ward)Trelawnyd and GwaenysgorTrelawnyd and Gwaenysgor* Llanasa* (Axton ward)TreuddynTreuddyn*WhitfordWhitford*
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