Isle of Anglesey County Council


The Isle of Anglesey County Council is the governing body for the county of Anglesey, one of the unitary authority areas of Wales. The council has 30 councillors who represent 11 multi-member electoral wards.

Background

The Isle of Anglesey County Council was created from its predecessor, Ynys Mon Borough Council, in 1996. The Wales Audit Office describes the new council of having a "history of conflict and inappropriate behaviour" from the outset, with two public interest reports published in 1998 and a further three reports into the behaviour by 2001. In September 2009 the council took on a 'troubleshooter' to sort out the squabbling, at a cost of £1,160 a day. David Bowles was imposed on the council by the Welsh Government and paid via a recruitment company. He became Wales' most expensive public sector worker at the time. Bowles sacked two members of the ruling council group, and the education and leisure head was forced to resign.

Suspension of functions in 2011

In March 2011, after "years of political infighting", it became the first council in British history to have all executive functions suspended, with a team of commissioners appointed by the Welsh government put in place to run the council's functions, with elections ultimately delayed, meaning they took place a year after the rest of Wales, pending a new electoral system.

Political makeup

Unlike most other councils in Wales, Anglesey's councillors divide only partly along political-party lines. Following the 2008 elections, Plaid Cymru and Labour maintained a group on the Council. Some Councillors elected on party political tickets or believed to have party political allegiances do not form, or join, party groups. The remaining councillors, both party-political and independent, have formed a number of factions based as much on personalities as on policy. After the 2008 elections, the largest faction was the Original Independents. However, in 2010 the council leader, Clive McGregor, left the Original Independents to form Llais Môn who had five members by the time of the 2013 election.
Elections normally take place every four years. The 2013 Isle of Anglesey County Council election took place on 2 May 2013. There were due to be elections on 3 May 2012, but these were postponed for one year by the Welsh Local Government minister, Carl Sargeant. The 2017 Isle of Anglesey County Council election on 4 May resulted in a no overall majority position with Plaid Cymru holding 14 of the 30 seats.

Historic results

Leadership

Chair and vice-chair of the council

Within the council's administrative area and having regard to the royal prerogative, the chair of the county council is the "first citizen".

Electoral divisions

From the 1995 council elections until just prior to the elections in 2013, the county was divided into 40 electoral wards returning 40 councillors. There are also 40 communities in the county, some of which have their own elected community council, but few communities were coterminous with the 40 council wards. The 40 wards were:
Aberffraw, Amlwch Port, Amlwch Rural, Beaumaris, Bodffordd, Bodorgan, Braint, Bryngwran, Brynteg, Cadnant, Cefni, Cwm Cadnant, Cyngar, Gwyngyll, Holyhead Town, Kingsland, Llanbadrig, Llanbedrgoch, Llanddyfnan, Llaneilian, Llanfaethlu, Llanfair-yn-Neubwll, Llanfihangel Ysgeifiog, Llangoed, Llanidan, Llannerch-y-medd, London Road, Maeshyfryd, Mechell, Morawelon
, Moelfre, Parc a'r Mynydd, Pentraeth, Porthyfelin, Rhosneigr, Rhosyr, Trearddur, Tudur, Tysilio and Valley.


* = electoral ward of a community with its own electoral subdivisions and community council

Electoral review

A review of electoral arrangements on Anglesey by the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales began in 2010. This was scrapped and recommenced in 2011 following a new instruction by the Welsh Government.
Under The Isle of Anglesey Order 2012, there are 30 councillors to be elected from 11 multi-member wards. The current electoral wards are:
  1. Aethwy, formed by the Communities of Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, Menai Bridge and Penmynydd
  2. Bro Aberffraw, formed by the Communities of Aberffraw, Bodorgan and Rhosyr
  3. Bro Rhosyr, formed by the Communities of Llanidan, Llanfihangel Ysceifiog, Llanddaniel Fab and Llangristiolus
  4. Caergybi, the electoral wards of Town, London Road, Morawelon, Porthyfelin, and Parc a'r Mynydd in the Community of Holyhead
  5. Canolbarth Môn , the Communities of Bryngwran, Bodffordd, Llangefni, and Trewalchmai, and the electoral wards of Llanddyfnan, Llangwyllog and Tregacan in the Community of Llanddyfnan.
  6. Llifôn, the Communities of Llanfaelog, Llanfair-yn-Neubwll and Valley
  7. Lligwy, the Communities of Moelfre, Llaneugrad, Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf and Pentraeth; and the electoral ward of Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd in the Community of Llanddyfnan
  8. Seiriol, formed by the Communities of Beaumaris, Cwm Cadnant, Llanddona, and Llangoed.
  9. Talybolion, formed by the Communities of Bodedern, Cylch-y-garn, Llannerch-y-medd, Llanfachraeth, Llanfaethlu, Mechell and Tref Alaw
  10. Twrcelyn, the Communities of Amlwch, Llanbadrig, Llaneilian, and Rhosybol
  11. Ynys Gybi , the Communities of Trearddur and Rhoscolyn and the electoral wards of Maeshyfryd and Kingsland in the Community of Holyhead.

    Welsh Language

Welsh and English are the official languages of the Council and have equal status and validity in the Council's administration and work. According to the Council's Welsh language policy, its aim is to ensure that Welsh will be the Council's main language for both oral and written internal communication in the future. Of those staff that assessed their language skills in 2016-2017, 79% could speak Welsh fluently.

Hacking

In February 2019 it was reported that North Korea was likely to have been behind a cyberattack on the council, have disguised its attempts to break into the computer main frame by using an ISP address based in Japan. It was thought most likely that the attacks were aimed at disrupting systems and services as part of a wider assault on UK government infrastructure.