Flintshire County Council

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:

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1996 have been:

Composition

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

Of the independent councillors, twelve form the "Independent Group", eight form the "True Independent" group, five 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. The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Since 2012, elections have taken place every five years. The last election was 5 May 2022.

Party with the most elected councillors in bold.

Premises

The council is based at Tŷ Dewi Sant (St David's House) in Ewloe, which forms part of the community of Hawarden and comes under the post town of Deeside.

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 *:

References

References

1. "Council minutes, 20 May 2025".
2. (3 August 2021). "Appointment of new Chief Executive announced".
3. {{cite legislation UK. (1972)
4. {{cite legislation UK. (1994)
5. (18 May 2022). "Welsh local elections: Labour regain Flintshire council". BBC News.
6. "Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
7. "Council minutes, 30 May 1995".
8. (14 May 1999). "Aldridge is ready for leadership challenge". Flint and Holywell Chronicle.
9. "Council minutes, 18 May 1999".
10. (5 October 2005). "Council leader quits over health". BBC News.
11. "Council minutes, 10 January 2006".
12. (28 November 2006). "'Distinguished and wise' councillor dies". Daily Post.
13. "Council minutes, 19 December 2006".
14. "Council minutes, 13 May 2008".
15. (2 May 2012). "North Wales Elections 2012 - A guide to Flintshire". North Wales Live.
16. "Council minutes, 15 May 2012".
17. (3 April 2019). "Aaron Shotton quits as Flintshire council leader in sacking row". BBC News.
18. "Council minutes, 9 April 2019".
19. (31 July 2024). "Council leader quits amid bins controversy". BBC News.
20. (24 September 2024). "New Flintshire council leader issues bankruptcy warning". Flintshire Herald.
21. (14 May 2024). "Flintshire: Shock as five councillors quit Labour group". The Leader.
22. "Your councillors by political grouping".
23. (October 2024). "Labour leader unites independent factions in new Flintshire Council coalition". Flintshire Herald.
24. "Flintshire". Thorncliffe.
25. (2 June 2015). "Flintshire". The Elections Centre.
26. {{cite legislation UK. (1998)
27. (1970-01-01). "Flintshire County Council - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk.
28. Rory Sheehan. (5 May 2017). "Local Elections 2017: Labour keep tight grip on Flintshire County Council". The Leader.
29. [https://www.andrewteale.me.uk/leap/results/2017/424/ Local Elections Archive Project - 2017 - Flintshire]
30. {{cite legislation UK. (2021)
31. (2025-03-04). "End of an era as Flintshire Council moves out of Shire Hall".
32. "Find an address".
33. (30 May 2018). "Mold's modernist masterpiece Shire Hall marks 50 years of civic service". Leader Live.
34. (21 June 2018). "Council staff set to move into Ewloe office complex in October". Deeside.com.
35. (21 May 2020). "Work to demolish part of County Hall in Mold gets underway". Daily Post.
36. (4 July 2025). "Lord Barry Jones praises Flintshire as 'finest council in Wales'". Deeside.com.
37. "Council office addresses".