Isle of Anglesey County Council

The Isle of Anglesey County Council (Welsh: Cyngor Sir Ynys Môn) 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.

Isle of Anglesey County Council

Cyngor Sir Ynys Môn
Type
Type
Unitary authority
History
Founded1 April 1996
Preceded byGwynedd County Council
Leadership
Chair of the Council
Cllr Margaret Murley Roberts, Plaid Cymru
since 2019/20
Leader of the Council
Cllr Llinos Medi Huws, Plaid Cymru
Deputy Leader of the Council
Cllr Ieuan Williams, Independent Group
Leader of the Opposition
Cllr Bryan Owen, Anglesey Independents
Chief Executive
Mrs Annwen Morgan
since 1 October 2019
Structure
Seats30 councillors
Political groups
Administration (21)
     Plaid Cymru (14)
     Independent Group (7)
Opposition (9)
     Anglesey Independents (6)
     Labour (2)
     Vacant (1)
Elections
First past the post
First election
4 May 1995
Last election
4 May 2017
Next election
5 May 2022
Website
anglesey.gov.uk
Footnotes
[1]

Background

The Isle of Anglesey County Council was created from its predecessor, Ynys Mon Borough Council, in 1996.[2] 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.[2] In September 2009 the council took on a 'troubleshooter' to sort out the squabbling, at a cost of £1,160 a day.[3] 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.[4] Bowles sacked two members of the ruling council group, and the education and leisure head was forced to resign.[4]

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,[5] with elections ultimately delayed,[6] meaning they took place a year after the rest of Wales, pending a new electoral system.[7]

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[8] (meaning Anglesey Voice) who had five members by the time of the 2013 election.[9]

Elections normally take place every four years. The 2013 Isle of Anglesey County Council election took place on 2 May 2013.[10] 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.[11] 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
Group affiliation Election
1995		 Election
1999		 Election
2004		 Election
2008		 Election
2013		 Election
2017 [12]
Plaid Cymru 7 9 9 8 12 14
  Independent
26 26 28 23 14 13
Labour 6 4 1 5 3 2
Liberal Democrats 0 0 1 2 1 1
Conservative 1 1 1 2 0 0
 Total
 40 40 40 40 30 30

Leadership
Council leader From To Notes
Llinos Medi Huws 23 May 2017[13] Plaid Cymru. First female leader of the council [14]
Ieuan Williams May 2013 4 May 2017 Independent Group [15]
Bryan Owen 2 May 2013 Independent Group. Lost his seat at the May 2013 election [16]
Clive McGregor May 2011 [17]
Phil Fowlie May 2008 May 2009 Original Independents. Resigned his leadership in 2009 (and his seat in September 2010).[18]
Gareth Winston Roberts OBE 2005 May 2008 Independent Group [19]
Bob Parry c.February 2003 June 2004 Plaid Cymru led a coalition for 15 months before the June 2004 elections [20]
Gareth Winston Roberts 1996 1998 Independent Group. Resigned in 1998 following the council administration being criticised.[21]

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.[22] There are also 40 communities (parishes) 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 (included Aberffraw community/Maelog ward* part of Llanfaelog), Amlwch Port (Port and Town wards* of Amlwch Town), Amlwch Rural (Rural ward* of Amlwch Town), Beaumaris (Beaumaris), Bodffordd (Bodffordd/Cerrigceinwen ward* of Llangristiolus), Bodorgan (Bodorgan/Llangristiolus ward* of Llangristiolus), Braint (Braint ward* of Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll), Bryngwran (Bryngwran/Trewalchmai), Brynteg (Benllech and Brynteg wards* of Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf), Cadnant (Cadnant ward* of Menai Bridge), Cefni (Cefni ward* of Llangefni), Cwm Cadnant (Cwm Cadnant), Cyngar (Cyngar ward* of Llangefni), Gwyngyll (Gwyngyll ward* of Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll), Holyhead Town (Town ward* of Holyhead town), Kingsland (Kingsland ward* of Holyhead), Llanbadrig (Llanbadrig), Llanbedrgoch (Benllech 'A'/Llanbedrgoch wards* of Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf), Llanddyfnan (Llanddyfnan/Llaneugrad), Llaneilian (Llaneilian/Rhosybol), Llanfaethlu (Llanfachraeth/Llanfaethlu/Llanrhuddlad ward* of Cylch-y-Garn), Llanfair-yn-Neubwll (Bodedern/Llanfair-yn-Neubwll), Llanfihangel Ysgeifiog (Llanfihangel Ysgeifiog/Penmynydd), Llangoed (Llangoed and Penmon), Llanidan (Llanddaniel Fab/Llanidan), Llannerch-y-medd (Llannerch-y-medd/Tref Alaw), London Road (London Road ward* of Holyhead town), Maeshyfryd (Maeshyfryd ward* of Holyhead town), Mechell (Mechell/Llanfairynghornwy ward* of Cylch-y-Garn), Morawelon (Morawelon ward* of Holyhead), Moelfre (Moelfre), Parc a'r Mynydd (Parc a'r Mynydd ward* of Holyhead town), Pentraeth (Llanddona/Pentraeth), Porthyfelin (Porthyfelin ward* of Holyhead town), Rhosneigr (Rhosneigr ward* of Llanfaelog), Rhosyr (Rhosyr), Trearddur (Rhoscolyn/Trearddur), Tudur (Tudur ward* of Llangefni Town), Tysilio (Tysilio ward* of Menai Bridge) and Valley (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.[23] This was scrapped and recommenced in 2011 following a new instruction by the Welsh Government.[24]

Under The Isle of Anglesey (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2012, there are 30 councillors to be elected (a reduction from the previous 40) from 11 multi-member wards.[7] The current electoral wards (numbers of councillors in parentheses) are:

  1. Aethwy (3), formed by the Communities of Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, Menai Bridge and Penmynydd
  2. Bro Aberffraw (2), formed by the Communities of Aberffraw, Bodorgan and Rhosyr
  3. Bro Rhosyr (2), formed by the Communities of Llanidan, Llanfihangel Ysceifiog, Llanddaniel Fab and Llangristiolus
  4. Caergybi (3), the electoral wards of Town, London Road, Morawelon, Porthyfelin, and Parc a'r Mynydd in the Community of Holyhead
  5. Canolbarth Môn (Central Anglesey) (3), the Communities of Bryngwran, Bodffordd, Llangefni, and Trewalchmai, and the electoral wards of Llanddyfnan, Llangwyllog and Tregacan in the Community of Llanddyfnan.
  6. Llifôn (2), the Communities of Llanfaelog, Llanfair-yn-Neubwll and Valley
  7. Lligwy (3), 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 (3), formed by the Communities of Beaumaris, Cwm Cadnant, Llanddona, and Llangoed.
  9. Talybolion (3), formed by the Communities of Bodedern, Cylch-y-garn, Llannerch-y-medd, Llanfachraeth, Llanfaethlu, Mechell and Tref Alaw
  10. Twrcelyn (3), the Communities of Amlwch, Llanbadrig, Llaneilian, and Rhosybol
  11. Ynys Gybi (Holy Island) (3), 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.[25] Of those staff that assessed their language skills in 2016-2017, 79% could speak Welsh fluently.[26]

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 (IP) 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.[27]

gollark: Oh yes, generally.
gollark: It's irritating that we ended up with such an awful software ecosystem on phones. You can typically get updates for *ages* on a desktop system, because they don't run stupid monolithic OSes with tons of hardware-specific garbage.
gollark: Custom ROMs are *mostly* available on popular Android phones, for a while, but it is not ideal...
gollark: Rather than having to download everything from the Apple walled garden.
gollark: Probably not hugely often, but it's important to *me* from a freedom perspective.

See also

References
  1. http://democracy.anglesey.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx?LLL=0
  2. "Special Inspection: Corporate Governance Re-Inspection - Isle of Anglesey County Council" (PDF). Wales Audit Office. March 2011. pp. 7–8. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  3. "Council pays £275,000 to sort out squabbles". Daily Express. 2 June 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  4. Aled Blake (24 May 2010). "Troubleshooter is highest-paid public-sector worker". Wales Online. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  5. "Embattled council is taken over". 16 March 2011 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  6. "Anglesey poll postponed for year". 17 January 2012 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  7. The Isle of Anglesey (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2012 Legislation.gov.uk
  8. "New alliance to take control of Anglesey Council". Daily Post. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  9. Heledd Fychan (4 May 2013). "Anglesey can become proud of itself again". Click on Wales. Institute of Welsh Affairs. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  10. "Trailer - Local Elections May 2008". www.gwydir.demon.co.uk.
  11. "Anglesey council election postponed for year to 2013". BBC Sport. BBC. 17 January 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  12. "Election Results by Party (4 May 2017)". Isle of Anglesey County Council. 4 May 2017.
  13. "Plaid puts forward sole candidate for Anglesey council leader". BBC News. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  14. Gareth Wyn-Williams (12 May 2017). "Anglesey Council to be led by woman for first time". Daily Post. North Wales. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  15. Gareth Wyn-Williams (30 March 2017). "Anglesey council leader will not seek top job again". Daily Post. North Wales. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  16. Gareth Wyn-Williams (5 May 2017). "Local election results: No party wins overall control in Anglesey Council". Daily Post. North Wales. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  17. "Outgoing Anglesey council leader criticises new group". BBC News. 22 February 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  18. Darren Devine (28 September 2010). "Former leader of Anglesey council waits for tribunal's verdict". Wales Online. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  19. Elgan Hearn (9 April 2008). "Anglesey Council elections next month after nominations close". Daily Post. North Wales. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  20. "Labour hail a return to the fold". North Wales Live. 15 June 2004. Retrieved 23 March 2004.
  21. Paddy French, ed. (15 April 2013). "Dirty Rotten Scoundrel, OBE". Rebecca. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  22. The Borough of Ynys Môn—Isle of Anglesey (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1992, 23 November 1992. Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  23. Isle of Anglesey Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales
  24. DIRECTION TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES 2011 Welsh Government
  25. "Welsh Language Policy" (PDF). Isle of Anglesey County Council. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  26. "ISLE OF ANGLESEY COUNTY COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT ON THE WELSH LANGUAGE STANDARDS 2016-17" (PDF). Isle of Anglesey County Council. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  27. Wyn-Williams, Gareth (13 February 2019). "North Korea and Russia in cyber attacks on Anglesey council". dailypost.co.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
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