Isle of Anglesey County Council

Following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1888, which established county councils in every county, meetings of the county council were initially held in the county courthouse on the west side of Glanhwfa Road in Llangefni.[2] The county administration took place in Llangefni Shire Hall from 1899 until 1974.[3] The shire hall was re-designated the "Borough Council Offices" in 1974 and became the headquarters of Ynys Mon Borough Council.[4][5] Brand new council offices were built at Llangefni in the 1990s for the new unitary authority, Isle of Anglesey County Council,[6] which was created in 1996.[7]

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.[7] In September 2009 the council took on a 'troubleshooter' to sort out the squabbling, at a cost of £1,160 a day.[8] 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.[9] Bowles sacked two members of the ruling council group, and the education and leisure head was forced to resign.[9]

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[13] (meaning Anglesey Voice) who had five members by the time of the 2013 election.[14]

Elections normally take place every four years. The 2013 Isle of Anglesey County Council election took place on 2 May 2013.[15] 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.[16] 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.

From the 1995 council elections until just prior to the elections in 2013, the county was divided into 40 electoral wards returning 40 councillors.[27] 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

Electoral divisions on the Isle of Anglesey

A review of electoral arrangements on Anglesey by the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales began in 2010.[28] This was scrapped and recommenced in 2011 following a new instruction by the Welsh Government.[29]

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.[12] 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 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.[30] Of those staff that assessed their language skills in 2016-2017, 79% could speak Welsh fluently.[31]

In 2022, as part of the Levelling Up White Paper, an "Island Forum" was proposed, which would allow local policymakers and residents in Anglesey to work alongside their counterparts in Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and the Isle of Wight on common issues, such as broadband connectivity, and provide a platform for them to communicate directly with the government on the challenges island communities face in terms of levelling up.[32][33]

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 system 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.[34]

• Isle of Anglesey electoral boundary changes 2012

• Isle of Anglesey County Council