Islands of Anglesey - Government

Government

Anglesey (together with Holy Island) is one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales. In medieval times, before the conquest of Wales in 1283, Môn often had periods of temporary independence as it was frequently bequeathed to the heirs of kings as a sub kingdom of Gwynedd. The last times this occurred were for a few years after 1171 following the death of Owain Gwynedd when the island was inherited by Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd and again between 1246 - c.1255 when it was given to Owain Goch as his share of the kingdom. Following the conquest of Wales by Edward I it was created a county under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284. Prior to this it had been divided into the cantrefi of:

• Aberffraw
• Rhosyr
• Cemaes

In 1974 it formed a district of the new large county of Gwynedd, until in the 1996 reform of local government it was restored as a local government county. The county council is a unitary authority and is named "Isle of Anglesey County Council" (Welsh: Cyngor Sir Ynys Môn). In 2011, the Welsh Government appointed a panel of commissioners to administer the council, thus the elected members are not presently in control. The commissioners will remain in control until they are ready to hand over to an elected council, and no elections will be held until that time. Prior to the direct administration, there were a majority of independent councillors, though members did not generally divide along party lines. There are five non-partisan groups on the council, containing a mix of party and independent candidates. The largest of these groups is Annibynnol Gwreiddiol/Original Independents, with 22 members out of the 40 in total.

The next election to the Isle of Anglesey County Council will be the