Carmarthenshire County Council

Carmarthenshire County Council is the local authority for the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It provides a range of services including education, planning, transport, social services and public safety. The council is one of twenty-two unitary authorities that came into existence on 1 April 1996 under the provisions of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. It took over local government functions previously provided by the three district councils of Carmarthen, Dinefwr, and Llanelli, as well as the county-level services in the area from Dyfed County Council, all of which councils were abolished at the same time.
The council is based at County Hall in Carmarthen.

WWW carmarthenshire.gov.wales 𝕏 CarmsCouncil

History

There have been two bodies called Carmarthenshire County Council. The first existed from 1889 until 1974, and the current one was created in 1996.
Elected county councils were created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over certain functions which had previously been administered by unelected magistrates at each county's quarter sessions. The first election was held in January 1889 and the majority of the seats were won by the Liberals.
At a preliminary meeting in March 1889 the councillors debated where the new council should meet, with some advocating that meetings should rotate between Carmarthen, Llandeilo and Llanelli, others arguing that meetings should be held solely in Carmarthen. It was resolved by 30 votes to 29 to meet only in Carmarthen. The council formally came into its powers on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first official meeting at Carmarthen Guildhall.
By 1895 the council had adopted the pattern of holding meetings in rotation at Carmarthen, Llandeilo and Llanelli, and the council's clerk was based in Llandovery. Construction of a new County Hall in Carmarthen started in 1939 but, due to the Second World War, was not completed until 1955.
The Liberals continued to dominate the council until the 1920s, from which time most rural seats were held by independents, while the Labour Party dominated the industrial part of the county.
The original Carmarthenshire County Council was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, with the area becoming part of the county of Dyfed, which also covered the former counties of Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire. From 1974 until 1996 the area of the former county of Carmarthenshire was split into the three districts of Carmarthen, Dinefwr, and Llanelli, with Dyfed County Council providing county-level services.
In 1996 the councils established in 1974 were all abolished under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, and Carmarthenshire County Council was re-established as a unitary authority for the area.

Political control

Plaid Cymru won a majority of the council's seats at the 2022 election but lost its majority following a defection in May 2024, since when the council has been under no overall control.
The first election to the re-established council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority 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:
The council's chief executive since 2019 has been Wendy Walters. She succeeded Mark James, who had held the post for 17 years.

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to August 2025, the composition of the council was:
Of the independent councillors, 12 sit together as the "Independent Group" and the other six are unaffiliated to any group. The council's cabinet is made up of Plaid Cymru and Independent Group councillors. The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Elections take place every five years. The last election was held on 5 May 2022.

Year	Seats	Plaid Cymru	Labour	Independent	Liberal Democrats	Conservative	Notes
Year	Seats						Notes
1995	80	7	37	32	3	1
1999	74	13	28	32	1	0
2004	74	16	25	33	0	1
2008	74	31	12	30	1	0
2012	74	28	23	23	0	0
2017	74	36	22	16	0	0
2022	75	38	23	14	0	0	Plaid Cymru majority control

Party with the most elected councillors in bold. Coalition agreements in Notes column.

Electoral divisions

The county is divided into 51 electoral wards returning 75 councillors. In July 2021 Welsh Government accepted a number of ward change proposals by the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales, the changes gave a better parity of representation. Thirty-four wards remained unchanged.
Most of these wards are coterminous with communities. Most communities in Carmarthenshire have a community council. For each ward, councillors are elected to sit on Carmarthenshire County Council. The following table lists council wards, community councils and associated geographical areas. Communities with their own community council are marked with a *.

	Ward	Communities	Councillors Returned	Former district council	Electorate 2022
1	Abergwili	Abergwili, Llanllawddog	1	Carmarthen	1,960
2	Ammanford	Ammanford Town*	2	Dinefwr	4194
3	Betws	Betws*	1	Dinefwr	1,896
4	Bigyn	Llanelli Town*	3	Llanelli	4,986
5	Burry Port	Pembrey and Burry Port Town	2	Llanelli	3,440
6	Bynea	Llanelli Rural*	2	Llanelli	3,229
7	Carmarthen Town North and South	Carmarthen Town*	3	Carmarthen	6,822
8	Carmarthen Town West	Carmarthen Town*	2	Carmarthen	3,767
9	Cenarth and Llangeler	Cenarth, Llangeler and Newcastle Emlyn*	2	Carmarthen	4,539
10	Cilycwm	Cil-y-cwm, Llansadwrn, Llanwrda, Cynwyl Gaeo and Llanycrwys*	1	Dinefwr, Carmarthen	2,244
11	Cwarter Bach	Cwarter Bach*	1	Dinefwr	2,232
12	Cynwyl Elfed	Cynwyl Elfed, Bronwydd and Llanpumsaint*	1	Carmarthen	2,028
13	Dafen and Felinfoel	Llanelli Rural*	2	Llanelli	4,064
14	Elli	Llanelli Town*	1	Llanelli
15	Garnant	Cwmamman*	1	Dinefwr	1,627
16	Glanamman	Cwmamman*	1	Dinefwr	1,879
17	Glanymor	Llanelli Town*	2	Llanelli	4,649
18	Glyn	Llanelli Rural*	1	Llanelli	1,758
19	Gorslas	Gorslas*	2	Dinefwr	3,788
20	Hendy	Llanedi*	1	Llanelli	2,364
21	Hengoed	Llanelli Rural*	2	Llanelli	3,270
22	Kidwelly and St. Ishmael	Kidwelly Town* and St Ishmael*	2	Llanelli	4,080
23	Laugharne Township	Laugharne Township, Eglwyscummin, Llanddowror and Pendine*	1	Carmarthen	2,231
24	Llanboidy	Llanboidy, Cilymaenllwyd and Llangynin*	1	Carmarthen	1,744
25	Llanddarog	Llanddarog* and Llanarthney	1	Carmarthen	1,710
26	Llandeilo	Llandeilo Town* and Dyffryn Cennen*	1	Dinefwr	2,148
27	Llandovery	Llandovery Town* and Llanfair-ar-y-bryn*	1	Dinefwr	2,121
28	Llandybie	Llandybie*	2	Dinefwr	3,334
29	Llanegwad	Llanegwad, Llanfihangel Rhos-y-Corn and Llanfynydd*	1	Dinefwr, Carmarthen	2,079
30	Llanfihangel Aberbythych	Llanfihangel Aberbythych* and Llangathen*	1	Dinefwr	1,549
31	Llanfihangel-ar-Arth	Llanfihangel-ar-Arth* and Llanllwni*	1	Carmarthen	2,282
32	Llangadog	Llangadog, Llanddeusant and Myddfai*	1	Dinefwr	1,646
33	Llangennech	Llangennech*	2	Llanelli	4,122
34	Llangunnor	Llangunnor*	1	Carmarthen	2,194
35	Llangyndeyrn	Llangyndeyrn* and Llandyfaelog*	2	Carmarthen	4,073
36	Llannon	Llannon*	2	Llanelli	4,263
37	Llanybydder	Llanybydder* and Pencarreg*	1	Carmarthen	2,137
38	Lliedi	Llanelli Town*	2	Llanelli	4,009
39	Llwynhendy	Llanelli Rural*	2	Llanelli	3,297
40	Manordeilo and Salem	Manordeilo and Salem, Llansawel and Talley*	1	Dinefwr	2,216
41	Pembrey	Pembrey and Burry Port Town*	2	Llanelli	3,544
42	Pen-y-groes	Llandybie	1	Dinefwr	2,363
43	Pontyberem	Pontyberem*	1	Llanelli	2,229
44	Saron	Llandybie*	2	Dinefwr	3,405
45	St Clears and Llansteffan	St Clears Town* Llansteffan, Llangain and Llangynog*	2	Carmarthen	4,321
46	Swiss Valley	Llanelli Rural*	1	Llanelli	2,199
47	Trelech	Abernant, Llanwinio, Meidrim, Newchurch and Merthyr and Trelech*	1	Carmarthen	2,374
48	Trimsaran	Trimsaran*	1	Llanelli	1,968
49	Tycroes	Llanedi*	1	Llanelli	2,182
50	Tyisha	Llanelli*	2	Llanelli
51	Whitland	Whitland Town* and Henllanfallteg	1	Carmarthen	1,841

Premises

The council meets and has its main offices at County Hall in Carmarthen, which had been completed in 1955 for the original Carmarthenshire County Council, and served as the headquarters of Dyfed County Council between 1974 and 1996. The council has customer service centres in Ammanford, Carmarthen and Llanelli.