2017 Denbighshire County Council election

The 2017 Denbighshire County Council election took place in Denbighshire, Wales, on 4 May 2017 to elect members of Denbighshire Council.^[1] This was the same day as other 2017 United Kingdom local elections. The previous elections took place in 2012 and the next all-council elections took place in 2022.

Background

Though the Labour Party had ended up as the largest group, following the previous elections in 2012, they had chosen not to lead the council.^[2] The leading coalition of Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and Independents were faced with making big cost savings and there were battles over potential closure of rural schools, as well as a proposed merger between Denbighshire and Conwy county councils.^[2]

Contests took place in all except three of the 30 electoral wards.^[3]

Results

Overview

The Conservatives became the largest group on the council again, after taking seats largely from the Labour Party.

Denbighshire County Council election 2017 ^[4]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	16	9	1	+8	34.0	31.6	9,797	+4.4
Labour	13	1	7	-6	27.6	21.9	6,786	-7.3
Independent	8	1	5	-4	17.0	26.4	8,181	+1.0
Plaid Cymru	9	3	1	+2	19.1	12.8	3,959	+1.3
Liberal Democrats	1	0	0	0	2.1	6.3	1,964	+1.3
Green	0			0	0.0	0.8	263	-0.2
Socialist Labour	0			0	0.0	0.3	92	-0.1
UKIP	0			0	0.0	N/A	0	-0.3

Ward results

* = denotes councillor elected to this ward at the 2012 elections^[5]

(a) Election Centre/Andrew Teale source also compares the percentage vote of the lead candidate for each party in the ward

(b) Denbighshire Council results per ward also give the % turnout and numbers of registered electors

Bodelwyddan (one seat)

Bodelwyddan 2017 ^[4]^(a)^[6]^(b)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Mainon	244	40.9	+26.9
	Labour	Jo Hall	150	25.1	−12.0
	Independent	Raymond Beech	146	24.5	−24.4
	Plaid Cymru	David Wyatt	57	9.5	+9.5
Majority			94
Turnout				38.0
Registered electors			1,592
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Corwen (one seat)

Corwen 2017
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Plaid Cymru	Huw Jones *	unopposed
Registered electors			1,852
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Denbigh Central (one seat)

Denbigh Central 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Gwyneth Kensler *	378	70.3
	Independent	Paul Smith	160	29.7
Majority			218
Turnout				35.0
Registered electors			1,560
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Denbigh Lower (two seats)

Denbigh Lower 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Mark Young	936	47.4
	Plaid Cymru	Rhys Thomas	730	37.0
	Independent	Roy Tickle	554
	Conservative	Mari Jackson-Jones	309	15.6
	Conservative	Lara Pritchard	308
Majority			176
Turnout				45.0
Registered electors			3,555
	Independent hold		Swing
	Plaid Cymru gain from Independent		Swing

Denbigh Upper/Henllan (two seats)

Denbigh Upper/Henllan 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Geraint Lloyd-Williams *	317	33.2
	Plaid Cymru	Glenn Swingler	261	27.4
	Conservative	John Bellis	244	25.6
	Labour	Gillian Audley	198
	Conservative	Paul Smith	176
	Independent	Keith Stevens	132	13.8
	Independent	Richard Crowther	87
	Independent	Colin Hughes *	87
Majority			17
Turnout				38.0
Registered electors			2,349
	Labour hold		Swing
	Plaid Cymru gain from Labour		Swing

Colin Hughes had been elected for Labour in 2012.

Dyserth (one seat)

Dyserth 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	David Williams	412	62.0
	Conservative	Peter Owen *	156	23.5
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Thomas	97	14.6
Majority			256
Turnout				35.0
Registered electors			1,909
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Efenechtyd (one seat)

Efenechtyd 2017
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Eryl Williams *	407	53.2
	Independent	Sharon Newell	358	46.8
Majority			49
Turnout				57.0
Registered electors			1,339
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Llanarmon-Yn-Lal/Llandelga (one seat)

Llanarmon-Yn-Lal/Llandelga 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Martyn Holland *	884	85.5	+35.3
	Socialist Labour	Robert English	92	8.9	−1.8
	Independent	Robert Barton	58	5.6	−5.4
Majority			792		+550
Turnout				52.0
Registered electors			2,016
	Conservative hold		Swing

Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd/Llangynhafal (one seat)

Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd/Llangynhafal 2017 ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Huw Williams *	unopposed
Registered electors			1,188
	Conservative hold		Swing

Llandrillo (one seat)

Llandrillo 2017 ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Plaid Cymru	Rhodri ap Gwynfor	unopposed
Registered electors			956
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Llandyrnog (one seat)

Llandyrnog 2017 ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Thomas Parry *	655	74.3
	Liberal Democrats	William Williams	226	25.7
Majority			429
Turnout				51.0
Registered electors			1,718
	Independent hold		Swing

Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd Gwyddelwern (one seat)

Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd Gwyddelwern 2017
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Hugh Evans *	725	79.5
	Conservative	Barbara Hughes	187	20.5
Turnout				51.0
Registered electors			1,807
	Independent hold		Swing

Llangollen (two seats)

Llangollen 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Graham Timms	659	41.7
	Independent	Thomas Mile	658	41.6
	Independent	Stuart Davies *	657
	Green	Robert Spalding	263	16.6
Majority			1
Turnout				43.0
Registered electors			3,317
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing
	Independent gain from Independent		Swing

Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch (one seat)

Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch 2017
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Joseph Welch *	403	51.1
	Plaid Cymru	Cheow-Lay Wee	197	25.0
	Conservative	David Murfitt	188	23.9
Majority			206
Turnout				53.0
Registered electors			1,490
	Independent hold		Swing

Prestatyn Central (two seats)

Prestatyn Central 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Hugh Irving *	544	37.2
	Conservative	Elizabeth Jones	484
	Independent	Peter Duffy *	469	32.1
	Independent	Michael German	395
	Labour	Sonia Penlington	376	25.7
	Labour	David Lloyd	374
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Kirwan	74	5.1
Majority			15
Turnout				49.0
Registered electors			2,878
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Peter Duffy was elected for the Labour Party in 2012.^[5]

Prestatyn East (two seats)

Prestatyn East 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthon Sampson	676	45.6	+4.0
	Conservative	Julian Thompson-Hill *	621
	Labour	Caroline Holliday	486	32.8	+3.9
	Liberal Democrats	Gavin Scott	320	21.6	+21.6
Majority			135
Turnout				40.0
Registered electors			3,205
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Prestatyn Meliden (one seat)

Prestatyn Meliden 2017
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Peter Evans *	308	53.6	+9.4
	Conservative	Gerald Frobisher	221	38.4	+9.3
	Liberal Democrats	Kenneth Prydderch	46	8.0	+8.0
Majority			90
Turnout				38.0
Registered electors			1,528
	Independent hold		Swing

Prestatyn North (three seats)

Prestatyn North 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Flynn	940	53.6
	Conservative	Rachel Flynn	892
	Labour	Paul Penlington *	814	46.4
	Labour	Jason McLellan *	812
	Conservative	Angelina Muraca	746
	Labour	Janet Szabo	733
Majority			2
Turnout				41.0
Registered electors			4,751
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Prestatyn South West (two seats)

Prestatyn South West 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Gareth Davies	505	41.1
	Labour	Robert Murray *	498	40.6
	Labour	Gareth Sandilands *	482
	Conservative	William Davies	427
	Independent	David Cooper	225	18.3
	Independent	Allan Pennington	156
Majority			16
Turnout				43.0
Registered electors			2,834
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Rhuddlan (two seats)

Rhuddlan 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Janet Davies *	808	48.5	+5.2
	Plaid Cymru	Arwel Roberts *	577	34.6	+7.3
	Conservative	Heather Ellis	385
	Labour	Jacqueline McAlpine	281	16.9	+16.9
Majority			192
Turnout				44.0
Registered electors			2,896
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Rhyl East (two seats)

Rhyl East 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Barry Mellor *	658	47.7	0
	Conservative	Tony Thomas	579	42.0	+8.8
	Labour	David Simmons *	542
	Conservative	Stewart Harris	524
	Independent	Diana Hannam	143	10.4	−8.7
Majority			57
Turnout				38.0
Registered electors			3,716
	Labour hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Rhyl South (two seats)

Rhyl South 2017
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Jeanette Chamberlain-Jones *	684	54.1
	Labour	Ellie Chard	601
	Conservative	Justine Evans	580	45.9
	Conservative	Daniel Murray	570
Majority			21
Turnout				47.0
Registered electors			2,941
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Rhyl South East (three seats)

Rhyl South East 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Brian Blakeley *	1,160	47.8
	Labour	Cheryl Williams	743
	Conservative	Brian Jones	722	29.8
	Labour	Stephen Ellison	715
	Conservative	Ellie Jones	650
	Conservative	Curtis Shea	578
	Independent	Winifred Mullen-James *	438	18.1
	Independent	William Tasker *	264
	Independent	Hugh Jones	250
	Liberal Democrats	David Dear	105	4.3
Majority			7
Turnout				36.0
Registered electors			6,092
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Win Mullen-James and Bill Tasker had been sitting Labour councillors, but Mullen-James was deselected by her party prior to the election.^[3]

Rhyl South West (two seats)

Rhyl South West 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Patricia Jones *	703	65.7
	Labour	Peter Prendergast	559
	Conservative	Dawn Butters	367	34.3
Majority			192
Turnout				28.0
Registered electors			3,763
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Rhyl West (two seats)

Rhyl West 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Joan Butterfield *	unopposed
	Labour	Alan James	unopposed
Registered electors			3,473
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Ruthin (three seats)

Ruthin 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Huw Hilditch-Roberts *	1,237	33.7
	Plaid Cymru	Emrys Wynne	1,089	29.6
	Liberal Democrats	Robina Feeley *	832	22.6
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Richards	783
	Independent	Patricia Astbury	655
	Conservative	John Hughes	516	14.0
	Independent	Geraint Woolford	397
	Independent	Ian Lewney	247
	Conservative	Aileen Wynn	190
Majority			49
Turnout				54.0
Registered electors			4,327
	Independent hold		Swing
	Plaid Cymru gain from Independent		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

St Asaph East (one seat)

St Asaph East 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	David Thomas	391	60.3
	Liberal Democrats	Heather Prydderch	173	30.7
Majority			92
Turnout				39.0
Registered electors			1,445
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Asaph West (one seat)

St Asaph West 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Peter Scott	201	47.6
	Independent	John Wynne-Jones	171	40.5
	Independent	Peter Morton	50	11.8
Majority			30
Turnout				33.0
Registered electors			1,288
	Independent hold		Swing

Trefnant (one seat)

Trefnant 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Meirick Davies *	263	36.3
	Conservative	Terence Mendies	242	33.4
	Independent	Dennis Williams	219	30.2
Majority			21
Turnout				47.0
Registered electors			1,545
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Tremeirchion (one seat)

Tremeirchion 2017 ^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christine Marston	293	44.3	−1.5
	Independent	Barbara Smith *	184	27.8	−26.6
	Independent	Peter Scott	94	14.2
	Liberal Democrats	Penelope Mawdsley	91	13.7	+13.7
Majority			109
Turnout				50.0
Registered electors			1,338
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

By-elections 2017 to 2021

Corwen

Corwen by-election: 18 March 2021^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Alan Hughes	480	65.6	*N/A*
	Labour	Gordon Hughes	148	20.2	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Lisa Davies	104	14.2	N/A
Majority			332
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

The by-election was called after the death of Plaid Cymru councillor, Huw "Chick" Jones. He had died in early 2020 but the by-election was delayed considerably because of the Covid-19 pandemic.^[8]

Llandrillo

Llandrillo: 11 November 2021
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Gwyneth Ellis	179	44.0	*N/A*
	Independent	David Robinson	140	34.4	N/A
	Conservative	Julian Sampson	88	21.6	N/A
Majority			39	9.6
Turnout			407
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

References

^ "Latest news from the 2008 council elections". Wales Online. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b Shane Brennan (4 May 2017). "North Wales local elections 2017: Denbighshire constituency profile". Daily Post. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b Suzanne Jordan (25 April 2017). "Countdown begins for Denbighshire County Council elections". Denbighshire Free Press. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v Teale, Andrew. "Local Election Results 2017: Denbighshire". Retrieved 29 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Denbighshire County Council Election Results 1995-2012" (PDF). The Elections Centre, Plymouth University. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x "Election results by Wards". Denbighshire County Council. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
^ "Local Elections Archive Project - Corwen Ward — Denbighshire". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
^ "Corwen By-election: Search for successor to Cllr Huw 'Chick' Jones who died last year". Denbighshire Free Press. 4 March 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2022.

[WO_election_latest-1] "Latest news from the 2008 council elections". Wales Online. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2020.

[DP_county_profile-2] Shane Brennan (4 May 2017). "North Wales local elections 2017: Denbighshire constituency profile". Daily Post. Retrieved 29 November 2020.

[DFP_election_countdown-3] Suzanne Jordan (25 April 2017). "Countdown begins for Denbighshire County Council elections". Denbighshire Free Press. Retrieved 29 November 2020.

[teale_2017-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v Teale, Andrew. "Local Election Results 2017: Denbighshire". Retrieved 29 November 2020.

[Elections_Centre-5] "Denbighshire County Council Election Results 1995-2012" (PDF). The Elections Centre, Plymouth University. Retrieved 14 November 2020.

[council_ward_results-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x "Election results by Wards". Denbighshire County Council. Retrieved 29 November 2020.

[7] "Local Elections Archive Project - Corwen Ward — Denbighshire". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 13 August 2022.

[8] "Corwen By-election: Search for successor to Cllr Huw 'Chick' Jones who died last year". Denbighshire Free Press. 4 March 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2022.

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