Government
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Colwyn Bay Town Hall
There are two tiers of local government covering Colwyn Bay, at community (town) and county borough level: Bay of Colwyn Town Council (Cyngor Tref Bae Colwyn) and Conwy County Borough Council (Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy). The town council is a grouped community council, covering the three communities of Colwyn Bay, Old Colwyn and Rhos-on-Sea. The town council is based at Colwyn Bay Town Hall on Rhiw Road, which was built as a magistrates' court. The county borough council also has its main offices in the town, at Coed Pella on Conway Road.
Administrative history[edit]
The Colwyn Bay area was historically part of the ancient parish of Llandrillo-yn-Rhôs, which straddled the boundary between Denbighshire and Caernarfonshire. The part of the parish in Caernarfonshire was known as the township of Eirias, which contained Old Colwyn. The Eirias township and the neighbouring parish of Llysfaen to the east together formed an exclave of Caernarfonshire. From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the poor laws, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, the civil functions were exercised by subdivisions of the parish rather than the parish as a whole. In the case of Llandrillo-yn-Rhôs, the parish was split into two parts for administering the poor laws: the Caernarfonshire township of Eirias, and the rest of the parish in Denbighshire. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Eirias and Llandrillo-yn-Rhôs became separate civil parishes.
In 1887, a local government district called 'Colwyn Bay and Colwyn' was created, covering the combined area of the civil parishes of Llandrillo-yn-Rhôs and Eirias. The district was then administered by an elected local board. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, districts such as Colwyn Bay and Colwyn were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries; the county boundary was therefore adjusted to place the whole district in Denbighshire. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894.
The Colwyn Bay and Colwyn Urban District was enlarged in 1923 to take in the neighbouring parish of Llysfaen, which was consequently also transferred from Caernarfonshire to Denbighshire. The urban district was renamed from 'Colwyn Bay and Colwyn' to just 'Colwyn Bay' in 1926. The three civil parishes within the urban district were then Llandrillo-yn-Rhôs, Eirias and Llysfaen; they were merged into a single parish called Llandrillo-yn-Rhôs matching the urban district in 1927. The urban district was incorporated to become a municipal borough in 1934.
The borough of Colwyn Bay was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The area became part of the new borough of Colwyn in Clwyd. The area of the pre-1974 borough of Colwyn Bay became a community. It was later subdivided into five smaller communities in 1983: Colwyn Bay, Llysfaen, Mochdre, Old Colwyn, and Rhos-on-Sea.
Local government was reorganised again in 1996, when the modern county borough of Conwy was created. Alongside the 1996 reforms, a grouped community council was created covering the three communities of Colwyn Bay, Old Colwyn and Rhos-on-Sea, with its community council taking the name Bay of Colwyn Town Council.