Monmouthshire County Council

A Monmouthshire County Council was originally formed in 1889, covering the administrative county of Monmouthshire. The council was based at Shire Hall in Newport. In 1891 Newport became a county borough and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the county council, although the council continued to be based there. The council was abolished in 1974, being absorbed into Gwent. However, a new Monmouthshire County Council was formed in 1996 covering the principal area of Monmouthshire. This council was a successor to the previous Monmouth District Council along with a small part of the former Blaenau Gwent District Council area, which themselves were created in 1974.

From 1996 until April 2012, the council's administrative headquarters were at the six-storey former Gwent County Hall at Croesyceiliog, Cwmbran – outside its own jurisdiction in the neighbouring borough of Torfaen and shared with Torfaen County Borough Council. It was closed because of "concrete cancer" and later demolished.[6] In 2010 the authority had decided to relocate its headquarters functions to new offices in Usk.[7] In May 2010 it was reported that the council had purchased additional offices at the Wales 1 Business Park at Magor.[8] Planning permission for the new Usk office building, to provide the authority's central facilities, was granted in September 2011.[9] The new £6 million county hall was opened in mid 2013.[10]

A BBC television documentary "Carrying On at the Council" was broadcast in February 2012, after being filmed with Monmouthshire County Council over a period of seven months, in the lead up to their office move.[11]

Councillor Peter Fox, Conservative, Leader of the Council

Elections take place every five years. Following the election on 3 May 2012, a working arrangement was established by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups to run the authority. Peter Fox (Conservative) was appointed as Leader, with Robert Greenland (Conservative) and Phylip Hobson (Liberal Democrat) as Deputy Leaders. In the elections, the two parties won a combined total of 22 seats, giving them an overall majority of one.[12] In May 2017, the Conservative party won overall control. Cllr Peter Fox began his fifth term in office.[13] Monmouthshire County Council became the only council in Wales under Conservative majority control.

The Conservatives had previously controlled the authority from the 2004 elections, when they took it from no overall control. They increased their majority in the council election of 2008.

Peter Fox, Conservative councillor for Portskewett, entered his fifth term as council leader in May 2017.[13] Cllr Fox had been council leader continuously since May 2008, when he replaced Raglan councillor, Andrew Crump. Crump had been leader since 2004, but resigned from the Conservative group after Fox's election as leader and joined the Independents. Prior to 2004 Crump had been leader of the hung council for a year.[16]

For the purposes of electing councillors, the principal area is divided into forty-two electoral divisions, each returning one councillor, except Llanelly, known as Llanelly Hill, which has two councillors. These divisions date from 2004.[17]

The council operates a decentralised system of administration, with four area committees:

• Bryn y Cwm, covering the Abergavenny area
• Central Monmouthshire, centred on Monmouth
• Lower Wye, for the Chepstow area
• Severnside, the area around Caldicot[18]

Although the council is described as a "unitary authority", there is in fact a second tier of government, with the entire area being divided into communities, all of which has either a town or community council.