New Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council

Carmarthenshire County Council has welcomed its new leader as part of a Plaid-Independent alliance.

Cllr Darren Price has been named as the Leader of the Council and Chair of the Cabinet after Plaid Cymru secured the majority of votes with 38 seats out of 75 at the Local Government Elections earlier this month.

Cllr Price is a member of the Plaid Cymru group and has served Carmarthenshire County Council as a councillor for the Gorslas Ward since 2012.

At the council’s Annual General Meeting today, Cllr Price’s appointment was confirmed along with his new Cabinet team which is made up of 10 council members including the Leader of the Council.

Cabinet is responsible for the overall business of the council and meet every two weeks to make decisions and recommendations to Full Council. It can also make decisions individually on certain matters.

Five members of the previous administration have retained their seat with five new members announced today

• Deputy and Cabinet Member for Homes – Cllr Linda Evans
• Cabinet Member for Workforce – Cllr Philip Hughes
• Cabinet Member for Resources – Cllr Alun Lenny
• Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs and Planning Policy – Cllr Ann Davies
• Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Decarbonisation and Sustainability – Cllr Aled Vaughan Owen
• Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste and Infrastructure Services – Cllr Edward Thomas
• Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Leisure Culture and Tourism – Cllr Gareth John
• Cabinet Member for Education and the Welsh Language – Cllr Glynog Davies
• Cabinet Member for Health and Social Services – Cllr Jane Tremlett

Carmarthenshire County Council Leader, Cllr Darren Price said:

Over the next few years I am really keen to engage with members from across the chamber, on a regular basis, to discuss their ideas and concerns and to work together for the common good. As an Administration we want to tackle Climate change, the cost of living crisis, regenerate our county’s economy and town centres, provide quality housing, raise educational standards, ensure social care support to our most vulnerable, improve public transport, see cleaner streets and deliver quality and effective council services. The council has already been doing a tremendous amount of work in these areas and our task now is to build on those firm foundations and realise our ambitions for Carmarthenshire.”

Decisions of the Cabinet are subject to scrutiny by a different group of councillors, who meet as Scrutiny Committees to check and monitor what the Cabinet does.

Members of the public also have a role in scrutinising the Cabinet – anyone who lives, owns a business or who is employed by the council has the right to ask Cabinet members a question as part of public meetings and anyone can watch Cabinet meetings live online.

The Council comprises of 75 elected Councillors representing 51 Electoral Wards from a range of political groups. They normally meet as a Council on a monthly basis. They are elected by the public to represent their views when they make decisions about services and matters affecting the local community. They have a number of roles and responsibilities and they need to balance the needs and interests of their community, their political party or group with the needs of the residents of the county as a whole.

Scrutiny Committee meeting will re-commence in September to allow the new Cabinet to agree its forward work programme.

For more information on the functions of the Cabinet, or democratic functions of the council generally, visit the Council and Democracy pages.