CONWY'S largest intake of new councillors will vote in a new cabinet and leader this week.

The new council will convene for the first time on Thursday for the annual general meeting.

Twenty-six of the 54 councillors are new members and will attend the hybrid meeting, which takes place at Conwy County Council’s Bodlondeb HQ.

Either Cllr Abdul Khan or Conwy’s chief executive are expected to chair the meeting before a new chair and vice-chair are elected.

Political parties and groups within the council will then put forward candidates to be considered as leader, and members will vote on who they want at the helm.

Once the leader is elected, he or she will then appoint their cabinet.

Penmaenmawr councillor Anne McCaffrey said she expects former leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey to return.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that Charlie McCoubrey will be the leader. I think it is a forgone conclusion,” she said.

“I think he has been all over it. There is quite a large number of independents. The two independent groups are merging, so whilst there has been a reduction in the number of independents from 26 to 22, the groups are actually coming together.”

Cllr McCaffrey also said she was happy that the council had fresh blood.

“I think this is the biggest intake of new councillors, with the highest number of female councillors in the history of Conwy,” she said.

“45% of councillors will be new, and 38% of councillors will be female!  This is good news for democracy, which will now be more representative of our local communities where there are more women than men. New councillors bring more diverse perspectives and experiences. With a better balance of experience and fresh ideas, things can only get better. Change is good!”

Cllr McCaffrey also said she was happy the number of female councillors had risen from 16 to 22.

“There were only 16 female councillors over the last five years, so this is a step in the right direction,” she said.

“For too long at Conwy, the number of male councillors has been out of synch with the gender split within our local communities. I’ve worked closely with Welsh Government over the last 10 years to improve diversity across all under-represented groups. So this feels like significant progress with 38% of councillors in Conwy now female. But, there’s still more to do!”