Conwy County Borough was created in 1996 under the
Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, which replaced the previous two tier system of counties and districts with principal areas (each designated either a "county" or a "county borough"), whose councils perform the functions previously divided between the county and district councils. The county borough of Conwy was created to cover the area of the
district of
Aberconwy from the county of
Gwynedd and the district of
Colwyn from the county of
Clwyd, except for the parishes of
Cefnmeiriadog and
Trefnant, which went to
Denbighshire. The government originally named the new area "Aberconwy and Colwyn" (). During the transition to the new system, the shadow authority requested a change of name from "Aberconwy and Colwyn" to "Conwy", taking the name from both the
River Conwy which runs through the area and the town of
Conwy, where the new council initially established its headquarters. The government confirmed the change with effect from 2 April 1996, one day after the new council came into being. ==Political control==