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Denbighshire principal area

Geography
Area - Total - % Water	Ranked 8th 844 km² ? %
Admin HQ	Ruthin
ISO 3166-2	GB-DEN
ONS code	00NG
Demographics
Population: - Total (2005 est.) - Density	Ranked 16th 96,000 Ranked 14th 113 / km²
Ethnicity	99.3% White.
Welsh language - Any skills	Ranked 6th 36.0%
Politics
Denbighshire County Council http://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/
Control	Independent / Conservative / Plaid
MPs	David Jones Martyn Jones Chris Ruane
AMs	Karen Sinclair Ann Jones Alun Pugh (Constituency) North Wales (Regional)
MEPs	Wales

Denbighshire (Welsh: Sir Ddinbych) is a principal area and county in North Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders.

Contents 1 Formation 2 Geography 3 Population 4 Economy

The present principal area was formed on April 1, 1996, under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, from various parts of the county of Clwyd. It included the district of Rhuddlan (which was formed in 1974 entirely from Flintshire), the communities of Trefnant and Cefnmeiriadog from the district of Colwyn (which was entirely Denbighshire) and most of the Glyndwr district. The part of the Glyndwr district included the entirety of the former Edeyrnion Rural District, which was part of the administrative county of Merionethshire prior to 1974 - which covered the the parishes of Betys Gwerfil Goch, Corwen, Gwyddelwern, Llangar, Llanillo in Edeirnion and Llansanffraid.

Other principal areas containing part of historic Denbighshire are Conwy, which picked up the remainder of the 1974-1996 Colwyn, and also the Denbigshire parts of the 1974-1996 Aberconwy, and Wrexham, which corresponds to the pre-1974 borough of Wrexham along with most of the Wrexham Rural District and also several parishes from Glyndwr.

The post-1996 Powys includes the historic Denbighshire parishes of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Llansilin and Llangedwyn, which had formed part of Glyndwr district.

See List of places in Denbighshire for a list of towns and villages.

The area is mostly hilly moorland, with the Clwydian range in the east, the Hiraethog Moors in the west and the Berwyn range adjacent to the southern boundary. The broad, fertile Vale of Clwyd runs south to north in the centre, and there is a narrow coastal plain in the north. Average temperatures are 2°C in January and 19°C in July.

Denbighshire's total population at the 2001 census was 93,065, with the largest towns on the coast at Rhyl (pop. c.25,000) and Prestatyn (pop. c.15,000). The inland towns are much smaller, Denbigh having a population of 8,500, Ruthin 5,000, and Llangollen 3,300. 28% of the population speaks Welsh, mainly in the upland area and the Vale of Clwyd.

There are no heavy industrial sites in the county although most of the towns have small industrial estates for light industry, the economy of the area being based on agriculture and tourism. A large proportion of the working population is employed in service industries. The uplands support the rearing of sheep and beef cattle, while in the Vale of Clwyd dairy farming and the growing of wheat and barley predominates.

On November 19, 2004, Denbighshire was granted Fairtrade County status.