A move is being made to change the constitution of Denbighshire council that could see Tory members thrown out of the cabinet.

At the moment the council must have political balance in its cabinet meaning that each party is allocated a proportion of cabinet positions according to the size of the group.

After the last election there were 15 Conservatives, 13 Labour, 10 independents and 9 Plaid Cymru members voted on to the council.

Departments in the council are run by members of the top team, which is made up of four Conservatives and four independents.

This came about after the Labour and Plaid Cymru groups refused to sit in cabinet with the Tories.

Now there is a move that could see the requirement for political balance dropped meaning that a coalition could be formed to run the council.

Llangollen county councillor, Graham Timms, has brought a motion to be debated next week by the council asking officers to look into changing the constitution.

He said: “Denbighshire’s constitution is reviewed periodically. There are several councillors new to elected positions, myself included. My motion will enable us to have a realistic input into the future of the authority. The requirement to have a political balance is actually undemocratic, in most political bodies the largest group leads the council, in Denbighshire all groups, no matter how few members are elected, have a seat at the cabinet table. My motion is simply seeking to ensure residents of Denbighshire have the council the majority voted for.”

Plaid Cymru look likely to support the move to change the constitution.

The party’s Lower Denbigh county councillor, Rhys Thomas, said: “The council’s constitution demanding political balance is at odds with other councils across Wales. There is an argument that it frustrates good decision making because it’s often difficult if not impossible to accommodate everybody’s views when they’re poles apart. We’d welcome a review of the constitution and this particular clause of political balance.”

He added: “Getting rid of political balance would make it more difficult for a council to be officer led. Political parties would have to find common ground on what was best for citizens. Local democracy would have more meaning. Officers would be more like civil servants and would have to implement policies rather than setting them.”

Cllr Joe Welch who leads the independent group on the council said: “The notice of motion is requesting that corporate governance consider options and present a report to full council as to how the constitution could be changed to remove the requirement for political balance in the cabinet.

“My view is that Denbighshire is a high-performing council with its current cabinet system in place. It works effectively and allows all political parties to be represented but unfortunately some choose not to take up this opportunity.

“However, we are always looking at possible ways to improve and with this in mind I welcome the debate next Tuesday to discuss the motion.”

The Conservative group has been asked to comment.