It covered parts of four former districts from the administrative county of Denbighshire, which were all abolished at the same time:[1][2] The new borough was named Colwyn, taken from the name of the area's largest town, Colwyn Bay.

[4] During the transition to the new system, the shadow authority requested a change of name from "Aberconwy and Colwyn" to "Conwy".

The government confirmed the change with effect from 2 April 1996, one day after the new council came into being.

[5] The borough of Colwyn was twinned with Konstanz, Germany and Roissy-en-Brie, France.

[8] Following the abolition of Colwyn in 1996 the building served as the headquarters of the successor Conwy County Borough Council until 2018.