[8] Controversy erupted in mid-winter 2001 when Seimon Glyn, Gwynedd Council's housing committee chairman and Plaid Cymru member, voiced frustration over "English immigrants" moving into traditionally Welsh speaking communities.

[11][12] Holiday home owners typically spend less than six months of the year in the local community.

The issue of locals being priced out of the local housing market is common to many rural communities throughout Britain, but in Wales the added dimension of language further complicates the issue, as many new residents do not learn the Welsh language.

In 2014, the council passed a motion which called for a trade embargo with Israel and was subsequently accused of Anti-Semitism by the organisation Jewish Human Rights Watch.

It demanded an end to cutbacks in rural areas threatening schools, a relaxation of planning controls, action to provide rural employment and calls for more to be done to protect Gwynedd's "unique cultural, linguistic and social fabric".

[citation needed] The group was represented on the council between 2008 and the 2022 election, when it lost all its seats.

Council leader, Dyfrig Siencyn, tendered his resignation on 16 October 2024, after initially refusing to apologise to the abuse victims of Gwynedd headteacher, Neil Foden.

A by-election for the vacant Arllechwedd ward was held in June 2011, resulting in a Plaid Cymru gain from the Liberal Democrats.

[28] The Glyder ward was also vacant at the same time, after the death of the Plaid Cymru councillor.

On the western side of the street is the former Caernarvon Gaol, built in 1869 as the county prison for Caernarfonshire.

At the northern end of the former prison buildings is an extension built in 1984 comprising a council chamber and archway linking it back to the former prison building, with the council's coat of arms prominently displayed above the archway.

[33] The council operates a decentralised system of administration, with three area committees: Between 2004 and 2022 the county borough was divided into 71 electoral wards returning 75 councillors.