Wiltshire Council has been controlled by the Conservative Party since 2000, and has its headquarters at County Hall in Trowbridge.

Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over administrative functions previously carried out by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions.

[6] The council formally came into its powers on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first official meeting at Salisbury Guildhall.

The whole county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a lower tier of local government.

Members of the authority are appointed to a wide range of outside bodies, providing them with some element of democratic accountability, such as the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, the Wiltshire Victoria County History, and the Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust.

[25] Since the last full review of boundaries in 2021 the county has been divided into 98 electoral divisions, each electing one councillor.

[29] In 1896, the council acquired Arlington House at 72 Fore Street in Trowbridge to act as its offices.

[30][29] In 1930, the council decided to build a new county hall in Devizes, which is nearer the geographical centre of Wiltshire, but construction was delayed and in 1933 the decision was reversed.