Ballymena Borough Council

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Ballymena Borough

Geography
Area - Total - % Water	Ranked 8th 632 km² ? %
Admin HQ	Ballymena
ISO 3166-2	GB-BLA
ONS code	95G
Demographics
Population - Total (2005) - Density	Ranked 11th 60,738 96 / km²
Community	Protestant: 76.3% Catholic: 21.0%
Politics
Ballymena Borough Council http://www.ballymena.gov.uk
MPs	Ian Paisley

Ballymena Borough Council is a Local Council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It covers the town of Ballymena and the surrounding area which includes small towns including Broughshane, Cullybackey, Galgorm, Ahoghill and Portglenone. The area covers 200 square miles and has a population of nearly 78,000. The Borough has a central location within Northern Ireland and is served by the M2 motorway and with a station on the Belfast to Derry railway-line. Belfast International Airport itself is only 18 miles away and the Belfast City Airport is 30 miles from Ballymena. It is also accessible to the seaports of Larne and Belfast, 20 and 27 miles away respectively.

The Ballymena Borough Council area consists of four electoral areas: Ballymena North, Braid, Bannside and Ballymena South, from which 24 members were elected in the 2005 election from the following political parties: 14 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 5 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 3 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), 1 Sinn Féin and 1 Independent. The Mayor of Ballymena for 2004-05 is Councillor Hubert Nicholl (DUP) and the Deputy Mayor is Councillor TGA Scott (UUP).

The next election is due to take place in May 2009.

The present Borough of Ballymena was created in 1973 from the merging of the former Borough with the former Ballymena Rural District.

Together with the neighbouring districts of Ballymoney and Moyle, it forms the North Antrim constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.