Belfast City Council

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste
Belfast City

Geography
Area - Total - % Water	Ranked 23rd 115 km² ? %
Admin HQ	Belfast
ISO 3166-2	GB-BFS
ONS code	95Z
Demographics
Population - Total (2005) - Density	Ranked 1st 267,999 2,333 / km²
Community	Protestant: 48.6% Catholic: 47.2%
Politics
Belfast City Council http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/
MPs	Gerry Adams Nigel Dodds Peter Robinson Alasdair McDonnell

Belfast City Council (Irish: Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste) is the largest local council serving the largest city in Northern Ireland which had an estimated population of 267,999 in 2005. It is the central council for the Belfast Metropolitan Area which has a population of c.650,000. The Council is based in Belfast City Hall. Belfast is also the (sometime) seat of government for Northern Ireland. The council was created on its current boundaries following the local council elections of May 1973. Originally it was intended that there would be 52 wards; however, local enquiries meant that the proposed Tullycarnet ward became instead the Castlereagh borough council wards of Tullycarnet and Gilnahirk.

The council was originally Unionist-dominated, with the 1973 elections returning 32 Unionists against 8 Alliance, 2 NI Labour Party, 7 SDLP and 2 Republican Clubs councillors. However, over time the Unionist lead was eroded and it finally disappeared after the elections of 1997 when Unionists were reduced to 25 seats from the 51 available.

1 Electoral areas
2 Lord Mayor, High Sheriff
3 Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies
4 Assets
5 Councillors
6 Parks and Open Spaces
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Electoral areas

The current Belfast City Council area consists of 9 electoral areas: Oldpark, Castle, Victoria, Pottinger, Laganbank, Balmoral, Upper Falls, Lower Falls and Court. In the 2005 local government elections, the voters of Belfast elected a total of 51 councillors from the following political parties: 15 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 14 Sinn Féin, 8 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), 7 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 4 Alliance Party, 2 Progressive Unionist Party and 1 Independent who was previously a member of the (Unionist) Ulster Democratic Party.

[edit] Lord Mayor, High Sheriff

The current Lord Mayor of Belfast is Councillor Pat McCarthy (SDLP), elected on 1st June 2006. The city council also (uniquely amongst Northern Ireland's councils) elects a High Sheriff, who acts as the Queen's representative in the city; the current holder of that office is Councillor William Humphrey (DUP).

[edit] Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies

Belfast has four UK parliamentary and Assembly constituencies - North Belfast, West Belfast, South Belfast and East Belfast. All four extend somewhat beyond the city boundaries into parts of Castlereagh, Lisburn and Newtownabbey districts. In 2003, they elected 7 Sinn Féin, 6 DUP, 5 Ulster Unionist, 4 SDLP, 1 PUP and 1 Alliance members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. In the 2005 general election, they elected 2 DUP MPs, 1 SDLP MP and 1 Sinn Féin MP.

[edit] Assets

The council owns a number of buildings and parks in Belfast, including Belfast Castle and Belfast Botanic Gardens.

[edit] Councillors

Year	APNI	DUP	PUP	SF	SDLP	UDP	UPNI	UUP	Workers	Others
1973	8	2	-	-	7	-	-	25	2	7
1977	13	7	-	-	8	-	2	15	1	2
1981	7	15	1	-	6	-	1	13	0	8
1985	8	11	1	7	6	-	-	14	1	3
1989	6	8	1	8	8	-	-	14	1	5
1993	5	9	1	10	9	-	-	15	0	2
1997	6	7	3	13	7	1	-	13	0	1
2001	3	10	3	14	9	-	-	11	0	1
2005	4	15	2	14	8	-	-	7	0	1

[edit] Parks and Open Spaces

Belfast City Council is also responsible for the City's Parks. They maintain the city's green spaces and organising park events and activities. They also work to promote some of Belfast’s biggest tourist attractions, like Belfast Zoo and Malone House.