Belfast Metropolitan Area

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Belfast Metropolitan Area
Location
centerMap highlighting Belfast Metropolitan Area
Statistics
Province: Ulster
County: County Antrim/County Down
District: Belfast
Lisburn
Carrickfergus
North Down
Newtownabbey
Castlereagh
UK Parliament: Belfast North
Belfast South
Belfast East
Belfast West
Lagan Valley
East Antrim
South Antrim
Strangford
North Down
European Parliament: Northern Ireland
Dialling Code: 028, +44 28 then - 90,91,92,93,94,97
Post Town: Belfast, Lisburn, Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus, Bangor
Area: 960 kmĀ²
Population (2001) 579,276(10th UK) (2nd Ireland)

The Belfast Metropolitan Area is a grouping of councils which include commuter towns and overspill from Belfast, Northern Ireland with a population of 579,276 making it 10th in the UK. The area was first officially classified as a Metropolitan area in the late 1990's when the Government began to prepare for a cohesive plan that would include the Belfast Region. When the six councils were identified as the key areas within the Metropolitan Area the entire region then became classified as the Belfast Metropolitan Area.

The Area is made up of established towns, their overspill and the general con-joining of settlements as Belfast expands. Established towns include Carrickfergus, Bangor, Lisburn, Hillsborough and Holywood. Many of these towns were established and important long before Belfast rose to prominence; Carrickfergus for example was the Norman capital of the Northern part of Ireland. The recent re-classification of Lisburn as a city does not change it's position within the Metropolitan Area.

[edit] See also