Ballymoney Borough Council

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Ballymoney Borough
Comhairle Baile Bhaile Monaidh
Image:NorthernIrelandBallymoney.png
Geography
Area
- Total
- % Water
Ranked 17th
418 km²
? %
Admin HQ Ballymoney
ISO 3166-2 GB-BLY
ONS code 95D
Demographics
Population
- Total (2006)
- Density
Ranked 25th
29,200
70 / km²
Community Protestant: 66.2%
Catholic: 31.9%
Politics
Ballymoney Borough Council

http://www.ballymoney.gov.uk
MPs Ian Paisley

Ballymoney Borough Council is a Local Council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It is based in Ballymoney. Other towns in the Council area include Dervock, Dunloy, Cloughmills and Rasharkin. The area has a population of nearly 27,000.

In the last local government elections on 5 May 2005, 16 members were elected. The current composition of the council is: 7 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 3 Sinn Féin, 2 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 2 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and 2 Independents. The current Mayor is Councillor John Finlay (DUP) (who previously served on Down District Council [1]) and Deputy Mayor is Harry Connolly (SDLP).

The present Council boundaries, which upon the granting of a charter in 1977 became the Borough of Ballymoney, were established in the 1973 reorganisation of local government.

In 2000 Ballymoney Borough Council twinned with the French town of Vanves. Since 2001, the Council has been a sister city of Benbrook in Texas and building on its motorcycling history, is also linked to the Borough of Douglas, Isle of Man.

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

Ballymoney is Northern Ireland's fastest growing town in terms of population. It is thought this is because it is one of the most central places in Northern Ireland, being one hour from Belfast and one hour from Derry. Another reason is as a result of high house prices in the Coleraine/Portstewart/Portrush 'Triangle' areas shifting first-time buyers to the less expensive Ballymoney area.

The Ballymoney Borough Council area has the highest life expectancy of any area in Northern Ireland, with the average male life expectancy at birth being 78.0 years and 82.6 years for females [2].

Contents

[edit] Mayor of Ballymoney

Year Name Political affiliation Deputy Deputy's affiliation
1973 - 76 Frederick Holland Ulster Unionist Samuel Montgomery Ulster Unionist
1977 - 81 Mary J. Holmes Independent Robert McComb Independent
1981 - 84 Charles Steele Democratic Unionist Party
1985 Charles Steele Democratic Unionist Party Joe Gaston Ulster Unionist
1986 - 87 Joe Gaston Ulster Unionist James Patterson Democratic Unionist Party
Robert Halliday Democratic Unionist Party
1988 - 89 Cecil Cousley Democratic Unionist Party William Logan Ulster Unionist
1990 - 93 Joe Gaston Ulster Unionist Samuel McConaghie Democratic Unionist Party
Cecil Cousley Democratic Unionist Party
Malachy McCamphill Social Democratic and Labour
1994 - 95 Cecil Cousley Democratic Unionist Party Robert Wilson Democratic Unionist Party
1996 Joe Gaston Ulster Unionist Samuel McConaghie Democratic Unionist Party
1997 - 98 Frank Campbell Democratic Unionist Party William Logan Ulster Unionist
Samuel McConaghie Democratic Unionist Party
1999 William Logan Ulster Unionist Bill Kennedy Democratic Unionist Party
2000 - 2001 Bill Kennedy Democratic Unionist Party Samuel McConaghie Democratic Unionist Party
John Finlay Democratic Unionist Party
2002 - 2003 Frank Campbell Democratic Unionist Party Cecil Cousley Democratic Unionist Party
2004 - 2005 Cecil Cousley Democratic Unionist Party Ian Stevenson Democratic Unionist Party
2006 - present John Finlay Democratic Unionist Party Cecil Cousley Democratic Unionist Party
Harry Connolly Social Democratic and Labour

Source: Freedom of Information request to Ballymoney Borough Council

[edit] Review of Public Administration

Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the Council is due to merge with Coleraine Borough Council, Limavady Borough Council and Moyle District Council in 2011 to form a single council for the enlarged area totalling 1796 Sq Km and a population of 131,564.[3] The next election was due to take place in May 2009, but on April 25, 2008, Shaun Woodward, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced that the scheduled 2009 district council elections were to be postponed until the introduction of the eleven new councils in 2011.[4]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links