| Magherafelt District | |
| Geography | |
| Area - Total |
Ranked 12th of 26 573 km² |
|---|---|
| Admin HQ | Magherafelt |
| ISO 3166-2 | GB-MFT |
| ONS code | 95H |
| Demographics | |
| Population - Total (2010) - Density |
Ranked 19th 44,700 78 / km² |
| Community | Catholic: 64.1% Protestant: 34.8% |
| Politics | |
| Control | Sinn Féin: 9 DUP: 3 SDLP: 2 UUP: 2 |
| MLAs | Mid Ulster Sinn Féin: 3 DUP: 1 SDLP: 1 UUP: 1 |
| MPs | Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) |
| Meeting place | |
| Website | |
| http://www.magherafelt.gov.uk | |
Magherafelt District Council is a district council in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Council headquarters are in Magherafelt. The Council area stretches from Lough Neagh and the River Bann in the east and into the Sperrin Mountains in the west and is divided by the Moyola River. It covers an area of 214 square miles (550 km2) and has a current population of over 39,500. Local towns in the area include Bellaghy, birthplace of poet Seamus Heaney in 1939.
The Council is composed of 16 elected representatives. Local elections are held every four years on a proportional representation system. At the last election in May 2011, those elected were from the following political parties: 9 Sinn Féin, 3 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 2 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and 2 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The chairman and vice-chairman are elected on an annual basis at the annual general meeting in May or June. The current (2011/12) chairman is Councillor Ian Milne(SF), who represents Moyola electoral area, and the vice-chairman is Councillor George Shiels(UUP), who represents Magherafelt Town electoral area.
In elections for the Westminster Parliament it is part of the Mid Ulster constituency.
Contents |
| Party | seats | change +/- | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • | Sinn Féin | 9 | +1 |
| • | Democratic Unionist Party | 3 | -1 |
| • | Social Democratic and Labour Party | 2 | = |
| • | Ulster Unionist Party | 2 | = |
Magherafelt District Council is divided into three electoral regions; Magherafelt Town, Moyola, and Sperrin, each of which is further divided into electoral wards; six in Magherafelt Town and five in both Moyola and Sperrin.
Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the council is due to merge with Cookstown District Council and Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council in 2011 to form a single council, named Mid-Ulster District Council, for the enlarged area totalling 1714 km² and a population of 120, 096.[1] The next election was due to take place in May 2009, but on 25 April 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.[2] This super-council however has been postponed for at least five years as of 2010.[3]
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