North Down Borough Council
Coordinates: 54°37′34″N 5°40′23″W / 54.626°N 5.673°W
| North Down Borough | |
.jpg) Sign bearing North Down Borough Council logo | |
| Geography | |
 | |
| Area - Total |
Ranked 26th of 26 81 km² |
|---|---|
| Admin HQ | Bangor |
| ISO 3166-2 | GB-NDN |
| ONS code | 95W |
| Demographics | |
| Population - Total (2010) - Density |
Ranked 7th 79,900 980 / km² |
| Community | Catholic: 13.5% Protestant: 73.2% |
| Politics | |
| Control | No overall control DUP: 10 Alliance Party: 6 UUP: 4 Independent: 3 Green Party: 1 UKIP: 1 |
| MLAs | DUP: 3 Alliance Party: 1 Green Party: 1 UUP: 1 |
| MPs | Sylvia Hermon (Independent) |
| Meeting place | |
| Website | |
| http://www.northdown.gov.uk | |
North Down Borough Council is a Local Council in County Down in Northern Ireland. It is set to merge with Ards Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become North Down and Ards District Council.
Its main town is Bangor, 20 km east of Belfast with a population of approximately 55,000. The Council is headquartered in Bangor. Its secondary centre is the former Urban District of Holywood, 8 km northeast of Belfast with a population of approximately 10,000. Most of the remainder of a total population is in suburban villages along the southern shore of Belfast Lough. The Borough is heavily suburbanised, railway links with Belfast are good and the area has been the domain of Belfast commuters since the mid-19th century. The Borough is often held to be the wealthiest area in Northern Ireland, although there are pockets of deprivation in a string of overspill public housing estates along the Bangor Ring Road.
The borough consists of 4 electoral areas: Abbey, Ballyholme and Groomsport, Bangor West and Holywood. In the 2011 election 25 members were elected from the following political parties: 11 Democratic Unionist Party, 6 Alliance, 4 Ulster Unionists, 1 Green, and 2 Independents. North Down along with Carrickfergus Borough Council are the only councils in Northern Ireland without Nationalist political party representation.
The Borough of North Down was formed in 1973 in the local government reorganisation from the old Bangor Urban District, Holywood Urban District, North Down Rural District and part of Castlereagh Rural District.
In elections for the Westminster Parliament it is part of the slightly larger North Down constituency
- See Also: Districts of Northern Ireland
Summary of seats won 1973–2011
| 1973 | 1977 | 1981 | 1985 | 1989 | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2011 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ulster Unionist (UUP) | 9 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| Alliance (APNI) | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Vanguard (VUPP) | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Loyalist (Loy) | 2 | |||||||||
| Unionist Party of NI (UPNI) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| United Unionist (UUUP) | 1 | |||||||||
| Independent Unionist (IU) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Democratic Unionist (DUP) | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 11 | ||
| Popular Unionist (UPUP) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| NI Conservatives (Con) | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| UK Unionist Party (UKUP) | 3 | 2 | ||||||||
| Progressive Unionist (PUP) | 2 | |||||||||
| Women's Coalition (NIWC) | 1 | |||||||||
| Green Party (GP) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Independent/Other† | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | ||||
† Others include Ann Marie Hillen, who stood under the label Better Bangor Campaign in 1989, having been elected earlier that year in a by-election. Of the candidates elected in 1993, one was elected as a Holywood Pool Campaigner and another as Action '93. Alan Chambers, elected at every election from 1993 to 2011, has usually been described on the ballot paper as an Independent, but describes himself on the council website as an Independent Unionist and stood under that label in 1997.[1] He is tallied as Independent Unionist above for all elections.
2011 Election results
| Party | seats | change +/- | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • | Democratic Unionist Party | 11 | +3 |
| • | Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | 6 | – |
| • | Ulster Unionist Party | 4 | -4 |
| • | Green Party in Northern Ireland | 1 | – |
| • | Independent | 3 | +1 |
Mayor
- 1981/2: Mary O'Fee, Ulster Popular Unionist
- 1985/6: Hazel Bradford, Ulster Unionist
- 1990/2: Denny Vitty, Democratic Unionist
- 1992/3: Leslie Cree, Ulster Unionist
- 1993/4: Brian Wilson, Alliance
- 1994/5: Roy Bradford, Ulster Unionist
- 1995/6: Susan O'Brien, Alliance
- 1996/7: Irene Cree, Ulster Unionist
- 1997/8: Ruby Cooling, Democratic Unionist
- 1998/9: Marsden Fitzsimons, Alliance
- 1999/0: Marion Smith, Ulster Unionist
- 2000/1: Alan Chambers, Independent
- 2001/2: Ian Henry, Ulster Unionist
- 2002/3: Alan Graham, Democratic Unionist
- 2003/4: Anne Wilson, Alliance
- 2004/5: Valerie Kinghan, UK Unionist Party
- 2005/6: Roberta Dunlop, Ulster Unionist
- 2006/7: Alan Leslie, Democratic Unionist
- 2007/8: Stephen Farry, Alliance
- 2008/9: Leslie Cree, Ulster Unionist
- 2009/0: Tony Hill, Alliance
- 2010/1: John Montgomery, Democratic Unionist
- 2011/2: James McKerrow, Ulster Unionist
- 2012/3: Wesley Irvine, Democratic Unionist
- 2013/4: Andrew Muir, Alliance
- 2014/5: Peter Martin, Democratic Unionist
Review of Public Administration
Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the Council was due to merge with Ards in 2011 to form a single council for the enlarged area totalling 451 km² and a population of 149,567.[2] 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.[3] It will now take place in 2015.
Population
The area covered by North Down Borough Council has a population of 78,937 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.[4]
References
- ↑ North Down council election results 1993–2011, ARK, accessed 13 January 2013
- ↑ "Minister Foster announces decisions on Local Government Reform". DoE. Retrieved 31 May 2008.
- ↑ Northern Ireland elections are postponed, BBC News, April 25, 2008, accessed April 27, 2008
- ↑ "NI Census 2011 - Key Statistics Summary Report, September 2014". NI Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
External links
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