Cookstown District Council ( ga, Comhairle Cheantar na Coirre Críochaí;
Ulster Scots: ''Districk Cooncil o Cookestoun'') was a district council covering an area largely in
County Tyrone
County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...
and partly in
County Londonderry. It merged with
Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council
Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council ( ga, Comhairle Buirge Dhún Geanainn agus Thír Eoghain Theas, Ulster Scots: ''Rathgannon an Sooth Owenslanngh Cooncil'') was a local council in Northern Ireland from 1973 until 2015. It was originall ...
and
Magherafelt District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become
Mid-Ulster District Council
Mid Ulster District Council ( ga, Comhairle Ceantair Lár Uladh; Ulster-Scots: ''Mid Ulstèr Airts Cooncil'') is a local authority that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Cookstown District Council, Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough ...
.
Council headquarters were in
Cookstown. Small towns in the council area included
Pomeroy,
Moneymore,
Coagh and
Stewartstown and in the east the area was bounded by
Lough Neagh. It covered an area of and had a population of over 37,000.
The council had 16 elected representatives. Local elections were held every four years using the
single transferable vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...
system. The chairman and vice-chairman of the council were elected at the annual general meeting each June. The last election was due to take place in May 2009, but on 25 April 2008,
Shaun Woodward
Shaun Anthony Woodward (born 26 October 1958) is a British politician who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for St Helens South from 2001 to 2015. He served in the cabinet from 28 June 2007 to 11 May 2010 as Secretary of State for North ...
,
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. The proposed reforms were abandoned in 2010, and the
final district council elections took place in 2011
The Cookstown District Council area consisted of 3 electoral areas: Drum Manor, Ballinderry and Cookstown Central. At the last elections in 2011, members were elected from the following political parties: 6
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
, 4
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...
(SDLP), 3
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...
(UUP) and 3
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). In 2013/14, the council chairman was Councillor Pearse McAleer of Sinn Féin and the vice-chairman was Councillor Robert Kelly of the UUP. Both councillors represented the Ballinderry District Electoral Area.
Councillor Wilbert Buchanan of the Democratic Unionist Party was chairman in 2014/15.
In elections for the Westminster Parliament it was part of
Mid Ulster.
Population
The area covered by the Cookstown District Council had a population of 37,013 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.
See also
*
Local government in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is divided into 11 districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland, local councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom; for example they have no responsibility f ...
References
{{Authority control
Politics of County Tyrone
Politics of County Londonderry
District councils of Northern Ireland, 1973–2015