Magherafelt District Council was a district council in

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It was merged with

Cookstown District Council 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 and partly in County Londonderry. It merged with Dungann ...

and

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 ...

on 1 April 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland becoming

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 C ...

. The council headquarters were in

Magherafelt Magherafelt (, �mˠaxəɾʲəˈfʲiːlt̪ˠə is a small town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,805 at the 2011 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social, econo ...

. The Council area stretched from

Lough Neagh Lough Neagh ( ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake in the island of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the British Isles. It has a surface area of and supplies 40% of Northern Ireland's water. Its main inflows come ...

and the

River Bann The River Bann (from ga, An Bhanna, meaning "the goddess"; Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is one of the longest rivers in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). However, the total lengt ...

in the east into the

Sperrin Mountains The Sperrins or Sperrin Mountains () are a range of mountains in Northern Ireland and one of the largest upland areas in Northern Ireland. The range stretches from Strabane eastwards to Slieve Gallion in Desertmartin and north towards Limavad ...

in the west and was divided by the

Moyola River The River Moyola or Moyola River stretches for approximately 27 miles from the Sperrin Mountains to Lough Neagh. The Moyola starts a small river (3-5 metres; 10' to 16') for the first few miles of its length and proceeds to expand to a medium-s ...

. It covered an area of and had a population of over 45,000. Local towns in the area included

Bellaghy Bellaghy () is a village in County Derry, Northern Ireland. It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north east of Magherafelt. In the centre of the village (known locally as The Diamond) three main roads lead to Magherafelt, Po ...

, birthplace of poet

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

in 1939. The council was composed of 16 elected representatives. Local elections were held every four years on a

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

system. At its last election, in May 2011, those elected were from the following political parties: 9

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 Gri ...

, 3

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...

(DUP), 2

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) and 2

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 movem ...

(UUP). The chairman and vice-chairman are elected on an annual basis at the annual general meeting in May or June. The final (2013/14) chairman was Councillor Catherine Elattar (SF), who represented the Magherafelt Town electoral area, and the vice-chair was Councillor Anne Forde (DUP), who represented the Sperrin electoral area. This was the second occasion on which Magherafelt District Council had elected two women to the top two positions. For elections to the

Westminster Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of We ...

it is part of the Mid Ulster constituency.

2011 election results

Electoral regions

Magherafelt District Council was divided into three electoral regions; Magherafelt Town, Moyola, and Sperrin, each of which was further divided into

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...

; six in Magherafelt Town and five in both Moyola and Sperrin.

Review of Public Administration

Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the council merged with

and

in 2014 to form a single council, named

, for the enlarged area totalling 1714 km² and a population of 120, 096. The formation and election to this new council 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 A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

announced that the scheduled 2009 district council elections were to be postponed until the introduction of the eleven new councils in 2011. The introduction of this new super-council however was postponed but the election for it finally took place in 2014 with reorganisation completed in 2015.

Population

The area covered by Magherafelt District Council had a population of 45,038 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.

References

{{Authority control Politics of County Londonderry District councils of Northern Ireland, 1973–2015

2011 election results

Electoral regions

Review of Public Administration

Population

See also

References