Newtownabbey Borough Council was a Local Authority in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

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. North ...

, on the north shore of Belfast Lough just immediately north of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

. The Council merged with

Antrim Borough Council Antrim Borough Council was the local authority of Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Newtownabbey Borough Council on 1 April 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Counci ...

in April 2015 under local government reform in Northern Ireland to form Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.

History

Newtownabbey was founded in 1958 as a result of the Newtownabbey Urban District Act (Northern Ireland) 1957 and comprises large urban residential areas along with traditional farming communities. Its major industries include electronics, software and telecommunications development and agriculture. Council headquarters were at Mossley Mill in Newtownabbey. Towns within the area included Ballyclare and Glengormley. The

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

at Jordanstown is also in the area covered by the former Council. The Newtownabbey Borough Council area consisted of four electoral areas: Antrim Line, Macedon, University, and Ballyclare. At the 2011 elections, 25 members were elected from the following political parties: 12

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 ...

(DUP), 5

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 ...

(UUP), 5 Alliance Party, 1

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

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 ...

. At the Annual General Meeting of the Council on the first Monday in June each year the Mayor was elected and became the first citizen of the Borough. In elections for 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 was split between the East Antrim constituency, the South Antrim constituency and the North Belfast constituency. In May 2015 Newtownabbey Borough Council merged with

to form the new Antrim and Newtownabbey District Council.

Elections

When first created for the 1973 local elections, the council consisted of four electoral areas, named A, B, C and D, which elected 21 councillors. For the 1985 local elections, the number of electoral areas was increased to five: Manse Road, Doagh Road, Shore Road, Antrim Line and Ballyclare, each of which elected five councillors. Boundary changes again took effect for the 1993 local elections. The Doagh Road area, centred on

Rathcoole Rathcoole may refer to: * Rathcoole, County Dublin, a village in County Dublin, Ireland * Rathcoole (Newtownabbey), a large housing estate in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland * Rathcoole, County Cork, a village in north west Cork * Rat ...

was reduced from five to four wards. Consequently it gained the Whiteabbey and Cloughfern wards from the Shore Road district to form the new Macedon district. The Antrim Line district gained the Burnthill ward from the Manse Road district and the Mallusk ward from the Ballyclare district (which had gained a ward in the boundary changes.) The remaining seven wards of the Manse Road and Shore Road districts were combined to form the University district. In relation to the 1973–1981 districts, Ballyclare is similar to Area A, Macedon to Area B, University to Area C and Antrim Line to Area D.

Summary of seats won 1973–2011

^† Results for Labour are those for Robert Kidd and Mark Langhammer. Kidd was elected for the

Northern Ireland Labour Party The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987. Origins The roots of the NILP can be traced back to the formation of the Belfast Labour Party in 1892. William Walker stoo ...

in 1973, as Independent Labour in 1977, for the Newtownabbey Labour Party in 1981, 1985 and 1997 and for Labour '87 in 1989. Langhammer was elected as Labour in 1993, 1997 and as an independent in 2001, though describing himself as "Labour" on the council website. Source:

2011 Election results

2005 Election results

Mayors

*1977 – 78: Sidney Cameron,

*1978 – 80: Arthur Templeton,

*1980 – 81: J. Smith,

*1981 – 82: C. W. Stringer,

*1982 – 83: Clifford Forsythe,

*1983 – 86: Leslie Caul,

*1986 – 87: George Herron, Independent Unionist *1987 – 89: J. Smith,

*1989 – 90: George Herron, Independent Unionist *1990 – 91: Fraser Agnew,

*1991 – 92: Ken Robinson,

*1992 – 93: Arthur Templeton, Independent Unionist *1993 – 94: Arthur Kell,

*1994 – 95: J. Robinson,

*1995 – 96: Andrew Beattie,

*1996 – 97:

Billy Snoddy Billy Snoddy is a unionist politician in Northern Ireland. He was a member of Newtownabbey Borough Council from 1989 to 1997, and was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996 References Year of birth missing (living people) ...

*1997 – 99: Edward Crilly,

*1999 – 00: Jim Bingham,

*2000 – 02: Vera McWilliam,

*2002 – 04: Paul Girvan,

*2004 – 05: Ted Turkington,

*2005 – 06: Billy DeCourcy,

*2006 – 07: Lynn Frazer,

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. As of the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it is the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assemb ...

*2007 – 08: Nigel Hamilton,

*2008 – 09: Victor Robinson,

*2009 – 10: John Scott,

*2010 – 11: Paula Bradley,

*2011 – 12: Billy Webb,

*2012 – 13: Victor Robinson,

*2013 – 14: Fraser Agnew,

*2014 – 15: Thomas Hogg,

Review of Public Administration

Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the district was due to merge with Antrim Borough in 2011 to form a single council for the enlarged area totalling 572 km² and a population of 128,361. 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. On 1 April 2015 the new Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council took over responsibility for the area.

Population

The area covered by Newtownabbey Borough Council had a population of 85,139 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.

References

External links

Newtownabbey Borough CouncilNewtownabbey Times
{{Authority control Politics of County Antrim District councils of Northern Ireland, 1973–2015 Boroughs of Northern Ireland