North Down Borough Council was a Local Council in County Down in

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 merged with Ards Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become

North Down and Ards District Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' i ...

. Its main town was Bangor, 12 miles east 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 Kingdom ...

with a population of approximately 68,000. The Council was headquartered in Bangor. Its secondary centre was the former Urban District of

Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) * ...

, 8 km northeast of Belfast with a population of approximately 10,000. Most of the remainder of a total population was in suburban villages along the southern shore of

Belfast Lough Belfast Lough is a large, intertidal sea inlet on the east coast of Northern Ireland. At its head is the city and port of Belfast, which sits at the mouth of the River Lagan. The lough opens into the North Channel and connects Belfast to ...

. The area of the former 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 former 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 consisted of 4 electoral areas: Abbey, Ballyholme and

Groomsport Groomsport () is a village and townland two miles north east of Bangor in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the south shore of Belfast Lough and on the north coast of the Ards Peninsula. Groomsport has a population of 3,005 people accordin ...

, Bangor West and Holywood. In the 2011 election, 25 members were elected from the following political parties: 11 Democratic Unionist Party, 6

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, 4 Ulster Unionists, 1

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

, and 2 Independents. North Down along with

Carrickfergus Borough Council Carrickfergus Borough Council was a district council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymena Borough Council and Larne Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Mid ...

were 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 The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

it was part of the slightly larger North Down constituency. :''See Also'':

Districts of 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 ...

Summary of seats won 1973–2011

^† 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, Jimmy White 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. He is tallied as Independent Unionist above for all elections.

2011 Election results

Mayor

Review of Public Administration

Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the Council was due to merge with

Ards Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and bluish skin color ...

in 2011 to form a single council for the enlarged area totalling 451 km² and a population of 149,567. The next 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. It took place in 2015.

Population

The area covered by North Down Borough Council had a population of 78,937 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.

References

External links

Bangor, County Down
{{Authority control Politics of County Down Bangor, County Down District councils of Northern Ireland, 1973–2015 Boroughs of Northern Ireland