The Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 was an Act of the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

, passed in 1971 to replace the previous system of local authorities established by the

Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 37) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that established a system of local government in Ireland similar to that already created for England, ...

. The system was based on the recommendations of the Macrory Report, of June 1970, which presupposed the continued existence of the

Government of Northern Ireland The government of Northern Ireland is, generally speaking, whatever political body exercises political authority over Northern Ireland. A number of separate systems of government exist or have existed in Northern Ireland. Following the partitio ...

to act as a regional-level authority. Northern Ireland was to be divided into twenty-six local government districts, each consisting of a number of wards. The Act did not define the Districts exactly, but provided a list of 26 existing local government areas which would form the basis of the pattern. It then gave the

Governor of Northern Ireland The governor of Northern Ireland was the principal officer and representative in Northern Ireland of the British monarch. The office was established on 9 December 1922 and abolished on 18 July 1973. Overview The office of Governor of Northern ...

the power to appoint a Local Government Boundaries Commissioner who was to report with proposed names and boundaries not later than 30 June 1972. The Commissioner's proposals were put into effect by the Local Government (Boundaries) Order (Northern Ireland) 1972, dated 17 July 1972. The 1971 Act created districts, but did not make provision for councils to govern them. This was done by the

Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 The Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 1972 (1972 c. 9) was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland that constituted district councils to administer the twenty-six local government districts created by the Local Government (Boundaries ...

. The councils created by the latter Act came into existence on 1 October 1973.

Local government districts and wards

The following list shows the original names of the twenty-six local government districts. A number later changed their name or gained borough or city status under the

. Also shown are the wards into which each local government district was divided. In the 1972 local government Act it stated "It shall be taken that each ward shall return one member to the council of the district in which it is situated", however by the time the first elections were held on 30 May 1973, a system of

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 ...

using multi-member district electoral areas had been introduced. The electoral areas consisted of groupings of between four and eight wards, with a number of councillors being elected for each area equal to the number of wards. The wards were subsequently used as building blocks for other units such as constituencies, and census statistics have been compiled for them. Northern Ireland - Local Government Districts

Northern Ireland - Local Government Districts

† Craigavon Urban District replaced Lurgan Rural District in 1967.New Towns (Municipal Functions—Craigavon) Order (Northern Ireland) 1967 (S.R. & O. 1967, No. 57)
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Changes and repeal

The areas established by the Act were reviewed on a number of occasions: in 1985 the number of wards was increased from 524 to 562. In 1993 the number of wards was again increased to 582, and in 1993 the ward of

Rathfriland Rathfriland () is a market town in County Down, Northern Ireland. History In older documents written in English, the town's name was usually spelt ''Rathfylan'' or ''Rathfrilan''.

was transferred from Newry and Mourne to Banbridge district. There were also minor boundary changes, such as the transfer of rural parts of Legoniel from Belfast to Antrim in 1985. In 1984 the name of Londonderry District was changed to Derry, and in 1999 Dungannon District was renamed Dungannon and South Tyrone. The Act was repealed by the

Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

References

External links

*{{UK-LEG, title=Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971
Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 from CAIN Web Service
Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland 1971 Districts of Northern Ireland, 1972–2015 Local government legislation in the United Kingdom