Pottinger was one of the nine district electoral areas (DEA) in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland from 1985 to 2014. Located in the east of the city, the district elected six members to

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council () is the Local government in Northern Ireland, local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast, the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of (), the largest of any district c ...

and contained the wards of

Ballymacarrett Ballymacarrett or Ballymacarret () is the name of both a townland and electoral ward in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The townland is in the civil parish of Knockbreda (civil parish), Knockbreda in the historic barony (Ireland), barony of Castler ...

, Bloomfield, Orangefield, Ravenhill, The Mount, and Woodstock. The wards of Ravenhill and Woodstock were part of the Belfast South constituencies for the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

and

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

, while the other four were part of the Belfast East Assembly and

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

constituencies. The district was bounded to the west by the

River Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...

and the

Ormeau Road Ormeau Road is a road in south Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. Ormeau Park is adjacent to it. It forms part of the A24. History The road, as currently laid out, dates from the first decades of the 19th century when a bridge was buil ...

, to the north by the Newtownards Road, to the east by Greenville Park and North Road and the Borough of Castlereagh to the south. At the 2001 census the district had a Protestant majority, however there was also a large Catholic minority, particularly in areas such as the

Short Strand The Short Strand () is a working class, inner city area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a mainly Catholic and Irish nationalist enclave surrounded by the mainly Protestant and unionist East Belfast. Short Strand is located on the east ban ...

, which is separated from the mainly unionist

Cluan Place Cluan Place (derived ) is a Protestant working-class area in eastern inner-city Belfast, in Northern Ireland. There is currently a peace line, separating the area from Roman Catholic Short Strand. Rioting between neighbouring Loyalist and Repub ...

by one of the many

peace lines The peace lines or peace walls are a series of separation barriers in Northern Ireland that separate predominantly Irish republican or nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods from predominantly British loyalist or unionist Protestant neigh ...

in the district.

History

The DEA was created for the 1985 local elections, when it largely replaced the former electoral Area A. Five of the six wards came from Area A with the Bloomfield ward added from Area B. It was abolished for the 2014 local elections, when all of its wards except Orangefield formed part of a new Titanic district electoral area. The Orangefield ward became part of a new Lisnasharragh district electoral area.

Amenities

Amenities in the Pottinger district electoral area include: * Ormeau Golf Club *

Ormeau Park Ormeau Park is the oldest municipal park in Belfast, Northern Ireland, having been officially opened to the public in 1871. It is owned and run by Belfast City Council and is one of the largest and busiest parks in the city and contains a variet ...

Ravenhill Stadium Ravenhill Stadium (known as the Kingspan Stadium for sponsorship reasons until June 2025) is a rugby stadium located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home of Ulster Rugby. With the opening of a new stand for the 2014 Heineken Cup quarter ...

, home of the

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

team

Wards

Councillors

2011 election

2005: 3 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Alliance 2011: 3 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x PUP 2005-2011 change: Sinn Féin gain from UUP

2005 election

2001: 3 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Alliance 2005: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Sinn Féin 2001-2005 change: DUP and Alliance gain from UUP and Sinn Féin

2001 election

1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Sinn Féin 2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Alliance 1997-2001 change: Sinn Féin gain from Alliance

1997 election

1993: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Alliance 1993-1997 change: PUP gain from DUP

1993 election

1989: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 Independent Unionist 1993: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1989-1993 change: DUP gain from Independent Unionist

1989 election

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1989: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 Independent Unionist 1985-1989 change: Independent Unionist gain from DUP

1985 election

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

References

{{coord, 54.594, -5.898, display=title, region:GB_scale:20000 Former District Electoral Areas of Belfast 1985 establishments in Northern Ireland 2014 disestablishments in Northern Ireland