Balmoral (from the ) is the most southern of ten 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. The district elects five 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 contains the wards of Belvoir; Finaghy; Malone; Musgrave; Windsor; and Upper Malone. Balmoral, along with neighbouring Botanic, forms the greater 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 ...

. The district is bounded to the west and south west by the

M1 Motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

, to east and south east 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 ...

, to the east and north east by the Malone Road and to the north by Belfast City Hospital,

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

and Royal Victoria Hospital. The

Lisburn Road Lisburn Road is a main arterial route linking Belfast and Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The Lisburn Road is now an extension of the "Golden Mile (Belfast), Golden Mile" with many shops, boutiques, wine bars, restaurants and coffee houses. The road ...

is the main arterial route through the centre of the district, which also contains a number of public facilities including: the King's Hall conference and exhibition centre, the Musgrave Park Hospital, Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park and

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

, the home ground of the

Northern Ireland national football team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in men's international association football. From 1882 to 1950, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland ...

. It is served by the

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, Balmoral and Finaghy railway stations.

History

The DEA was created for the 1985 local elections, where it contained five wards. Four of the wards came from the abolished Belfast Area C, which it effectively replaced, with the final ward, Blackstaff, coming from Belfast Area F. From the 1993 local elections to the 2011 elections, the area contained six wards, following the creation of the Musgrave ward. For the 2014 local elections, it lost the wards of Blackstaff and Windsor and gained the Belvoir ward, which had previously been part of the abolished Castlereagh Borough Council. This was as a result of the 2014 Local Government Reform.

Wards (1985–2011)

Councillors

In May 2011, Councillors Tom Ekin, Ruth Patterson and

Bob Stoker Robert Stoker is a Northern Irish Community Worker and former unionist politician in South Belfast who was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1999 to 2000, and an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Belfast City Council, Belfast City councillor for the Balmoral ...

were appointed as

Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking membe ...

by Belfast City Council. Alderman Ruth Patterson also served as Deputy Lord Mayor, 2011–12, while Mairtin O'Muilleoir is serving as Lord Mayor for 2013–14.

2023 Election

2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Fein 2023: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin 2019–2023 Change: Alliance gain from DUP

2019 Election

2014: 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Fein, 1 x UUP 2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Fein 2014-2019 Change: DUP gain from UUP

2014 Election

This election was carried out under new ward boundaries, as a result of local government reform. 2011: 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin 2014: 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP 2011-2014 Change: SDLP loss due to the reduction of one seat

2011 Election

2005: 2 x SDLP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP 2011: 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin 2005-2011 Change: Sinn Féin gain from DUP

2005 Election

2001: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 2005: 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 2001-2005 Change: DUP gain from UUP

2001 Election

1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 2001: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 1997-2001 Change: No change

1997 Election

1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance 1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 1993-1997 Change: SDLP gain from DUP

1993 Election

1989: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance 1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance 1989-1993 Change: DUP gain due to the addition of one seat

1989 Election

1985: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 1989: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP 1985-1989 Change: SDLP gain from DUP

1985 Election

1985: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance Windsor Park football stadium - Empty

References

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