Craigavon Borough Council
Craigavon Borough Council was a local council in counties Armagh, Down and Antrim, in Northern Ireland. It merged with Armagh City and District Council and Banbridge District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon District Council.
Craigavon Borough
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| Area | 378 km2 (146 sq mi) Ranked 19th of 26 |
| District HQ | Craigavon |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Website | www |
The headquarters of the council were in Craigavon, on the shores of Lough Neagh, a new town built between Lurgan and Portadown. The council area included the large towns of Lurgan and Portadown, as well as smaller ones including Waringstown and Donaghcloney. The average council budget of £15.5 million provided a wide range of services to the 93,023 people living in the area.
The council area consisted of four electoral areas – Central, Loughside, Lurgan and Portadown – in which 26 councillors were elected every four years. The council held an annual meeting in June, at which a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor were elected. Parties elected in 2011, the last elections for the council, were Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) nine seats, Sinn Féin eight, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) six, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) four, and Alliance Party of Northern Ireland one.
The last 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.[1] The proposed reforms were abandoned in 2010, and the 2011 Northern Ireland local elections took place to fill the last body on the council before being dissolved[2] The proposed reform took effect on 1 April 2015.
Together with part of the district of Banbridge, it was part of the Upper Bann constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.
Summary of seats won 1973–2011
| 1973 | 1977 | 1981 | 1985 | 1989 | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2011 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ulster Unionist (UUP) | 11 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| Alliance (APNI) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Vanguard (VUPP) | 4 | |||||||||
| Democratic Unionist (DUP) | 3 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 9 |
| Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| Independent Nationalist (IN) | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| United Ulster Unionist (UUUP) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Workers' Party (WP) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Sinn Féin (SF) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | |||
| Independent Unionist (IU) | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Note: The Workers' Party were known as The Republican Clubs in 1977 and Workers Party Republican Clubs in 1981.
Mayor of Craigavon
Source: Freedom of Information request to Craigavon Borough Council
Final council makeup
Below is a list of members who made up the final sitting of the council before it was dissolved.
| Name | Party | |
|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Buckley | DUP | |
| Phil Moutray | DUP | |
| Robert Smith | DUP | |
| Mark Baxter | DUP | |
| Margaret Tinsley | DUP | |
| Alan Carson | DUP | |
| Darryn Causby | DUP | |
| Gladys McCullough | DUP | |
| Carla Lockhart | DUP | |
| Catherine Seeley | Sinn Féin | |
| Mark O'Dowd | Sinn Féin | |
| Liam Mackle | Sinn Féin | |
| Mairead O'Dowd | Sinn Féin | |
| Paul Duffy | Sinn Féin | |
| Gemma McKenna | Sinn Féin | |
| Thomas O'Connor | Sinn Féin | |
| Noel McGeown | Sinn Féin | |
| Kyle Savage | Ulster Unionist | |
| Arnold Hatch | Ulster Unionist | |
| Ronald Harkness | Ulster Unionist | |
| Colin McCusker | Ulster Unionist | |
| Meta Crozier | Ulster Unionist | |
| Kenneth Twyble | Ulster Unionist | |
| Declan McAlinden | SDLP | |
| Joseph Nelson | SDLP | |
| Conrad Dixon | Alliance | |
Council services
- Coney Island, Lough Neagh is owned by the National Trust and was managed on their behalf by Craigavon Borough Council.[3]
Population
The area covered by Craigavon Borough Council had a population of 93,023 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.[4]
See also
References
- Northern Ireland elections are postponed, BBC News, April 25, 2008, accessed April 27, 2008
- "The executive fails to agree a deal on council reform". BBC News. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
- "Coney Island". Culture Northern Ireland. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
- "NI Census 2011 - Key Statistics Summary Report, September 2014" (PDF). NI Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
