The electoral wards of Belfast are subdivisions of the city , used primarily for statistics and elections. Belfast had 51 wards from May 1973, which were revised in May 1985 and again in May 1993. The number of wards was increased to 60 with the 2014 changes in local government . Wards are the smallest administrative unit in Northern Ireland and are set by the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner and reviewed every 8–12 years.
21-629: Upper Falls was one of the nine district electoral areas (DEA) which existed in Belfast , Northern Ireland from 1985 to 2014. Located in the west of the city, the district elected five members to Belfast City Council and contained the wards of Andersonstown ; Falls Park; Glen Road; Glencolin; and Ladybrook. Upper Falls formed part of the Belfast West constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament . The district, along with
42-605: A reference to a stronghold of the Clandeboye O'Neils which stood on a site near what is now an Orange hall on Church Road). The district was one of twenty-six created on 1 October 1973. It was formed by the amalgamation of the following areas of County Down : most of Castlereagh Rural District, the Carryduff and Newtownbreda areas of Hillsborough Rural District and the Moneyreagh area of North Down Rural District. The borough
63-672: The Northern Ireland Assembly and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom . In elections to Belfast City Council , the 60 wards are split into ten District Electoral Areas, each of which contains between five and seven wards, with the number of councillors it elects equal to the number of wards it contains. The constituencies for elections to the House of Commons and the Assembly are coterminous and are created by amalgamating wards into larger areas, with
84-651: The Strangford constituency (Moneyreagh ward) for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly . These elections saw the political landscape at Castlereagh change dramatically. The DUP lost overall control of the council due to the loss of two council seats, one in Central and one in the East. The UUP also lost their sole representative in East. The Alliance Party gained one in East and Central, while
105-470: The single transferable vote method of election meant that a different system was required. The 51 wards were therefore grouped into 8 electoral areas, distinguished by letters, with each electoral area returning either 6 or 7 councillors. By the early 1980s, population shifts, demolition of some the older housing estates and residential flight caused by the Troubles had again led to substantial disparities in
126-558: The 582 wards across Northern Ireland. Each ward contains several Super Output Area, which in turn are made up of a number of Census Output Areas. The wards were redrawn for the 2014 elections. The table below shows the divisions from 2014 to present. From 1928 until May 1973, Belfast was divided into 15 wards, each represented by a total of four aldermen or councillors . The 15 wards were Duncairn, Dock, Clifton, Shankill, Court, Woodvale, Smithfield, Falls, Saint Anne's, Saint George's, Windsor, Cromac, Ormeau, Pottinger and Victoria. By
147-680: The Green Party also gained in East. There were no changes in the West or South areas. There had been much speculation that demographic change would deliver Sinn Féin a seat in South. However, this turned out to be unfounded, with the SDLP being the sixth placed runner up, being narrowly beaten by the UUP for the fifth seat. The area covered by the former Castlereagh Borough Council had a population of 67,272 residents according to
168-1227: The area and abolished the Upper Falls DEA. Four of the six wards became part of a new Black Mountain District Electoral Area , while the remaining two formed part of a new Collin District Electoral Area , together with parts of the former Lisburn City Council . 2005: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP 2011: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP 2005-2011 Change: No change 2001: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP 2005: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP 2001-2005 Change: No change 1997: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP 2001: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP 1997-2001 Change: No change 1993: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP 1997: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP 1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP 1989: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP 1993: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP 1989-1993 Change: No change 1985: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance 1989: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP 1985-1989 Change: Sinn Féin gain from Alliance 1985: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance Electoral wards of Belfast Wards are used to create constituencies for local government authorities ,
189-478: The city's wards split between the four 'Belfast' constituencies, although these also contain wards from bordering local authorities. The use of wards for statistical purposes by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has changed since the creation of 'Census Output Areas' (5022 in total) and 'Super Output Areas' (890 in total), which were created to address the variance in size of
210-695: The civic year 2013–2014 was councillor David Drysdale (DUP) and the Deputy Mayor was councillor Ann-Marie Beattie (DUP). The borough was divided between the East Belfast constituency (the wards of Ballyhanwood, Carrowreagh, Cregagh, Downshire, Dundonald, Enler, Gilnahirk, Graham's Bridge, Lisnasharragh, Lower Braniel, Tullycarnet and Upper Braniel), the South Belfast constituency (Beechill, Cairnshill, Carryduff East, Carryduff West, Galwally, Hillfoot, Knockbracken, Minnowburn, Newtownbreda and Wynchurch wards) and
231-415: The early 1970s, population shifts had resulted in significant differences in the electorates of the wards. Although the wards continued to have four representatives on Belfast City Council, electorates varied from less than 5,000 in the smallest ward, Smithfield, to almost 40,000 in the largest ward, Victoria. The review of local government which took place in the early 1970s expanded Belfast to take in some of
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#1732851630722252-426: The electorates of the wards. Some wards in inner city Belfast such as Crumlin had lost over 70% of their population. The review of local government which took place from 1982 to 1984 created 51 wards, many new or substantially different from their namesakes. The initial proposals, published in 1983, survived unchanged with a few exceptions. The proposed Peter's Hill ward was renamed Saint Anne's. The Donegall ward, one of
273-525: The existing Finaghy ward was renamed Musgrave, while a new Finaghy ward was created from the southern parts of the older Finaghy ward and the Upper Malone ward, which compensated by gaining territory from Malone and Stranmillis wards. The table below shows the divisions from 1993 to 2013. religious community background (%) religious community background (%) Castlereagh (borough) Castlereagh ( / ˈ k ɑː s əl r eɪ / KAH -səl-ray )
294-619: The few unchanged wards, was renamed Blackstaff. In inner south Belfast, the Saint George's, university and Cromac wards were to have been replaced with an eastern ward, to be called Linenhall, and a western ward, to be called College. Following public inquiries, the wards were replaced with a southern ward, Botanic, and a northern ward, Shaftesbury, which merged the former Cromac and Saint George's wards. As in 1973, these wards were grouped into electoral areas electing between 5 and 7 councillors. A further review took place in 1991–1992 and compared to
315-508: The neighbouring Lower Falls district, took its name from the Falls Road , one of the main arterial routes in the west of the city. The district was created for the 1985 local elections. All five wards were part of Area D before 1985. Area D had also contained three wards which became part of the Lower Falls electoral area . Boundary changes for the 2014 local elections created an extra ward in
336-486: The newer housing estates on the fringes of the city and attempted to equalise electorates. Initially, Belfast was to have been divided into 52 wards. Following a public review, one ward, Tullycarnet, was excluded from Belfast and became instead the Castlereagh wards of Tullycarnet and Gilnahirk. The remaining 51 wards were intended to elect one member each using the first past the post electoral system. The reintroduction of
357-557: The review of the 1980s, saw minor changes. In the Court electoral area, the existing Shankill ward was split between three other wards. One of these three wards which gained territory, Saint Anne's, having lost its eponymous area to the Duncairn ward, assumed the Shankill name. Initially, the number of wards was to have been cut to 50, however after a public inquiry, a new 51st ward was created. Most of
378-411: The scheduled 2009 district council elections were to be postponed until the introduction of the eleven new councils in 2011. The proposed reforms were abandoned in 2010, and the most recent district council elections took place in 2011 In 1977 Castlereagh District Council was granted a charter of incorporation constituting the district as a borough, and creating the office of mayor. The mayor for
399-517: The south-east of the city) with a small rural area in the south of the borough. Unusually, it had no natural borough centre. The main centres of population are Carryduff , 6 miles (9.6 km) south of Belfast city centre and Dundonald , 5 miles (8 km) east of it. Castlereagh was named after the barony of Castlereagh , which in turn was named after the townland of same name (from the Irish An Caisleán Riabhach , or Grey Castle,
420-632: Was a local government district with the status of borough in Northern Ireland . It merged with Lisburn City Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council , with a small amount being transferred to Belfast City Council. It was a mainly urban borough consisting mostly of suburbs of Belfast in the Castlereagh Hills (to
441-515: Was divided into four electoral areas: Castlereagh Central, South, East and West. In the 2011 elections, 23 members were elected. As of February 2012 the political composition of the council was: 11 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 6 Alliance Party , 3 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 2 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and 1 Green Party councillor. 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
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