is the largest local council serving the largest city in
Northern Ireland which has a population of 277,391. It is the central council for the Belfast Metropolitan Area which has a population of c.650,000. The Council is based in
Belfast City Hall .
Belfast is also the (sometime) seat of government for Northern Ireland. The council was created on its current boundaries following the local council elections of May 1973. Originally it was intended that there would be 52 wards however local enquiries meant that the proposed Tullycarnet ward became instead the Castlereagh borough council wards of Tullycarnet and Gilnahirk.
The council was originally Unionist dominated with the 1973 council elections electing 32 Unionists against 8 Alliance, 2 NI Labour Party, 7 SDLP and 2 Republican Clubs. However over time the Unionist lead was eroded and finally disappeared after the elections of 1997 when Unionists were reduced to 25 seats from the 51 available.
The current Belfast City Council area consists of 9 electoral areas: Oldpark, Castle, Victoria, Pottinger, Laganbank, Balmoral, Upper Falls, Lower Falls and Court. In the (DUP), 14
Sinn Féin , 8
Social Democratic And Labour Party (SDLP), 7
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 4
Alliance Party , 2
Progressive Unionist Party and 1 Independent who was previously a member of the (Unionist)
Ulster Democratic Party .
The current Lord Mayor is Councillor Wallace Browne (DUP) and the Deputy Lord Mayor is Councillor Patrick Convery (SDLP). The city council also (uniquely amongst Northern Ireland's councils) elects a
High Sherrif , who acts as the Queens representative in the city, the current holder of that office is Councillor William Humprey (DUP).
Belfast has four UK parliamentary and Assembly constituencies -
North Belfast ,
West Belfast ,
South Belfast and
East Belfast . All four extend somewhat beyond the city boundaries into parts of
Castlereagh ,
Lisburn and
Newtownabbey districts. In
2003 , they elected 7 Sinn Féin, 6 DUP, 5 Ulster Unionist, 4 SDLP, 1 PUP and 1 Alliance members of the
Northern Ireland Assembly . In the
2005 General Election , they elected 2 DUP MPs, 1 SDLP MP and 1 Sinn Fein MP.
The council owns a number of buildings and parks in Belfast, including
Belfast Castle and
Belfast Botanic Gardens .
