is the largest local council serving the largest city in
Northern Ireland which had an estimated population of in
. 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 was also the first 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 current Belfast City Council area consists of 9 electoral areas: Old park, 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 .
In 2006, the local government boundary commission published proposals to extend Belfast into the neighbouring districts of Castlereagh and Lisburn, as well as adding a small part of North Down. The proposed extension mostly comprises the communities of Poleglass, Twin brook, Dunmurry, Lagmore, Belvoir, Cregagh, Braniel, Gilnahirk and Tullycarnet. However some have suggested extending the council further into Castlereagh and Newtownabbey councils and these proposals have recently been discussed at a local enquiry.
1
In 1997,
Unionists lost overall control of
Belfast City Council for the first time in its history, with the
Alliance Party Of Northern Ireland gaining the balance of power between
Nationalists and Unionists. This position was confirmed in the council elections of
2001 and
2005 . Since then it has had three Nationalist mayors, two from the
Social Democratic And Labour Party (SDLP) and one from
Sinn Féin .
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In the 2005 local government elections, the voters of Belfast elected fifty-one councillors to Belfast City Council from the following political parties: 15
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 14
Sinn Féin , 8
Social Democratic And Abour Party (SDLP), 7
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 4
Alliance Party , 2
Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), and 1 Independent.
2 The Independent is Frank McCoubrey who is a leading member of the
Ulster Political Research Group , the successor to the
Ulster Democratic Party .
The city of Belfast has a
Mayoral form of
Municipal Government . The City's elected officials are the
Lord Mayor , Deputy Lord Mayor and
High Sheriff who are drawn from fifty one elected
Councillors . The first Lord Mayor of Belfast was Daniel Dixon, who was elected in 1892.
3 As of June 2007, the Lord Mayor of Belfast is
Ulster Unionist Party politician,
Jim Rodgers , who previously served in the same office in 2001. His duties, as mayor of Belfast, include presiding over meetings of the council, receiving distinguished visitors to the city, and representing and promoting the city on the national and international stage.
His deputy is Councillor Bernie Kelly (SDLP). The city council also (uniquely amongst Northern Ireland's councils) elects a
High Sheriff , who acts as the Queen's representative in the city; the current holder of that office is Councillor Jim Kirkpatrick (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
2007 , the people of Belfast elected 8 Sinn Féin, 7 DUP, 3 Ulster Unionist, 4 SDLP, 1 PUP and 2 Alliance members of the
Northern Ireland Assembly . In the
2005 General Election , they elected 2 DUP MPs, 1 SDLP MP and 1 Sinn Féin MP.
The council owns a number of buildings and parks in Belfast, including
Belfast Castle and
Belfast Botanic Gardens .
Belfast City Council is also responsible for the City's Parks. They maintain the city's green spaces and organising park events and activities. They also work to promote some of Belfast’s biggest tourist attractions, like
Belfast Zoo and
Malone House .
