Council Names revealed

The proposed names and boundaries for Northern Ireland's seven new 'Super-Councils' have been revealed by Local Government Boundaries Commissioner, Dick Mackenzie.

Local councils will be disbanded, with seven new ones created. Historians have failed to come up with engaging or unifying names for the new districts, prompting the commissioner to simply adopt geographically logical titles for them.

The current proposals are:

1. Belfast Local Government District, incorporating the current Belfast City Council, parts of Lisburn, North Down and Castlereagh;
2. North East Local Government District, made up of Ballymena, Ballymoney, Larne, Moyle and a major part of Coleraine.
3. Inner East Local Government District, incorporating Antrim, Carrickfergus, Newtownabbey Councils and the remainder of Lisburn City Council;
4. East Local Government District, comprising Ards, Down, parts of North Down and Castlereagh Councils;
5. South Local Government District, made up of Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon and Newry and Mourne;
6. North West Local Government District, comprising Derry, Limavady, Magherafelt and Strabane and part of Coleraine;
7. West Local Government District, incorporating Cookstown, Dungannon and South Tyrone, Fermanagh and Omagh;

It is proposed that each council would have between 50 and 65 councillors, except for Belfast which should have 60.

Consultation

A consultation process has now begun, with written responses to the changes being invited by the Commissioner until January 5 2007. Public meetings will also be held in locations throughout Northern Ireland.

More infomation on the consultation process will follow on Community NI as it develops.

Much more information on the history of Northern Ireland's local government boundaries, and their current setup can be found at this developing Wikipedia resource.