North Down Borough Council - Definition

North Down borough
Geography
Area: - Total - % Water	Ranked 26th 81 km² ? %
Admin HQ:	Bangor
ISO 3166-2:	GB-NDN
ONS code:	95W
Demographics
Population: - Total (April 29, 2001) - Density	Ranked 7th 76,323 937 / km²
Community:	Protestant: 80.5% Catholic: 12.6
Politics
North Down Borough Council http://www.northdown.gov.uk
MP:	Sylvia Hermon

North Down Borough Council is a Local Council in County Down in Northern Ireland. Its main town is Bangor, 20km East of Belfast with a population of approximately 55,000. The Council is headquartered in Bangor. Its secondary centre is the former Urban District of Holywood, 8km Northeast of Belfast with a population of approximately 10,000. Most of the remainder of a total population of over 76,000 is in suburban villages along the southern shore of Belfast Lough. The Borough is heavily suburbanised - railway links with Belfast are good and the area has been the domain of well-heeled Belfast commuters since the mid-19th Century. The Borough is often held to be the wealthiest area in Northern Ireland, although there are pockets of deprivation in a string of overspill public housing estates along the Bangor Ring Road.

The North Down Borough Council area consists of 4 electoral areas: Abbey, Ballyholme and Groomsport, Bangor West and Holywood. In the 2001 election 25 members were elected from the following political parties: 8 Ulster Unionist Party, 5 Democratic Unionist Party, 5 Alliance, 2 UK Unionist Party, 1 Northern Ireland Women's Coalition and 4 Independents. The current Mayor is Councillor Valerie Kinghan (UK Unionist) and the Deputy Mayor is Councillor John Montgomery (DUP).

The next election is due to take place in May 2005.

The Borough of North Down was formed in 1973 following Local Government reorganisation and was comprised of the old Bangor Urban District Council, Holywood Urban District Council, North Down Rural District Council and part of Castlereagh Rural District Council.

In elections for the Westminster Parliament it is part of the slightly larger North Down constituency See Also: Local Councils in Northern Ireland