Northern Ireland is divided into 11 districts for local government purposes. In

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, local councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

; for example they have no responsibility for education, road-building or housing (although they do nominate members to the advisory Northern Ireland Housing Council). Their functions include planning, waste and recycling services, leisure and community services, building control and local economic and cultural development. The collection of rates is handled centrally by the Land and Property Services agency of the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ...

Local Government Districts

Northern Ireland, administrative divisions - Nmbrs - colored

The 11 districts were established in 2015. Basic geographical statistics are shown below; data collected for 'religion or religion brought up in' and 'national identity' by district are listed separately. Previously (between 1972 and 2015) the country was divided into 26 smaller districts.

Composition of District Councils

Based on the

2019 Northern Ireland local elections Local elections were held in Northern Ireland on Thursday 2 May 2019. The last elections were held in 2014. 819 candidates contested 462 seats across Northern Ireland's 11 local government districts. 1,305,384 people aged 18 and over were eligi ...

. ''Last updated 25 November 2022''

History

The current pattern of 11 local government districts was established on 1 April 2015, as a result of the reform process that started in 2005. The previous pattern of local government in Northern Ireland, with 26 councils, was established in 1973 by the

Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 The Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, passed in 1971 to replace the previous system of local authorities established by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. The system ...

and the

Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 The Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 1972 (1972 c. 9) was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland that constituted district councils to administer the twenty-six local government districts created by the Local Government (Boundaries ...

to replace the previous system established by the

Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 37) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that established a system of local government in Ireland similar to that already created for England, ...

. The system was based on the recommendations of the Macrory Report, of June 1970, which presupposed the continued existence of the

Government of Northern Ireland The government of Northern Ireland is, generally speaking, whatever political body exercises political authority over Northern Ireland. A number of separate systems of government exist or have existed in Northern Ireland. Following the partitio ...

to act as a regional-level authority. From 1921 to 1973, Northern Ireland was divided into six

administrative counties An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

(subdivided into urban and rural districts) and two

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

s. The counties and county boroughs continue to exist for the purposes of lieutenancy and

shrievalty A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

. This system, with the abolition of rural districts, remains the model for local government in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. (See also

List of rural and urban districts in Northern Ireland The urban districts and rural districts of Northern Ireland had their origin in 1899, when the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 came into effect. They were based on the system of district councils introduced in England and Wales four years e ...

for more details)

Elections

Councillors are elected for a four-year term of office under the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...

(STV) system. Elections were last held on 2 May 2019 and are next scheduled to be held on 4 May 2023. To qualify for election, a councillor candidate must be: * at least 18 years of age, and * a

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

citizen In addition, they must either: * be a local elector for the district, or * have, during the whole of the 12-month period prior to the election, either owned or occupied land in the district, or else resided or worked in the district

Combinations

The districts are combined for various purposes.

Eurostat NUTS level 3

In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), Northern Ireland is divided into five parts at level 3

Former Education and Library Boards

There were five education and library boards (ELBs) in Northern Ireland. As part of the Review of Public Administration process, the library functions of the ELBs were taken over by a new body, the Northern Ireland Library Authority (branded Libraries NI) in April 2009. The education and skills functions were centralised into a single

Education Authority for Northern Ireland The Education Authority ( ga, Údarás Oideachais) is a non-departmental body sponsored by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland. It was established under the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 (c. 12) which was passed by the Norther ...

in April 2015. The boards were as follows:

Former Health and Social Services Boards

There were four health and social services boards which were replaced by a single

Health and Social Care Board The Health and Social Care Board is an organisation responsible for the commissioning of health services for the people of Northern Ireland. Its current chief executive is Ms. Valerie Watts. Creation The Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Nor ...

in April 2009. The former health and social services boards were as follows:

Reform

In June 2002, the

established a Review of Public Administration to review the arrangements for the accountability, development, administration and delivery of public services. Among its recommendations were a reduction in the number of districts. In 2005

Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...

, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced proposals to reduce the number of councils to seven. The names and boundaries of the seven districts were announced in March 2007. In March 2008 the restored Northern Executive agreed to create eleven new councils instead of the original seven. The first elections were due to take place in May 2011. However, by May 2010 disagreements among parties in the executive over district boundaries were expected to delay the reforms until 2015. In June 2010 the proposed reforms were abandoned following the failure of the Northern Ireland Executive to reach agreement. However, on 12 March 2012, the

published its programme for government, which included a commitment to reduce the number of councils in Northern Ireland to 11.

Notes

References

External links

Local councils in Northern Ireland
NI Direct (Archived)
NI Local Government AssociationReview of Public Administration NILocal Government Boundaries Commissioner for Northern Ireland
(Archived)

DOE NI (Archived)

CAIN Web Service (University of Ulster)

CAIN Web Service (University of Ulster)
Northern Ireland Councillor's Handbook
Local Government Staff Commission for Northern Ireland (Archived)
Map of all UK local authorities
Office for National Statistics, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Local Government In Northern Ireland