Banbridge was a
local government district
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...
in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. The district was one of 26 council areas formed on 1 October 1973, following the implementation of the
Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972
The Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 1972 (c. 9 (N.I.)) 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 (Bounda ...
. The headquarters of the council were in the town of
Banbridge
Banbridge ( ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. It is in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iveagh Upper ...
. In April 2015, most of the Banbridge district was included in the merged
Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon district. Some smaller areas in the east of the district (mostly those of a majority Catholic Population) became merged with the
Newry, Mourne and Down
Newry, Mourne and Down () is a Local government in Northern Ireland, local government district in Northern Ireland that was created on 1 April 2015 by merging Newry and Mourne District and Down (district), Down District. It covers most of the so ...
District
Location and geography
The area of the former district is in the west of
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
and covered an area of of countryside – from
Slieve Croob (1,775 ft) in the east to the
River Bann
The River Bann (from , meaning "the goddess"; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is the longest rivers, river in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). The total length ...
valley in the west. It is also the main gateway to the
Mourne Mountains
The Mourne Mountains ( ; ), also called the Mournes or the Mountains of Mourne, are a predominantly granite mountain range in County Down in the south-east of Northern Ireland. They include the highest mountain in all of Ulster, Slieve Donard ...
, which lie to the south and is bisected by the A1 route between
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
and
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
.
The district was formed by the merger of Banbridge Urban District,
Dromore Urban District and Banbridge Rural District. In 1993 there was a boundary change, and the
Rathfriland
Rathfriland () is a market town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is north-east of Newry town centre.
History
In older documents written in English, the town's name was usually spelt ''Rathfylan'' or ''Rathfrilan''. area was transferred from the neighbouring district of
Newry and Mourne.
The other main small towns in the area included
Gilford,
Loughbrickland
Loughbrickland ( or ; ) is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland, south of Banbridge on the A1 Belfast–Dublin road. In the 2011 Census it had a population of 693. Loughbrickland is within the Banbridge District.
History
Lough ...
and
Scarva.
[ According to the 2001 census, the population of the district was just over 42,000 and according to the 2011 census this had grown to 48,339.
]
Economic profile
Historically, Banbridge District's economy had its roots in manufacturing (textile/linen and shoe production), agriculture and the retailing/service sector. Ferguson's, one of the oldest names in the Irish linen industry, still operates in Banbridge, and a shoe factory first opened in 1947 and closed in the early 2000s. It employed 600 workers at its height. According to council statistics the district was home to over 1,770 businesses, the vast majority of which had fewer than 10 employees. One of the most important recent large-scale economic developments to occur in the district was the opening of a discount fashion outlet on the outskirts of Banbridge, which currently has 59 different stores. The outlet forms part of the Bridgewater Park development project, for which Tesco currently has planning permission to open one of its largest stores in Ireland. In late 2010 Asda also submitted plans for a store in Banbridge, with the possibility of creating jobs for up to 250 district residents.
Health profile
In 2006–2008 the life of expectancy of females living in the district was 82.6 years (Northern Ireland average was 81.3), compared with a life expectancy of 78.1 for males (Northern Ireland average was 79.3). According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA, ) is an executive agency within the Department of Finance (Northern Ireland), Department of Finance in Northern Ireland. The organisation is responsible for the collection and publicat ...
, in 2010 the district had a total of 12 GP practices with a total 31 GPs serving 54,956 registered patients, resulting in an average GP list size of 1,773, compared to the Northern Ireland average of 1,608. The district had its own hospital, located in Banbridge, until December 1996 when inpatient services were ended. Craigavon Area Hospital now deals with the majority of primary care cases from the district. In January 2002, the former district council paid £725,000 for the former site of the hospital with the aim of turning it into a Community Health Village. In March 2011, the-then Minister for Health, Michael McGimpsey, approved plans for the start of construction of a new Community Treatment and Care Centre and Day Care facility in the grounds of the Community Health Village. This new facility, which will join the already relocated Banbridge Group Surgery, will cost an estimated £16.5 million and be home to around 220 staff.
Environmental profile
Since the late 1990s more and more attention has been paid both by the local council and residents to enhancing the district's environmental profile. Over the past decade Banbridge district has repeatedly recorded one of the highest levels of recycling in Northern Ireland. In 2009–2010, for example, almost 52% of household waste was recycled/composted. In June 2009, a bring-and-buy reuse shop, Restore, was also opened by the local council in an effort to reduce waste in the district. In May 2012 the council beat Warwickshire County Council and Cardiff City Council to win the best Local Authority Recycling Initiative at the ninth annual Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management.
In 2007 a biodiversity audit was carried out and in late 2007 a biodiversity action plan was published. Like the rest of Northern Ireland, woodlands make up only a small percentage of the former district's land cover (according to the Forestry Commission only 6.5% of Northern Ireland was forested in 2010). In recent years public funds have been committed to improving access to and the quality of outdoor spaces, including for example Solitude Park in Banbridge, the Newry Canal
The Newry Canal is an abandoned canal in Northern Ireland. Opened in 1742, it was built to link the Tyrone coalfields to the Irish Sea. The navigable route ran from Lough Neagh via the Upper Bann river to Portadown (approximated 9 miles), then ...
Towpath which ran through the western part of the district, and Slieve Croob taking in the Legananny Dolmen and the Finnis souterrain (known locally as Binder's Cove). Given the unfavourable topography, the district was not home to any wind turbines, but it was announced in May 2010 that a biogas
Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, Wastewater treatment, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic ...
site would be built.
Educational profile
Banbridge District lay within the former Southern Education and Library Board area and was home to thirty-one publicly funded educational establishments. This included: three pre-primary nurseries; twenty-one primary schools (of which ten were “controlled” primaries, one was a “grant-maintained integrated” primary, and the other ten were “maintained” primaries); five post-primary institutions (of which one was a maintained secondary, two were controlled secondary schools, one was a controlled grammar school, and one was a grant-maintained integrated school). There was also a special needs school in Banbridge catering for pupils aged five to nineteen, which lay adjacent to one of six campuses belonging to the Southern Regional College
Southern Regional College (SRC) is a further and higher education college in the southern area of Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2007 following a merger of the Further Education colleges of Armagh College, Newry and K ...
.
Sports and community sector
According to information collected by the local council, over 200 community groups and more than 80 sports clubs operated in the Banbridge District. In all probability these figures represent a conservative estimate of the vibrancy and diversity of social capital in the local area as the council's directory of community groups and sports clubs included some but not all of the many different youth, sports, and other types of groups and clubs that met under the auspices of local churches.
Arts and culture profile
Local government funding for the arts in the district was comparatively very low. In the financial year 2003–2004 the local council spent £1.23 per capita on the arts, which covers arts development and support, as well as spending on theatres and public entertainment. This compared to a mean Northern Ireland per-capita spend of £7.70, putting Banbridge District in 22nd place out of the 26 local councils. By 2006–2007, the mean per-capita spending on the arts by the council had risen to £3.38, but this compared to a Northern Ireland average of £8.44, putting the council at fifth from the bottom of Northern Ireland's 26 local authorities.
The two main arts venues in the area of the former district are the Iveagh Cinema and the F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio. The £3-million cinema, which opened in May 2004, is home to a 300-seater screen that was specially designed and built to double up as a theatre facility for live performances, plays, and arts events. The F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, opened in September 2008, houses the contents of the London studio of F. E. McWilliam, a sculpture garden of McWilliam's work, as well as providing a dedicated gallery space for temporary exhibitions.
District council
The district was divided into three electoral areas: Banbridge, Knockiveagh and Dromore, which between them returned 17 members. Elections of the whole council were usually held every four years and were conducted under the proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
single transferable vote
The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...
system. Notably, Banbridge District Council was the only council controlled by one party (the UUP) from its creation in 1973 until the year 2000 when the DUP gained a seat in a by-election in Dromore. Following the May 2011 local-government elections, the UUP retook its position from the DUP as the largest party on the council, winning seven of the 17 seats available. This was one of the few gains made by the UUP in either the local or Assembly elections of that year. Six of the 17 councillors elected in 2011 were women. At 56 percent, turnout in the 2011 elections was the lowest it had been since Banbridge Council was formed in 1973.
In the civic year 2011–2012 UUP councillors Joan Baird and Carol Black served as the head and deputy head of the council. This was the first time in the history of Banbridge Council that the positions of chairman and vice-chairman had been held by women.
Election results
Elections of the entire council were held every four years. The number of seats won by each party is shown below. An election was due in 2009, but this was delayed until 2011 so as to accommodate the completion of a local-government reform programme aimed at reducing the number of council areas from 26 to 11. The proposed amalgamation was abandoned in 2010, and so the 2011 elections returned members for the original 26 councils.
2008 Dromore by-election
In late 2007 UUP Councillor Tyrone Howe
Tyrone Gyle Howe (born 2 April 1971, Newtownards, Northern Ireland) is a former rugby player who played on the wing for University of St Andrews RFC, Ulster, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions.
Howe was brought up in Dromore, attended Banb ...
resigned due to work commitments. The resulting by election was the first electoral test for Traditional Unionist Voice
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties, the TUV's political programme has as its '' sine qua non'' the preservation of Northern Ireland's pl ...
. Against expectations, the UUP held the seat.
Parliamentary and assembly representation
In elections for the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...
the district was split between the Upper Bann (Ballydown, Banbridge West, Edenderry, Fort, Gilford, Lawrencetown, Loughbrickland, Seapatrick, The Cut), the Lagan Valley (Dromore North, Dromore South, Gransha and Quilly) and the South Down (Ballyward, Bannside, Katesbridge and Rathfriland) constituencies.
Review of local government
As part of the review of public administration in Northern Ireland begun in 2002, plans were developed to merge Banbridge District Council with neighbouring council areas. According to the first seven-council model, announced in late 2005, it was proposed that Banbridge District should be merged with three other councils (Armagh
Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...
, Craigavon and Newry and Mourne). In June 2007 a second, 11-council reform proposal was announced according to which most of the area covered by Banbridge District would be merged with Armagh City and District Council
Armagh City and District Council was a district council in County Armagh in Northern Ireland. It merged with Banbridge District Council and Craigavon Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to beco ...
and Craigavon Borough Council
Craigavon Borough Council was a local council in counties Armagh, Down and Antrim, in Northern Ireland. It merged with Armagh City and District Council and Banbridge District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Nor ...
. While some aspects of the review of public administration proceeded that will affect the character of local councils in Northern Ireland, for example the transfer of the majority of planning functions from central government to district councils, the plans for local government amalgamation were put on hold. Amalgamation ultimately took place on 1 April 2015.
Local media
The district was served by four local newspapers: the Banbridge Chronicle (established 1870), the Dromore Leader, the Banbridge Leader, and the County Down Outlook (established 1940). A year-round community radio station, 102.4 Shine FM, was also broadcast from Banbridge. Since 2007, a second community radio station, called fUSe FM, based in Rathfriland
Rathfriland () is a market town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is north-east of Newry town centre.
History
In older documents written in English, the town's name was usually spelt ''Rathfylan'' or ''Rathfrilan''. also operated, though for a limited number of days each year.
Banbridge district and the Troubles
Like all other parts of Northern Ireland, Banbridge District was not unaffected by the Troubles
The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
. Between 1969 and 2001 twelve individuals (six Catholic, six Protestant) lost their lives in the district as a result of the Troubles: Patrick Campbell in 1973, Joseph Toland in 1975, William, Elizabeth, and Noleen Herron, and Barry O’Dowd in 1976, Robert Harrison in 1977, Alan McCrum in 1982, John Bell in 1985, Terence Delaney in 1988, and Patrick Feeny and Loughlin Maginn in 1989. During the Troubles
The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
two bombs exploded in the district, both in Banbridge. The first was in 1982, as a result of which Alan McCrum died. Two weeks before the Omagh bombing, on 1 August 1998, a second car bomb planted by the Real IRA
The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), was a Dissident republican, dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aimed to bring about a United Ireland. It was formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional Irish Republica ...
exploded in Banbridge town centre. While this second bomb caused a great deal of structural damage, no one was killed.
Railways
Scarva railway station is on the Dublin-Belfast railway line and is often passed at speed by the Enterprise
Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to:
Business and economics
Brands and enterprises
* Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company
* Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company
* Enterpris ...
. The Enterprise runs between Belfast Grand Central., Portadown
Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...
then fast to and on via principal stations to Dublin Connolly
Connolly station () or Dublin Connolly is the busiest railway station in Dublin and Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. On the North side of the River Liffey, it provides InterCity, Enterprise and commuter services to ...
. NI Railways however operate a service from calling at local stations including Poyntzpass
Poyntzpass () is a small village on the border between southern County Armagh and County Down in Northern Ireland. It is situated in the civil parish of Ballymore and the historic barony of Orior Lower within the Armagh City, Banbridge and C ...
and Scarva to Portadown
Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...
and additional stations to Belfast Grand Central.
See also
* Local government in Northern Ireland
Local government in Northern Ireland is divided among 11 single-tier districts known as 'Local Government Districts' (abbreviated LGDs) and formerly known as district council areas (DCAs). Councils in Northern Ireland do not carry out the same ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banbridge (District)
Politics of County Down
Districts of Northern Ireland, 1972–2015
District
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon