Castlereagh ( ) was a
local government district with the
status of borough 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 ...
. It merged with
Lisburn City Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, with a small amount being transferred to Belfast City Council.
It was a mainly urban borough consisting mostly of suburbs of
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 ...
in the Castlereagh Hills (to the south-east of the city) with a small rural area in the south of the borough. Unusually, it had no natural borough centre. The main centres of population are
Carryduff, 6 miles (9.6 km) south of Belfast city centre and
Dundonald, 5 miles (8 km) east of it.
Castlereagh was named after the
barony of
Castlereagh, which in turn was named after the
townland of same name (from the Irish ''An Caisleán Riabhach'', or Grey Castle, a reference to a stronghold of the
Clandeboye O'Neils which stood on a site near what is now an
Orange hall on Church Road).
Creation
The district was one of twenty-six created on 1 October 1973. It was formed by the amalgamation of the following areas 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 ...
: most of Castlereagh Rural District, the
Carryduff and
Newtownbreda areas of Hillsborough Rural District and the
Moneyreagh area of North Down Rural District.
Borough council

The borough was divided into four electoral areas: Castlereagh Central, South, East and West. In the 2011 elections, 23 members were elected. As of February 2012 the political composition of the council was: 11
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 6
Alliance Party, 3
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 2
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (M ...
(SDLP) and 1
Green Party councillor. The last election was due to take place in May 2009, but on 25 April 2008,
Shaun Woodward,
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced that the scheduled 2009 district council elections were to be postponed until the introduction of the eleven new councils in 2011. The proposed reforms were abandoned in 2010, and the
most recent district council elections took place in 2011
Mayor of Castlereagh
In 1977 Castlereagh District Council was granted a
charter of incorporation constituting the district as a borough, and creating the office of mayor.
The mayor for the civic year 2013–2014 was councillor David Drysdale (DUP) and the Deputy Mayor was councillor Ann-Marie Beattie (DUP).
Parliamentary and assembly representation
The borough was divided between the
East Belfast constituency (the
wards of Ballyhanwood, Carrowreagh, Cregagh, Downshire, Dundonald, Enler, Gilnahirk, Graham's Bridge, Lisnasharragh, Lower Braniel, Tullycarnet and Upper Braniel), the
South Belfast constituency (Beechill, Cairnshill, Carryduff East, Carryduff West, Galwally, Hillfoot, Knockbracken, Minnowburn, Newtownbreda and Wynchurch wards) and the
Strangford constituency (Moneyreagh ward) for elections to the
Westminster Parliament and
Northern Ireland Assembly.
Elections 2011
These elections saw the political landscape at Castlereagh change dramatically. The DUP lost overall control of the council due to the loss of two council seats, one in Central and one in the East. The UUP also lost their sole representative in East. The Alliance Party gained one in East and Central, while the Green Party also gained in East. There were no changes in the West or South areas. There had been much speculation that demographic change would deliver Sinn Féin a seat in South. However, this turned out to be unfounded, with the SDLP being the sixth placed runner up, being narrowly beaten by the UUP for the fifth seat.
Population
The area covered by the former Castlereagh Borough Council had a population of 67,272 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.
Freedom of the Borough
The following people and military units have received the
Freedom of the Borough of Castlereagh.
Individuals
*
George Best: 2002.
*
Peter Robinson: 2003.
Military Units
* The
Ulster Defence Regiment: 1984.
* The
Ulster Special Constabulary Association: 1992.
* The Regimental Association of the
Ulster Defence Regiment: 1994.
* The
Royal Irish Regiment: 1995.
* The
Royal British Legion: 1996.
* The
204 (North Irish) Field Hospital Royal Army Medical Corps (Volunteers): 28 June 1998.
* The
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...
GC: 2000.
* The
Northern Ireland Prison Service: 2004.
* The
152 (North Irish) Regiment RLC (Volunteers): 25 May 2013.
* The 152
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Workshops: 25 May 2013.
* The
Police Service of Northern Ireland: December 2014.
See also
*
Local government in Northern Ireland
References
Further References
Bow, John. 2011. Castlereagh, Enlightenment War and Tyranny. Quercus.
External links
Castlereagh Borough Council
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Politics of County Down
Politics of Belfast
Districts of Northern Ireland, 1972–2015
Boroughs of Northern Ireland
Lisburn and Castlereagh