Down District Council was a Local Council in

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 ...

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

Newry and Mourne District Council Newry and Mourne District Council () was a local council in Northern Ireland. It merged with Down District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Newry, Mourne and Down District Council. It inclu ...

in April 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (Irish language, Irish: ''Comhairle Ceantair an Iúir, Mhúrn agus an Dúin'') is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaces Down District Council and Newry and ...

. The council was headquartered in

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Down Cathedral, Its cathedral is sai ...

. Other towns in the Council area were

Ardglass Ardglass () is a coastal fishing village, townland (of 321 acres) and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the historic barony of Lecale Lower. It is still a relatively important fishing harbour. It is situated on the B1 Ardglas ...

, Ballynahinch,

Castlewellan Castlewellan () is a small town in County Down, in the south-east of Northern Ireland close to the Irish Sea. It is beside Castlewellan Lake and Slievenaslat mountain, southwest of Downpatrick. It lies between the Mourne Mountains and Slieve ...

Clough Clough ( ; ) is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits about 3 miles from Dundrum on the A2 between Newcastle and Belfast. The A2 continues via Downpatrick and the coast via Strangford and the Portaferry – Stran ...

Crossgar Crossgar () is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is about south of Belfast, between Saintfield and Downpatrick. Crossgar had a population 1,997 people in the 2021 UK Census. History Crossgar has had an interesting ...

, Dundrum,

Killough Killough ( ; ) is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the Irish Sea shore near Ardglass, five miles southeast of Downpatrick. It is a conservation area notable for its sycamore-lined main street. In the 2001 Cen ...

Killyleagh Killyleagh (; ) is a village and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the A22 road between Belfast and Downpatrick, on the western side of Strangford Lough. It had a population of 2,787 people in the 2021 Census. It is bes ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

Saintfield Saintfield () is a village and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is about halfway between Belfast and Downpatrick on the A7 road (Northern Ireland), A7 road. It had a population of 3,588 in the 2021 Unite ...

Seaforde Seaforde is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Naghan,Strangford Strangford (from Old Norse ''Strangr fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet") is a small village at the mouth of Strangford Lough, on the Lecale peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 475 at the 2001 census. On th ...

. The Down District Council area consisted of 4 electoral areas: Ballynahinch, Downpatrick, Newcastle and Rowallane. At the last election in 2011, 23 Councillors were elected from the following political parties: 9

SDLP 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 (MPs ...

, 5

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

, 3 DUP, 3 UUP, 1 Alliance Party, 1

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

, 1

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. The Council Chairman for the 2011/2012 council term was Councillor Dermot Curran (SDLP) and the Vice Chair is Councillor Liam Johnston (Sinn Féin). In elections for the

Westminster Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

, Down was split between the Strangford constituency and the South Down constituency.

Work of the Council

The Council periodically had to provide funding to ensure that the Saint Patrick Visitor Centre in

remained in operation. It also funded a major promenade infrastructure regeneration in

. The new promenade has won a number of National awards including a Civic Trust Award for Excellence in the Public Realm.

Review of Public Administration

Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the council was due to merge with

in 2011 to form a single council for the enlarged area totalling 1539 km² and a population of 150,886. The first election to the new council was due to take place in May 2009, but on 25 April 2008,

Shaun Woodward Shaun Anthony Woodward (born 26 October 1958) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2010. A former television researcher and producer, Woodward began his political career in the Conservativ ...

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The secretary of state for Northern Ireland (; ), also referred to as Northern Ireland Secretary or SoSNI, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Northern Ireland Office. The offi ...

announced that the scheduled 2009 district council elections were to be postponed until the introduction of the eleven new councils in 2011. The planned change was abandoned in 2010 and the most recent election took place in May 2011 under the existing boundaries.

Population

The area covered by Down District Council had a population of 69,731 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.

References

External links

Down District Council
website
Armagh and Down TourismDown County MuseumDown Arts Centre
{{coord, 54.352, -5.731, region:GB_scale:100000, display=title Politics of County Down Downpatrick District councils of Northern Ireland, 1973–2015 Newry, Mourne and Down

Work of the Council

Review of Public Administration

Population

See also

References

External links