Ballymena (borough)


Ballymena is a former local government district with borough status in Northern Ireland. It was one of twenty-six districts created on 1 October 1973 and covered the town of Ballymena and the surrounding area which includes small towns including Broughshane, Cullybackey, Galgorm, Ahoghill and Portglenone. The borough had an area of and a population of 64,044 according to the 2011 census. The borough had a central location within Northern Ireland and was served by the M2 motorway and with a station on the Belfast-Derry/Londonderry railway line. Belfast International Airport itself was only away and the Belfast City Airport is from Ballymena. It was also accessible to the seaports of Larne and Belfast, 20 and away respectively. As of 2015 it has been replaced by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

Borough council

The borough of Ballymena was created in 1973 from the merging of the former municipal borough of Ballymena with most of the surrounding Ballymena Rural District. The new council inherited the 1937 charter of incorporation of the municipal borough, continuing the borough status and mayoralty.
The borough was divided into four electoral areas: Ballymena North, Ballymena South, Bannside, and Braid, from which 24 members were elected. The entire council was elected every four years by proportional representation. The last election was due to take place in May 2009, but on April 25, 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 In February 2012, the political composition of the council was:
Together with the neighbouring Borough of Ballymoney and part of the District of Moyle, it formed the North Antrim constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.