Ballymoney

Ballymoney Borough
Geography
Area - Total	Ranked 17th of 26 418 km²
Admin HQ	Ballymoney
ISO 3166-2	GB-BLY
ONS code	95D
Demographics
Population - Total (2010) - Density	Ranked 25th 30,600 73 / km²
Community	Catholic: 31.9% Protestant: 66.2%
Politics
Control	No overall control DUP: 8 Sinn Féin: 3 UUP: 2 Independent: 1 SDLP: 1 TUV: 1
MLAs	North Antrim DUP: 3 Sinn Féin: 1 TUV: 1 UUP: 1
MPs	Ian Paisley, Jr. (DUP)
Meeting place
Website
http://www.ballymoney.gov.uk

Ballymoney is a local government district with borough status in Northern Ireland. It is headquartered in Ballymoney. Other towns in the borough include Dervock, Dunloy, Cloughmills and Rasharkin. The borough has a population of nearly 27,000.

Creation

Ballymoney is one of twenty-six districts created on 1 October 1973. It took over the areas Ballymoney Urban District Council and most of the surrounding Ballymoney Rural District in County Antrim.^[1]

Borough council

The borough is divided into three electoral areas which between them return 16 members. These are Ballymoney Town (5), Bann Valley (6) and Bushvale (5). Elections are conducted under the proportional representation single transferable vote system, and elections of the whole council are normally held every four years. The election due to take place in May 2009 was postponed in anticipation of the creation of eleven new councils in 2011.^[2] The proposed reforms were abandoned in 2010, and the most recent district council elections took place in 2011^[3]

As of February 2012 the political composition of the council was: 8 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 3 Sinn Féin, 2 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 1 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), 1 Traditional Unionist Voice and 1 independent.^[4]

In 1977 Ballymoney District Council successfully petitioned for a grant of a charter of incorporation, constituting the district a borough.^[5]

Mayor of Ballymoney

The charter also created the office of mayor, who is chosen for a one year term at the council's annual meeting.

Source: Freedom of Information request to Ballymoney Borough Council

Freedom of the town

In 2012 the Royal Irish Regiment was awarded the freedom of Ballymoney by the council.The regiment held a special march through the town to celebrate the occasion.Previous recipients of the award include the Royal Ulster Constabulary,Fire Brigade,Joey Dunlop,his brother Robert and former MP for the area Ian Paisley.^[8]

Town twinning

In 2000, Ballymoney Borough Council twinned with the French town of Vanves. Since 2001, the council has been a sister city of Benbrook in Texas and building on its motorcycling history, is also linked to the borough of Douglas, Isle of Man.

Parliamentary and assembly representation

Together with the neighbouring districts of Ballymena and Moyle, it forms the North Antrim constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.

Demographics

Ballymoney is Northern Ireland's fastest-growing town in terms of population^{[citation needed]}. It is thought that this is because it is one of the most central places in Northern Ireland, being one hour from Belfast and one hour from Derry^{[citation needed]}. Another reason is as a result of high house prices in the Coleraine/Portstewart/Portrush 'Triangle' areas shifting first-time buyers to the less expensive Ballymoney area^{[citation needed]}.

The borough has the highest life expectancy of any area in Northern Ireland, with the average male life expectancy at birth being 78.0 years and 82.6 years for females.^[9]

See also

• Local Councils in Northern Ireland

References

External links

• Ballymoney Borough Council

Coordinates: 55°4′15″N 6°30′28″W / 55.07083°N 6.50778°W / 55.07083; -6.50778