Craigavon Borough Council

Craigavon Borough Buirg Craigavon
Area	378 km2 (146 sq mi)  Ranked 19th of 26
District HQ	Craigavon
Country	Northern Ireland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Website	www.craigavon.gov.uk

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 Northern Ireland to become Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon District Council.

The headquarters of the council were in Craigavon, on the shores of Lough Neagh, a new town built between Lurgan and Portadown. The council area included the large towns of Lurgan and Portadown, as well as smaller ones including Waringstown and Donaghcloney. The average council budget of £15.5 million provided a wide range of services to the 93,023 people living in the area.

The council area consisted of four electoral areas – Central, Loughside, Lurgan and Portadown – in which 26 councillors were elected every four years. The council held an annual meeting in June, at which a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor were elected. Parties elected in 2011, the last elections for the council, were Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) nine seats, Sinn Féin eight, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) six, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) four, and Alliance Party of Northern Ireland one.

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 2011 Northern Ireland local elections took place to fill the last body on the council before being dissolved The proposed reform took effect on 1 April 2015.

Together with part of the district of Banbridge, it was part of the Upper Bann constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.

Summary of seats won 1973–2011

	1973	1977	1981	1985	1989	1993	1997	2001	2005	2011
Ulster Unionist (UUP)	11	10	9	11	12	10	11	8	6	6
Alliance (APNI)	4	3	1		2	2	1			1
Vanguard (VUPP)	4
Democratic Unionist (DUP)	3	4	7	6	4	4	3	6	9	9
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)	2	6	5	5	6	6	7	7	4	2
Independent Nationalist (IN)	1						2
United Ulster Unionist (UUUP)		1	1
Workers' Party (WP)		1	2	2	1	1
Sinn Féin (SF)				2	1	2	2	4	6	8
Independent Unionist (IU)						1		1	1

Note: The Workers' Party were known as The Republican Clubs in 1977 and Workers Party Republican Clubs in 1981.

Source: [1]

Mayor of Craigavon

Year	Name	Political affiliation		Deputy	Deputy's affiliation
1973–75	Joseph A. Johnston		UUP	James McCammick		Vanguard
1975–76	James McCammick		Vanguard	Tom Creith		UUP
1976–77	Tom Creith		UUP	Herbert Whitten		UUP
1977–78	Sydney Cairns		UUP	Brian T. English		Alliance
1978–79	Herbert Whitten		UUP	David Calvert		DUP
1979–80	Alan Locke		UUP	James McDonald		SDLP
1980–81	Frank Dale		UUP	Sean Hagan		Alliance
1981–82	Mary Simpson		UUP	David Calvert		DUP
1982–83	Sam Gardiner		UUP	James Gillespie		UUP
1983–84	James Gillespie		UUP	Frederick Baird		DUP
1984–85	Arnold Hatch		UUP	Patrick J. Crilly		SDLP
1985–87	George Savage		UUP	James Gillespie		UUP
1987–88	Sydney Cairns		UUP	Arnold Hatch		UUP
1988–89	Sam Gardiner		UUP	James McCammick		UUP
1989–91	James McCammick		UUP	Joy Savage, then Joe Trueman		UUP
1991–92	Joe Trueman		UUP	Fred Crowe		UUP
1992–93	Fred Crowe		UUP	Sam Lutton		UUP
1993–94	Joy Savage		UUP	Ruth Allen		DUP
1994–95	Brian Maguinness		UUP	Sean McKavanagh		SDLP
1995–96	Meta Crozier		UUP	Hugh Casey		SDLP
						Independent Labour
1996 – Dec 96	Hugh Casey		Independent Labour	Sam Lutton		UUP
Dec 1996 – 97	Sam Lutton		UUP	Hugh Casey		Independent Labour
1998–99	Mervyn Carrick		DUP	Dolores Kelly		SDLP
1999–00	Dolores Kelly		SDLP	Fred Crowe		UUP
2000–01	Fred Crowe		UUP	Mark Neale		UUP
2001–02	Sam Gardiner		UUP	Jonathan Bell		DUP
2002–03	Jonathan Bell		DUP	Sydney Anderson		DUP
2003–04	Ignatius Fox		SDLP	David Simpson		DUP
2004–05	David Simpson		DUP	Ignatius Fox		SDLP
2005–06	George Savage		UUP	Robert Smith		DUP
2006–07	Kenneth Twyble		UUP	Mary McAlinden		SDLP
2007–08	Robert Smith		DUP	Kenneth Twyble		UUP
2008–09	Sydney Anderson		DUP	Arnold Hatch		UUP
2009–10	Meta Crozier		UUP	Philip Weir		DUP
2010–11	Stephen Moutray		DUP	Kieran Corr		Independent
2011–12	Alan Carson		DUP	George Savage		UUP
2012–13	Carla Lockhart		DUP	Arnold Hatch		UUP
2013–14	Mark Baxter		DUP	Colin McCusker		UUP
2014–15	Colin McCusker		UUP	Catherine Seeley		Sinn Féin

Source: Freedom of Information request to Craigavon Borough Council

Final council makeup

Below is a list of members who made up the final sitting of the council before it was dissolved.

Name	Party
Jonathan Buckley		DUP
Phil Moutray		DUP
Robert Smith		DUP
Mark Baxter		DUP
Margaret Tinsley		DUP
Alan Carson		DUP
Darryn Causby		DUP
Gladys McCullough		DUP
Carla Lockhart		DUP
Catherine Seeley		Sinn Féin
Mark O'Dowd		Sinn Féin
Liam Mackle		Sinn Féin
Mairead O'Dowd		Sinn Féin
Paul Duffy		Sinn Féin
Gemma McKenna		Sinn Féin
Thomas O'Connor		Sinn Féin
Noel McGeown		Sinn Féin
Kyle Savage		UUP
Arnold Hatch		UUP
Ronald Harkness		UUP
Colin McCusker		UUP
Meta Crozier		UUP
Kenneth Twyble		UUP
Declan McAlinden		SDLP
Joseph Nelson		SDLP
Conrad Dixon		Alliance

Council services

• Coney Island, Lough Neagh is owned by the National Trust and was managed on their behalf by Craigavon Borough Council.

Population

The area covered by Craigavon Borough Council had a population of 93,023 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.

See also

• Local Councils in Northern Ireland