Ards and North Down Borough Council
# Ards and North Down Borough Council

Ards and North Down Borough Council is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ards Borough Council and North Down Borough Council. The first elections to the authority were on 22 May 2014 and it acted as a shadow authority, prior to the creation of the Ards and North Down district on 1 April 2015.

The district was originally called "North Down and Ards" but the council was known as "Ards and North Down District Council". Councillors on the transitional shadow authority (prior to the council's official creation) voted on 15 December 2014 to submit an application to the Department of the Environment to change the name to East Coast Borough Council with effect from 1 April 2015. Negative public reaction to the proposed name prompted a rethink. The district name "Ards and North Down" was not finalised until 2016. The transfer of the borough charter from North Down Borough Council was delayed until after the district naming.

## Mayoralty

### Mayor

| From | To | Name | Party |
| - | - | - | - |
| 2015 | 2016 | Alan Graham | DUP |
| 2016 | 2017 | Deborah Girvan | Alliance |
| 2017 | 2018 | Robert Adair | DUP |
| 2018 | 2019 | Richard Smart | Ulster Unionist |
| 2019 | 2020 | Bill Keery | DUP |
| 2020 | 2021 | Trevor Cummings | DUP |
| 2021 | 2022 | Mark Brooks | Ulster Unionist |
| 2022 | 2023 | Karen Douglas | Alliance |
| 2023 | Present | Jennifer Gilmour | DUP |

### Deputy Mayor

| From | To | Name | Party |
| - | - | - | - |
| 2015 | 2016 | Carl McClean | Ulster Unionist |
| 2016 | 2017 | William Keery | DUP |
| 2017 | 2018 | Gavin Walker | Alliance |
| 2018 | 2019 | Eddie Thompson | DUP |
| 2019 | 2020 | Karen Douglas | Alliance |
| 2020 | 2021 | Nigel Edmund | DUP |
| 2021 | 2022 | Robert Adair | DUP |
| 2022 | 2023 | Craig Blaney | Ulster Unionist |
| 2023 | Present | Hannah Irwin | Alliance |

## Councillors

For the purpose of elections the council is divided into seven district electoral areas (DEA):

| Area | Seats |
| - | - |
| Ards Peninsula | 6 |
| Bangor Central | 6 |
| Bangor East and Donaghadee | 6 |
| Bangor West | 5 |
| Comber | 5 |
| Holywood and Clandeboye | 5 |
| Newtownards | 7 |

### Party strengths

| Party | Elected 2014 | Elected 2019 | Elected 2023 |
| - | - | - | - |
| DUP | 17 | 14 | 14 |
| Alliance | 7 | 10 | 12 |
| UUP | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| Green (NI) | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| SDLP | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| TUV | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Independent | 2 | 3 | 3 |

### Councillors by electoral area

For further details see 2023 Ards and North Down Borough Council election.

Current council members :

| District electoral area | Name | Party |
| - | - | - |
| Ards Peninsula | Robert Adair | DUP |
| Ards Peninsula | Lorna McAlpine | Alliance |
| Ards Peninsula | Joe Boyle | SDLP |
| Ards Peninsula | Nigel Edmund | DUP |
| Ards Peninsula | David Kerr | DUP |
| Ards Peninsula | Pete Wray | Ulster Unionist |
| Bangor Central | Karen Douglas | Alliance |
| Bangor Central | Wesley Irvine | Independent |
| Bangor Central | Alistair Cathcart | DUP |
| Bangor Central | Craig Blaney | Ulster Unionist |
| Bangor Central | Chris McCraken | Alliance |
| Bangor Central | Ray McKimm | Independent |
| Bangor East and Donaghadee | Mark Brooks | Ulster Unionist |
| Bangor East and Donaghadee | Hannah Irwin | Alliance |
| Bangor East and Donaghadee | James Cochrane | DUP |
| Bangor East and Donaghadee | David Chambers | Ulster Unionist |
| Bangor East and Donaghadee | Gillian McCollum | Alliance |
| Bangor East and Donaghadee | Janice MacArthur | DUP |
| Bangor West | Christine Creighton | Alliance |
| Bangor West | Jennifer Gilmour | DUP |
| Bangor West | Stephen Hollywood | Ulster Unionist |
| Bangor West | Peter Martin | DUP |
| Bangor West | Barry McKee | Green (NI) |
| Comber | Libby Douglas | DUP |
| Comber | Philip Smith | Ulster Unionist |
| Comber | Trevor Cummings | DUP |
| Comber | Patricia Morgan | Alliance |
| Comber | Rachel Ashe | Alliance |
| Holywood and Clandeboye | Alan Graham | DUP |
| Holywood and Clandeboye | Linzi McLaren | Ulster Unionist |
| Holywood and Clandeboye | Martin McRandal | Alliance |
| Holywood and Clandeboye | Rachel Woods | Green (NI) |
| Holywood and Clandeboye | David Rossiter | Alliance |
| Newtownards | Steven Irvine | Independent |
| Newtownards | Naomi Armstrong | DUP |
| Newtownards | Richard Smart | Ulster Unionist |
| Newtownards | Alan McDowell | Alliance |
| Newtownards | Stephen McIllveen | DUP |
| Newtownards | Vicky Moore | Alliance |
| Newtownards | Colin Kennedy | DUP |

## Population

The area covered by the new borough has 163,659 residents according to the 2021 Northern Ireland census.

