Larne Borough Council
# Larne Borough Council

Larne Borough Council was a Local Council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymena Borough Council and Carrickfergus Borough Council in May 2015 under the reorganisation of local government in Northern Ireland to become Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

Its headquarters was in the town of Larne.

The Borough of Larne was divided into 3 electoral areas: Larne Town, Larne Lough and Coast Road. At the final election in 2011 15 members were elected from the following political parties: 4 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 3 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 2 Independent, 3 Alliance Party, 1 Traditional Unionist Voice, 1 Sinn Féin and 1 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

Aldermen Jack McKee (TUV) and Roy Beggs (UUP) were the longest serving councillors on the council.

Together with the neighbouring former district of Carrickfergus and part of the former district of Newtownabbey, it forms the East Antrim constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.

Settlements and villages in the former borough include Ballycarry, Islandmagee, Ballystrudder, Glynn, Magheramorne, Ballygalley, Cairnalbanagh, Glenarm and Carnlough.

    See Also: Local Councils in Northern Ireland

## 2011 Election results

| Party | Party | seats | change +/- |
| - | - | - | - |
| • | Democratic Unionist Party | 4 | -1 |
| • | Ulster Unionist Party | 3 | -1 |
| | Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | 3 | +1 |
| • | Independent | 2 | = |
| • | Sinn Féin | 1 | +1 |
| • | Social Democratic and Labour Party | 1 | -1 |
| • | Traditional Unionist Voice | 1 | +1 |

## Mayors of Larne

    1973: Aubrey Girvan, Independent
    1974: Tommy Seymour, Vanguard
    1975: Tommy Seymour
    1976: Tommy Seymour
    1977: Tommy Seymour
    1978: Roy Beggs, DUP then UUP
    1983: Thomas Robinson, UUP
    1984: Jack McKee, DUP
    1985:
    1986: Rosalie Armstrong, UUP
    1987: Winston Fulton, DUP
    1989: Rosalie Armstrong, UUP
    1995:
    1996: Sam McAllister, DUP
    1997: Joan Drummond, UUP
    1999:
    2000: David Fleck, UUP
    2002: Bobby McKee, DUP
    2004: Roy Craig, Independent
    2005:
    2006: Danny O'Connor, SDLP
    2007: Mark Dunn, UUP
    2008: Bobby McKee, DUP
    2010: Andy Wilson
    2011: Bobby McKee, DUP
    2012: Gerardine Mulvenna, Alliance
    2013: Maureen Morrow, UUP
    2014: Martin Wilson, SDLP

## Review of Public Administration

Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the council was due to merge with Ballymena Borough Council and Carrickfergus Borough Council in 2011 to form a single council for the enlarged area totalling 1047 $km^2$ and a population of 127,101. The next 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. New local government district councils took over from the 26 former councils on 1 April 2015.

## Freedom of the Borough

In memory of a battle in the town of Musa Qala in Afghanistan in 2006, involving the Royal Irish Regiment, a new regimental march, composed by Chris Attrill and commissioned by Larne Borough Council, was gifted to the regiment on Saturday 1 November 2008 in Larne, during an event in which the regiment was also presented with the 'Freedom of the Borough'. This gave the regiment the right to march through the towns of the borough with 'flags flying, bands playing and bayonets fixed'. The march was named, 'Musa Qala'.

## Council services

* Carnfunnock Country Park, 3.5 miles from Larne, is owned and run by the council.

## Population

The area covered by the former Larne Borough Council had a population of 32,180 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.

