Sovereign state United Kingdom Area 376 km² Protestant population 76.9% | Catholic population 12.7% Province Ulster | |
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Councillors MLAsDUP: 6UUP: 2Alliance Party: 2UKIP: 1Green Party: 1MPsSylvia Hermon (Independent)Jim Shannon (DUP) Website www.ards-council.gov.uk Points of interest Mount Stewart, Exploris, Scrabo Tower, Somme Heritage Centre, Copeland Islands Destinations | ||
Ards (named after the Ards Peninsula) was a local government district in Northern Ireland with the status of borough. It was one of twenty-six districts formed on 1 October 1973, and had its headquarters in Newtownards. It was merged with neighbouring North Down on May 1, 2015 to form the new Borough of Ards and North Down Other towns in the defunct Borough include Portaferry, Comber, and Donaghadee, and the population of the area was 78,078 according to the 2011 census.
Contents
- Map of Ards UK
- Borough council
- Mayor of Ards
- Parliamentary and assembly representation
- Town twinning
- References
Map of Ards, UK
Strangford Lough is at the heart of the area, and is the largest inlet in Ireland with internationally renowned wildlife. The Irish Sea coast stretches from Donaghadee to Portaferry. Mount Stewart, a National Trust property on the shore of Strangford Lough is in the area, as well as Northern Ireland’s only aquarium, Exploris, in Portaferry and Grace Neill's pub in Donaghadee.
Borough council
The borough was governed by Ards Borough Council (Ulster-Scots: Burgh Cooncil o' the Airds, Newton an' Blathewick). The borough was divided into four district electoral areas: Newtownards, Ards West, Ards East and Ards Peninsula, from which 23 members are elected. As of February 2011 the following parties were represented on the council: 11 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 6 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 4 Alliance Party, and 1 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and there are one Independent councillors. The next 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 district council elections took place in 2011
Mayor of Ards
On creation in 1973 Ards District Council adopted the charter of incorporation of the municipal borough of Newtownards, to become Ards Borough Council. The charter also granted the chairman of the council the title "Mayor of Ards".
2013 Stephen McIlveen Democratic Unionist Party
Source: Freedom of Information request to Ards Borough Council
Parliamentary and assembly representation
In elections for the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly most of the borough is included in the Strangford constituency, with part (Donaghadee North, Donaghadee South and Millisle) in the North Down constituency.
Town twinning
The borough of Ards has a sister city (twinning) relationship with the city of Peoria, Arizona, USA. As a result of this relationship, regular exchange visits are made between the two communities by artists, educators, business, political, and community leaders.