Welcome to Causeway Coast District Council
Thursday, 25 September 2008
The proposed new Causeway Coast District Council taking in the four old north Coast council areas.
FOR the second time in as many years provisional recommendations for the boundaries of the new local government districts in Northern Ireland and their constituent wards were announced on Wednesday September 17.
In 2006 a provisional recommendation for seven councils was put out to consultation only to be scraped in favour of this latest 11 council model after agreement reached between the parties after the restoration of power sharing.
This time round Ballymoney is part of the Causeway Coast District Council (CCDC) including the current Moyle, Coleraine and Limavady District councils with nine new wards in the (what is now) Ballymoney Borough instead of 16. This will probably mean that there will be only nine councillors as well.
Ballymena and Larne who would have been part of the North East council area with Ballymoney Moyle and Coleraine in the old proposal now form Mid Antrim District Council in the new recommendations.
These initial recommendations are the outcome of work over the last few months by the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner, Dick Mackenzie CB. and his staff following the enactment of the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 which makes provision for the reduction in the number of councils from 26 to 11.
Mr Mackenzie said: "The publication of my Report is the first stage of a process which is designed to establish the district and ward boundaries for a completely new configuration of local government in Northern Ireland. The proposed boundaries of the districts are based on the amalgamation of the existing councils, with the exception of Belfast. My proposals for the ward boundaries are designed to achieve, as far as possible, electoral equality within each of the proposed districts."
Apart from Belfast, the Commissioner has proposed that the new council boundaries should follow the perimeters of the existing district council boundaries as grouped together in the legislation.
Overall, in the provisional recommendations, the number of wards reduces from 582 to 460. The proposed number of wards for each district is 40, except for Belfast where the proposed number is 60.
Local response
NORTH Antrim Sinn Fein MLA Daithi McKay said " We in Sinn Fein thought the seven council model was best cost effective way to spend rates across a large area. The 11 councils was a compromise, but we did want assurances about safeguarding of minorities. We want to see the 11 council model given the go ahead with safeguards in place in terms of equality so that power isn't abused as it has been across the north in the past thirty years." Cllr McKay welcomed the name Causeway District Council Area, but went on, "There are a number for issues we have identified, some boundaries of wards need to be changed," citing a local example he said, "Most of Rasharkin village is in Rasharkin ward but a part of it is in Cloughmills ward...most local people would find that ridiculous."
Asked if the new council would have an identity of its own, he said "The important thing for councils is that they are cost effective, efficient, and offer value for money to the ratepayer. Ratepayers are more concerned about these issues that the identity of a council." Commenting on the new DEA clusters that may emerge, he said "Its very important that the population breakdown is reflected in the number of councillors elected. It is important that minorities are adequately represented whether they be nationalist or unionist. We will be studying the proposals in detail in terms of where boundaries are drawn and will put forward our recommendations to the Commission."
One local DUP councillor declined to comment locally and referred The Chronicle to a party statement by North Down DUP MLA Peter Weir on the matter. Mr. Weir said, "While the Provisional Recommendations would appear to be broadly in line with what might have been expected given the legislative framework and the Commissioner's previous work on Local Government Boundaries. The scale and complex nature of the report, running as it does to 300 pages of detailed maps and text, mean that any knee-jerk reaction to these recommendations would be inappropriate and would in addition run the risk of inadvertently damaging the broader interests of the unionist electorate.
Democratic Unionist Party Officers have, already established within the Party a dedicated team of officials and elected representatives to robustly respond to these recommendations. The Party Officers have further decided that the broad interests of unionism are best served by having a single coherent Province wide Party response to these recommendations."
