View source for Magherafelt District Council

{{Short description|Former district council in Northern Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox UK place
| official_name            = Magherafelt District
| local_name               = 
| country                  = Northern Ireland
| static_image_name        = 
| static_image_2_name      = Magherafelt in Northern Ireland.svg
| area_total_km2           = 573
| area_footnotes           = <br>[[List of districts in Northern Ireland by area|Ranked 12th of 26]]
| statistic_title          = District HQ
| statistic                = [[Magherafelt]]
| statistic_title1         = Catholic
| statistic1               = 66%
| statistic_title2         = Protestant
| statistic2               = 31.5%
| councillor1              = '''[[Members of the 4th Northern Ireland Assembly|MLAs]]'''<br>'''[[Mid Ulster (Assembly constituency)|Mid Ulster]]''' <br /> [[Sinn Féin]]: 3 <br /> [[Democratic Unionist Party|DUP]]: 1 <br />[[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]]: 1 
| councillor2              = '''[[List of MPs elected in the 2010 United Kingdom general election|MPs]]'''<br>[[Francie Molloy]] (Sinn Féin)
| website                  = {{URL|http://www.magherafelt.gov.uk}}
| hide_services            = yes
}}
'''Magherafelt District Council''' was a district council in [[County Londonderry]] in [[Northern Ireland]]. It was merged with [[Cookstown District Council]] and [[Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council]] on 1 April 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland becoming [[Mid-Ulster District Council]].

The council headquarters were in [[Magherafelt]]. The Council area stretched from [[Lough Neagh]] and the [[River Bann]] in the east into the [[Sperrin Mountains]] in the west and was divided by the [[Moyola River]]. It covered an area of {{convert|214|sqmi|km2}} and had a population of over 45,000. Local towns in the area included [[Bellaghy]], birthplace of poet [[Seamus Heaney]] in 1939.

The council was composed of 16 elected representatives. Local elections were held every four years on a [[proportional representation]] system. At its last election, in May 2011, those elected were from the following political parties: 9 [[Sinn Féin]], 3 [[Democratic Unionist Party]] (DUP), 2 [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]] (SDLP) and 2 [[Ulster Unionist Party]] (UUP). The chairman and vice-chairman are elected on an annual basis at the annual general meeting in May or June. The final (2013/14) chairman was Councillor Catherine Elattar (SF), who represented the Magherafelt Town electoral area, and the vice-chair was Councillor Anne Forde (DUP), who represented the Sperrin electoral area. This was the second occasion on which Magherafelt District Council had elected two women to the top two positions.

For elections to the [[Westminster Parliament]] it is part of the [[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster constituency]].

==2011 election results==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
!colspan=2| Party || seats || change +/-
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Sinn Féin}}" |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|[[Sinn Féin]] ||align="right"| 9 ||align="right"| +1
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Democratic Unionist Party}}" |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|[[Democratic Unionist Party]] ||align="right"| 3 ||align="right"| -1
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Social Democratic and Labour Party}}" |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|[[Social Democratic and Labour Party]] ||align="right"| 2 ||align="right"| =
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Ulster Unionist Party}}" |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|[[Ulster Unionist Party]] ||align="right"| 2 ||align="right"| =
|-
|}

[[File:Magherafelt.png|thumb|left|alt=|Map depicting boundaries of Magherafelt District Council electoral regions and wards]]

==Electoral regions==
Magherafelt District Council was divided into three electoral regions; Magherafelt Town, Moyola, and Sperrin, each of which was further divided into [[Ward (politics)|electoral wards]]; six in Magherafelt Town and five in both Moyola and Sperrin.

==Review of Public Administration==
Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the council merged with [[Cookstown District Council]] and [[Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council]] in 2014 to form a single council, named [[Mid-Ulster District Council]], for the enlarged area totalling 1714&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> and a population of 120, 096.<ref>{{cite web|title=Minister Foster announces decisions on Local Government Reform |work=DoE |url=http://www.doeni.gov.uk/index/local_government/minister_foster_announces_decisions_on_local_government_reform.htm |access-date=2008-05-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524030604/http://www.doeni.gov.uk/index/local_government/minister_foster_announces_decisions_on_local_government_reform.htm |archive-date=24 May 2008 }}</ref> The formation and election to this new council 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.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7367253.stm ''Northern Ireland elections are postponed'', BBC News, 25 April 2008, accessed 27 April 2008]</ref> The introduction of this new super-council however was postponed but the election for it finally took place in 2014 with reorganisation completed in 2015.

==Population==
The area covered by Magherafelt District Council had a population of 45,038 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.<ref>{{cite web|title=NI Census 2011 – Key Statistics Summary Report, September 2014 |url=http://www.nisra.gov.uk/archive/census/2011/results/key-statistics/summary-report.pdf |website=NI Statistics and Research Agency |access-date=28 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215081312/http://www.nisra.gov.uk/archive/census/2011/results/key-statistics/summary-report.pdf |archive-date=15 December 2014 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Local government in Northern Ireland]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Former districts of Northern Ireland}}
{{Authority control}}

{{coord|54.752|-6.601|region:GB_scale:20000|display=title}}

[[Category:Politics of County Londonderry]]
[[Category:District councils of Northern Ireland, 1973–2015]]
[[Category:Mid-Ulster District]]