The headquarters of the council were in Craigavon, on the shores of Lough Neagh, a new town built between Lurgan and Portadown.

The average council budget of £15.5 million provided a wide range of services to the 93,023 people living in the area.

The last 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.

[1] The proposed reforms were abandoned in 2010, and the 2011 Northern Ireland local elections took place to fill the last body on the council before being dissolved[2] The proposed reform took effect on 1 April 2015.

The area covered by Craigavon Borough Council had a population of 93,023 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.