Local government in Northern Ireland

The collection of rates is handled centrally by the Land and Property Services agency of the Northern Ireland Executive.

Similar comparisons are as follows: Note that Erne West is the only DEA in Northern Ireland whose boundaries were completely unchanged between 1993 and 2012.

The 80 DEAs are the most granular unit of elected representation, thus providing a more localised indicator of voting preferences than the results in the larger parliamentary constituencies.

The inset map shows DEAs in the districts of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Ards and North Down, Belfast, and Lisburn and Castlereagh.

Electoral wards are also used in allocating funding, such as for urban regeneration programmes under the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy.

The current pattern of 11 local government districts was established on 1 April 2015, as a result of the reform process that started in 2005.

The system was based on the recommendations of the Macrory Report, of June 1970, which presupposed the continued existence of the Government of Northern Ireland to act as a regional-level authority.

[14] This system, with the abolition of rural districts, remains the model for local government in the Republic of Ireland.

(See also List of rural and urban districts in Northern Ireland for more details) Councillors are elected for a four-year term of office under the single transferable vote (STV) system.

[17] The former health and social services boards were as follows: In June 2002, the Northern Ireland Executive established a Review of Public Administration to review the arrangements for the accountability, development, administration and delivery of public services.

[18] In 2005 Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced proposals to reduce the number of councils to seven.

[20] In March 2008 the restored Northern Executive agreed to create eleven new councils instead of the original seven.

[23] In June 2010 the proposed reforms were abandoned following the failure of the Northern Ireland Executive to reach agreement.