Larne Borough Council

Larne Borough Council was a Local Council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymena Borough Council and Carrickfergus Borough Council in May 2015 under the reorganisation of local government in Northern Ireland to become Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

Its headquarters was in the town of Larne.

The Borough of Larne was divided into 3 electoral areas: Larne Town, Larne Lough and Coast Road. At the final election in 2011 15 members were elected from the following political parties: 4 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 3 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 2 Independent, 3 Alliance Party, 1 Traditional Unionist Voice, 1 Sinn Féin and 1 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

Aldermen Jack McKee (TUV) and Roy Beggs (UUP) were the longest serving councillors on the council.

Together with the neighbouring former district of Carrickfergus and part of the former district of Newtownabbey, it forms the East Antrim constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.

Settlements and villages in the former borough include Ballycarry, Islandmagee, Ballystrudder, Glynn, Magheramorne, Ballygalley, Cairnalbanagh, Glenarm and Carnlough.


 * See Also: Local Councils in Northern Ireland

Mayors of Larne

 * 1973: Aubrey Girvan, Independent
 * 1974: Tommy Seymour, Vanguard
 * 1975: Tommy Seymour
 * 1976: Tommy Seymour
 * 1977: Tommy Seymour
 * 1978: Roy Beggs, DUP then UUP
 * 1983: Thomas Robinson, UUP
 * 1984: Jack McKee, DUP
 * 1985:
 * 1986: Rosalie Armstrong, UUP
 * 1987: Winston Fulton, DUP
 * 1989: Rosalie Armstrong, UUP
 * 1995:
 * 1996: Sam McAllister, DUP
 * 1997: Joan Drummond, UUP
 * 1999:
 * 2000: David Fleck, UUP
 * 2002: Bobby McKee, DUP
 * 2004: Roy Craig, Independent
 * 2005:
 * 2006: Danny O'Connor, SDLP
 * 2007: Mark Dunn, UUP
 * 2008: Bobby McKee, DUP
 * 2010: Andy Wilson
 * 2011: Bobby McKee, DUP
 * 2012: Gerardine Mulvenna, Alliance
 * 2013: Maureen Morrow, UUP
 * 2014: Martin Wilson, SDLP

Review of Public Administration
Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA) the council was due to merge with Ballymena Borough Council and Carrickfergus Borough Council in 2011 to form a single council for the enlarged area totalling 1047 km2 and a population of 127,101. The next 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. New local government district councils took over from the 26 former councils on 1 April 2015.

Freedom of the Borough
In memory of a battle in the town of Musa Qala in Afghanistan in 2006, involving the Royal Irish Regiment, a new regimental march, composed by Chris Attrill and commissioned by Larne Borough Council, was gifted to the regiment on Saturday 1 November 2008 in Larne, during an event in which the regiment was also presented with the 'Freedom of the Borough'. This gave the regiment the right to march through the towns of the borough with 'flags flying, bands playing and bayonets fixed'. The march was named, 'Musa Qala'.

Council services

 * Carnfunnock Country Park, 3.5 miles from Larne, is owned and run by the council.

Population
The area covered by the former Larne Borough Council had a population of 32,180 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.