Castlereagh (borough) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Castlereagh Borough
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| Area | 85 km2 (33 sq mi) Ranked 24th of 26 |
| District HQ | Upper Galwally, Newtownbreda |
| Catholic | 22.2% |
| Protestant | 67.9% |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| EU Parliament | Northern Ireland |
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Castlereagh ( KAH-səl-ray) was a local government district with the status of borough in Northern Ireland. It merged with Lisburn City Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, with a small amount being transferred to Belfast City Council.
It was a mainly urban borough consisting mostly of suburbs of Belfast in the Castlereagh Hills (to the south-east of the city) with a small rural area in the south of the borough. Unusually, it had no natural borough centre. The main centres of population are Carryduff, 6 miles (9.6 km) south of Belfast city centre and Dundonald, 5 miles (8 km) east of it.
Castlereagh was named after the barony of Castlereagh, which in turn was named after the townland of same name (from the Irish An Caislean Riabhach, or Grey Castle, a reference to a stronghold of the Clandeboye O'Neils which stood on a site near what is now an Orange hall on Church Road).
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Creation
The district was one of twenty-six created on 1 October 1973. It was formed by the amalgamation of the following areas of County Down: most of Castlereagh Rural District, the Carryduff and Newtownbreda areas of Hillsborough Rural District and the Moneyreagh area of North Down Rural District.
Town twinning
Castlereagh and the city of Kent in Washington in the United States signed up as sister cities partners on 1 August 2000.
Elections 2011
These elections saw the political landscape at Castlereagh change dramatically. The DUP lost overall control of the council due to the loss of two council seats, one in Central and one in the East. The UUP also lost their sole representative in East. The Alliance Party gained one in East and Central, while the Green Party also gained in East. There were no changes in the West or South areas. There had been much speculation that demographic change would deliver Sinn Féin a seat in South. However, this turned out to be unfounded, with the SDLP being the sixth placed runner up, being narrowly beaten by the UUP for the fifth seat.
Population
The area covered by the former Castlereagh Borough Council had a population of 67,272 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.
