Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972

The Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 1972 (1972 c. 9) was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland that constituted district councils to administer the twenty-six local government districts created by the Local Government Act 1971, and abolished the existing local authorities in Northern Ireland.

District councils

Each Local Government District was to have a district council consisting of elected councillors of whom one would be chairman and another could be vice-chairman.

Provision for the continuation of city and borough status was included in the Act, which provided that the charter of each county borough should apply to the new district containing it, and that the council for a district which includes the whole or the major part of a borough other than a county borough may... resolve that the charter of the corporation of the borough shall have effect in relation to the district. In addition a district council could apply for a new charter making it a borough. In the original Act, the council could petition the Governor of Northern Ireland for a royal charter. By the time the Act came into effect, however, the office of governor had been abolished, and petitions were addressed to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Where a district was designated a city or borough, the chairman and vice-chairman became the mayor and deputy-mayor. In the case of Belfast, the chairman's title continued to be lord mayor.

Abolition of existing local...
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