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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