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How Big Should Belfast Be?
The Review of Public Administration taking place that will redraw the boundaries of Local Government Districts (LGDs) in Northern Ireland threw up an interesting thread on slugger last week. In it one person in particular argued (and argued - and accused any arguments against him of being purely sectarian) that Belfast's boundaries mustn't be expanded. Why? Apparently because such an expansion would result in more unionists in the city! Gad zooks!
Follow up:
I'd often wondered when I was younger why the southern part of Newtownabbey, where I grew up, was not simply absorbed into Belfast. For those familiar with the area, you'll know there is no visible join between the two, which is roughly where the M5 splits from the M2. Essentially Newtownabbey is just a suburb of Belfast, a fact borne out by the new Belfast Metro bus routes (and longer running City Express routes) that extend out as far as Monkstown and Glengormley.
The argument for bringing the southern (non-Ballyclare) part of Newtownabbey (along with areas like Castlereagh) into the Belfast City Council area seems fairly obvious. These parts are much more connected with Belfast than they are with Ballyclare. Specifically, I'd move all the wards on this map that aren't part of the blue 'Ballyclare' area, into Belfast. Even more obvious is bringing nationalist Poleglass/Twinbrook (the brown section here) into the Belfast LGD from Lisburn. Aside from the fact there is no visible join, the Royal Mail, and I'd imagine all the residents, recognise the area as (west) Belfast.
Belfast has grown in recent decades, and its boundaries should change to reflect this. This is the first "argument" I've ever heard against this - and frankly it's pathetic. If this is really the reason for not allowing Belfast to grow naturally, then I find it disgusting that sectarian politics is once again getting in the way of progress in Northern Ireland.