Woodvale Ward, Belfast

Woodvale is one of the 51 wards into which the City of Belfast, Northern Ireland, is divided for census and local elections purposes.

Woodvale is one of the historic ward names as there has been a Woodvale ward in existence since at least the 1920s. However the boundaries have changed over time. The original Woodvale ward effectively covered the southern part of what is now the Greater Shankill area, taking in all the areas south of the Shankill Road, stretching from Brown Square to what is now the areas of Highfield, Springmartin and New Barnsley.

The wards current incarnation dates from the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 with the ward being first used for elections in 1973. There have since been minor boundary changes. The ward is part of the Belfast North parliamentary constituency.

The area has traditionally been a loyalist heartland with the Woodvale Defence Association, a forerunner of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) set up there in the early seventies. The percentage of those of a Roman Catholic Community Background (religion or religion brought up in) in the 2001 census was only 2.6% , the lowest of all Belfast wards. [ [http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/Census/Census2001Output/standard_tables_lgd.html NISRA ] ]

The areas population, together with that of neighbouring wards has been declining for some time and it came as little surprise when the current review of local Government in Northern Ireland recommended its abolition with the electors being divided between the neighbouring wards of Shankill, Crumlin and Glencairn.

References