From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lagan Valley is an area of Northern Ireland. It is between Belfast and Lisburn. The Lagan is a famous river that flows into Belfast Lough. The Lagan is part of the border of the Counties of Antrim (Aontroim) and Down (An Dún).

It has a number of interesting features including a towpath which runs alongside the River Lagan. The towpath is popular with walkers, runners, cyclists, dog owners etc. It is a very scenic and peaceful area and is ideal for walking, cycling etc. The towpath begins in the Stranmillis area of south Belfast and runs all the way to Lisburn.

It is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB). The AONB was established in 1965 and the greater part of it lies within the Greater Belfast Area.

It is also the name of a constituency in the UK House of Commons covering Lisburn and surrounding areas.

Politics: Assembly election 2007

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Once a safe haven for the Ulster Unionist Party, this has swung straight over to the Democratic Unionist Party. Formerly there were 3 UUP MLA's (Jeffery Donaldson, Norah Beare, and Billy Bell), however Jeffery Donaldson and Norah Beare left the party and joined the DUP. There is now only 1 UUP MLA, newcomer Basil McCrea.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) From only having 1 assembly seat (Edwin Poots), this party now has three but could have had four if voters followed the vote management system. The three are Jeffery Donaldson, Edwin Poots, and newly elected MLA Johnathon Craig. The fourth candidate, Paul Givan came 7th and was eliminated on the 9th count making way for his running mate, Edwin Poots.

Sinn Fein(SF) 2007 was the first year this party ever took an assembly seat here. Paul Butler came second, polling just over 5,000 first preference votes. They took the only nationalist seat here from the SDLP.

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) A new candidte was selected for this party, following Patricia Lewsley, formerly MLA for this area to be appointed Childrens Comissioner. The new candidate, Marietta Farrel came 8th, and was eliminated. Her 2nd prefernce votes pushed rival nationalist, Sinn Fein's Paul Butler over the Quota.

Alliance (A) Following Seamus Close's retirement, Trevor Lunn, currently mayor of Lisburn gained much support, coming 4th in the election.

This Northern Ireland geographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.