Newtownabbey Borough Council was a Local Authority in County Antrim in Northern Ireland, on the north shore of Belfast Lough just immediately north of Belfast. The Council merged with Antrim Borough Council in April 2015 under local government reform in Northern Ireland to form Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.

Newtownabbey was founded in 1958 as a result of an Act of Parliament passed in 1957 and comprises large urban residential areas along with traditional farming communities. Its major industries include electronics, software and telecommunications development and agriculture. Council headquarters are at Mossley Mill in Newtownabbey. Towns within the area included Ballyclare and Glengormley. The University of Ulster at Jordanstown is also in the area covered by the former Council.

The Newtownabbey Borough Council area consisted of four electoral areas: Antrim Line, Macedon, University, and Ballyclare. At the 2011 elections, 25 members were elected from the following political parties: 12 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 5 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 5 Alliance Party, 1 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and 2 Sinn Féin. At the Annual General Meeting of the Council on the first Monday in June each year the Mayor was elected and became the first citizen of the Borough.

A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.

The word borough derives from common Germanic *Burg, meaning fort: compare with bury, burgh and brough (England), burgh (Scotland), Burg (Germany), borg (Scandinavia), burcht (Dutch), boarch (West Frisian), and the Germanic borrowing present in neighbouring Indo-european languages such as borgo (Italian), bourg (French), burgo (Spanish and Portuguese), burg (Romanian), purg (Kajkavian) and durg (दर्ग) (Hindi) and arg (ارگ) (Persian). The incidence of these words as suffixes to place names (for example, Aldeburgh, Bamburgh, Tilbury, Tilburg, Strasbourg (Strossburi in the local dialect), Luxembourg, Edinburgh, Grundisburgh, Hamburg, Gothenburg) usually indicates that they were once fortified settlements.

In the Middle Ages, boroughs were settlements in England that were granted some self-government; burghs were the Scottish equivalent. In medieval England, boroughs were also entitled to elect members of parliament. The use of the word borough probably derives from the burghal system of Alfred the Great. Alfred set up a system of defensive strong points (Burhs); in order to maintain these settlements, he granted them a degree of autonomy. After the Norman Conquest, when certain towns were granted self-governance, the concept of the burh/borough seems to have been reused to mean a self-governing settlement.

Coordinates: 54°39′25″N 5°54′25″W / 54.657°N 5.907°W / 54.657; -5.907

Newtownabbey is a major urban area on the outskirts of north Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is considered to be a suburb of Belfast, it is separated from the city by the M2 motorway. At the 2001 Census, Newtownabbey Urban Area had a population of 62,056, making it the fourth largest settlement in Northern Ireland. It is part of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.

Largely a residential area, the borough is also home to many engineering and computer industries. Retail and leisure facilities include the Abbey Centre, the Valley Leisure Centre, the Ballyearl Arts & Leisure Centre,The Theatre at the Mill, Glengormley Moviehouse, Glengormley Sportsbowl and three large public parks. The main campus for the University of Ulster is based in the Jordanstown area of Newtownabbey. Although the Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster is due to merge with the current Belfast campus which is due to be completed by 2018.

Coordinates: 54°41′06″N 5°57′58″W / 54.685°N 5.966°W / 54.685; -5.966

Newtownabbey was a single-member county constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

Boundaries and boundary changes

Before 1969, the area formed part of the Northern Ireland Parliament constituencies of Antrim Borough and Carrick.

Newtownabbey was created by the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 as a division of County Antrim. It was located to the north of Belfast and comprised "part of the urban district of Newtownabbey which consists of the wards of Carnmoney, Cavehill, Glengormley, Whitehouse, and Whitewell".

The constituency sent one MP to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland from the Northern Ireland general election, 1969. The Parliament was prorogued on 30 March 1972, under the terms of the Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972. It was formally abolished in 1973 when the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 received Royal Assent on 18 July 1973.