# 2001 Ards Borough Council election

Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 7 June 2001 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.

## Election results

Ards Borough Council Election Result 2001 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| DUP | 9 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 39.1 | 37.0 | 8,133 | 14.4 |
| UUP | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 34.8 | 31.7 | 6,968 | 7.9 |
| Alliance | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17.4 | 16.7 | 3,668 | 4.4 |
| Independent | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.3 | 9.8 | 2,135 | 8.2 |
| SDLP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 860 | 0.7 |
| NI Conservatives | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 190 | 0.9 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Ards Borough Council election, 2001 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | DUP | DUP | UUP | UUP | Alliance | Alliance | SDLP | SDLP | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Ards East | N/A | 2 | N/A | 3 | N/A | 1 | N/A | 0 | N/A | 0 | 6 |
| Ards West | 36.9 | 3 | 42.2 | 2 | 18.5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 2.4 | 0 | 6 |
| Newtownards | 37.5 | 2 | 33.3 | 2 | 12.2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 17.0 | 0 | 6 |
| Peninsula | 36.8 | 2 | 17.9 | 1 | 19.2 | 1 | 12.5 | 1 | 13.6 | 0 | 5 |
| Total | 37.0 | 9 | 31.7 | 8 | 16.7 | 4 | 3.9 | 1 | 10.7 | 0 | 23 |

## Districts results
### Ards East

1997: 4 x UUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 2001: 3 x DUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 1997-2001 Change: DUP gain from UUP
Ards East - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 |
| | Alliance | Linda Cleland* | N/A | N/A |
| | UUP | Ronald Ferguson* | N/A | N/A |
| | DUP | Hamilton Gregory* | N/A | N/A |
| | UUP | Jeffrey Magill* | N/A | N/A |
| | UUP | John Shields* | N/A | N/A |
| | DUP | Terence Williams | N/A | N/A |
| Electorate: N/A Valid: N/A Spoilt: N/A Quota: N/A Turnout: N/A |||||
* As only six candidates had been nominated for six seats, there was no vote in Ards East and all six candidates were deemed elected.

### Ards West

1997: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 2001: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1997-2001 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from UUP and Alliance
Ards West - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | UUP | Robert Gibson* | 30.56% | 2,454 | | | | | |
| | DUP | Margaret Craig* | 15.32% | 1,230 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Philip Smith | 7.78% | 625 | 1,516.55 | | | | |
| | DUP | William Montgomery | 12.94% | 1,039 | 1,098.95 | 1,100.56 | 1,117.89 | 1,124.49 | 1,175.49 |
| | Alliance | Jim McBriar* | 9.41% | 756 | 835.75 | 840.35 | 866.23 | 867.07 | 1,023.47 |
| | DUP | David Gilmore* | 8.63% | 693 | 789.25 | 794.08 | 810.63 | 873.15 | 1,001.09 |
| | Alliance | Kathleen Coulter* | 9.12% | 732 | 791.4 | 795.08 | 842.96 | 843.92 | 965.11 |
| | UUP | Arthur Spence | 3.87% | 311 | 412.75 | 762.35 | 829.73 | 830.93 | |
| | NI Conservatives | Christopher Connolly | 2.37% | 190 | 205.4 | 207.01 | | | |
| Electorate: 13,602 Valid: 8,030 (59.04%) Spoilt: 223 Quota: 1,148 Turnout: 8,253 (60.67%) ||||||||||

### Newtownards

1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist 1997-2001 Change: DUP gain from Independent Unionist, Independent Unionist becomes Independent
Newtownards - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | DUP | George Ennis* | 22.81% | 1,608 | | | | |
| | UUP | Thomas Hamilton* | 18.27% | 1,288 | | | | |
| | UUP | David Smyth* | 15.04% | 1,060 | | | | |
| | Independent | Wilbert Magill* | 12.61% | 889 | 923.2 | 1,043.2 | | |
| | Alliance | Alan McDowell* | 12.18% | 859 | 863.94 | 915.32 | 1,075.9 | |
| | DUP | Hamilton Lawther | 5.15% | 363 | 838 | 877.14 | 944.41 | 967.66 |
| | DUP | Bobby McBride* | 9.52% | 671 | 734.46 | 779.5 | 830.96 | 852.04 |
| | Independent | Nancy Orr | 4.43% | 312 | 322.66 | | | |
| Electorate: 12,965 Valid: 7,050 (54.38%) Spoilt: 218 Quota: 1,008 Turnout: 7,268 (56.06%) |||||||||

### Peninsula

1997: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP 2001: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP 1997-2001 Change: No change
Peninsula - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| | DUP | Jim Shannon* | 26.53% | 1,824 | | | | | | | |
| | Alliance | Kieran McCarthy* | 18.71% | 1,286 | | | | | | | |
| | DUP | Robert Drysdale* | 10.25% | 705 | 1,222.92 | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Daniel McCarthy* | 12.51% | 860 | 865.85 | 899.51 | 918.84 | 1,025.08 | 1,025.88 | 1,430.88 | |
| | UUP | Angus Carson | 10.33% | 710 | 748.22 | 755.81 | 766.28 | 864.5 | 894.8 | 944.8 | 1,008.8 |
| | UUP | Paul Carson* | 7.56% | 520 | 583.96 | 593.97 | 603.82 | 671.15 | 710.75 | 731.42 | 765.42 |
| | Independent | Joe Boyle | 7.65% | 526 | 528.73 | 543.58 | 553.75 | 646.87 | 648.67 | | |
| | Independent | Robert Ambrose | 3.71% | 255 | 289.32 | 298.01 | 307.13 | | | | |
| | Independent | James McMullan | 2.23% | 153 | 155.73 | 162.99 | 166.58 | | | | |
| | Alliance | Stephen McSherry | 0.51% | 35 | 38.12 | 85.2 | | | | | |
| Electorate: 11,849 Valid: 6,874 (58.01%) Spoilt: 211 Quota: 1,146 Turnout: 7,085 (59.79%) ||||||||||||