Ards and North Down Borough Council has sworn in a new Lord Mayor - this year from the Alliance Party.
Councillor for Bangor Central, Karen Douglas, became the Mayor of Ards and North Down Borough at the council’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, while UUP Councillor for Bangor Central Craig Blaney became Deputy Mayor.
Karen Douglas joined the council in 2016, having been co-opted for Bangor Central replacing Councillor Stuart Anderson. In 2019 she topped the poll in Bangor Central at the local elections with over 1,300 votes, and in the 2019/20 served as the Deputy Mayor. She replaces UUP Councillor Mark Brooks in the role of mayor.
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Mayor Douglas told the chamber: “People often ask me, why did you go into politics, and my answer has been unwavering. It is simple - it is about public service. As someone who graduated as a social worker back in 1998, my life for the past 24 years has been one of serving my community.
“This is in terms of supporting families and children in need of protection, through to being a service manager in local health and social service trusts, leading into professional teams and operationalising and managing a forensic specialist regional facility for adult and child victims of sexual violence.
“More latterly having returned to practice in the front line, working with those who come into contact with the criminal justice service.
“But politics is more than that, it is about how we experience our lives, for instance the cost of living, timely access to hospital waiting lists, pupil places in local schools, employment and training opportunities, access to green spaces, care of our natural environment, access to sports leisure activities and the arts, and how we live together neighbour with neighbour.
“So being involved in politics for me seems purely an extension of social work. Since I entered the council six years ago I have progressed a series of issues regarding social justice and the environment - these are matters very close to my heart.”
Mayor Douglas said she would be inviting all women elected representatives to join a new “women’s caucus” at the council, to work on women’s issues and bring more women into politics. She said she wanted to work with local businesses to “capitalise on the recent honour bestowed to Bangor in terms of city status.”
The council’s party leader for Alliance, Alderman Alan McDowell, who nominated the new mayor, said: “Karen has very strong environmental credentials. She leads a beach cleaning group every weekend, and she has brought many notices of motion to the council.
“One of them in particular - around rewilding some of the council’s parks and facilities - I was a sceptic about it. But now I am a full convert to the benefits and wisdom of that.
“Karen has also a strong background in health and social care and understands the issues that affect marginalised victims, those who are being discriminated against and also those less well off. She will fight their corner, and bring them back to feel a full part of our community.”
The new Deputy Mayor Craig Blaney said: “It is my first term in council, and has been a somewhat different term to how I would have imagined it to be, with the Covid impact. But it has been an honour and a dream of mine, for as long as I can remember, to be a councillor and to represent the borough I was born in.
“I am excited to see what I can do and what we can achieve together in these roles. I have had a chat with Karen and we are already excited about the ideas being brought forward, and hopefully we can have the same kind of constructive relationship the outgoing mayor and deputy had.”
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