Craigavon

Craigavon
Irish: Creag Abhann[1]

Craigavon Civic Centre from Craigavon Lakes
 Craigavon shown within Northern Ireland
Population 16,000 (2011 estimate)
Irish grid referenceJ042562
   – Belfast  28 miles (33 km)[2] 
DistrictArmagh, Banbridge and Craigavon
CountyCounty Armagh
CountryNorthern Ireland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town CRAIGAVON
Postcode district BT62
BT63
BT64
BT65
BT66
BT67
Dialling code 028 38, +44 28
Police Northern Ireland
Fire Northern Ireland
Ambulance Northern Ireland
EU Parliament Northern Ireland
NI AssemblyUpper Bann
Websitewww.craigavon.gov.uk
List of places
UK
Northern Ireland
Armagh

Coordinates: 54°26′50″N 6°23′18″W / 54.447222°N 6.388333°W / 54.447222; -6.388333

Craigavon (Irish: Creag Abhann) is a settlement in north County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is a planned settlement that began construction in 1965 and was named after Northern Ireland's first Prime Minister, James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon. It was planned as to link Lurgan and Portadown. Among locals today, "Craigavon" refers mainly to the area spanning the lakeland area between Lurgan and Portadown. The lakes are a popular watersports training and recreational area. Other sports facilities in Craigavon include Craigavon ski slope, golf courses, recreation centre, football and GAA pitches, cycle paths and walking trails - all a stones throw from Tannaghmore Gardens Petting Farm and close to Lough Neagh Nature Reserve.

Craigavon sometimes refers to the much larger Craigavon Urban Area, which includes Craigavon, Lurgan, Lough Neagh Nature Reserve, Portadown, Waringstown and Bleary.

History

Original plans

Viscount Craigavon

Craigavon was planned as a "New City" for Northern Ireland that would mirror cities such as Milton Keynes in Great Britain. It was conceived as a linear city that would link the towns of Lurgan and Portadown to create a single urban area and identity. The argument for a new town was based on projections indicating population increases over the following decades that would require large scale house building. Similar projects had been successfully completed in Great Britain so it was in some ways a symbol of Northern Ireland as both modern and a part of the British mainstream. Several reasons have been suggested for the suitability of the site including the existing population centres, industrial base, proximity to Belfast and the belief that Craigavon would help spread development away from Belfast. It was hoped that residents of Belfast would be attracted by the suburban nature of Craigavon's design and that business would see it as an interesting alternative. The M1 motorway (Northern Ireland) was constructed to link the new city with Belfast and there were plans to replace the Lurgan and Portadown Railway Stations with a single high speed terminal in central Craigavon. The Craigavon Area Hospital was built to replace small hospitals in the local towns.

The design of Craigavon was imbued with the spirit of the age. The planners separated motor vehicles from pedestrians and cyclists wherever possible, creating a dedicated network of paths allowing residents to travel across Craigavon without encountering traffic. The road network for motor vehicles used roundabouts instead of traffic lights at junctions, giving the planners the ability to easily increase the number of lanes if it became necessary. Electricity and other cables were placed underground and street lighting was standard throughout. The planners clustered the housing developments around small 'village centres' with associated retail space, leisure facilities, post offices, primary schools, pharmacies, community centres and other civic amenities. There was a total separation of industrial land-use from all other uses. All estates were built with security concerns in mind, with one vehicle entry/exit point.

Craigavon was designed to be a very child-friendly environment with small playgrounds dotted throughout the residential areas. There was an emphasis on providing green space in the housing estates and safe paths to cycle on. The new town was also provided with many civic amenities including a leisure centre, libraries, shopping centre, civic centre, a large park with artificial lakes, playing fields, a petting zoo, public gardens and an artificial ski slope.

The Troubles

For more information, see The Troubles in Craigavon, which includes a list of incidents in Craigavon during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities. On 10 March 2009 the CIRA claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting of a PSNI officer in Craigavon — the first police fatality in Northern Ireland since 1998. The officer was fatally shot by a sniper as he and a colleague investigated "suspicious activity" at a house nearby when a window was smashed by youths causing the occupant to phone the police. The PSNI officers responded to the emergency call, giving a CIRA sniper the chance to shoot and kill officer Stephen Carroll.[3]

Geography

The Belfast–Dublin railway line between Craigavon Lakes
Craigavon Lakes

Craigavon lies on an area of flat land near the southeastern shore of Lough Neagh. The surrounding settlements (listed clockwise) are Aghacommon (north), Lurgan (northeast), Corcreeny (east), Bleary (southeast) and Portadown (southwest). It is separated from these surrounding settlements mostly by fields. The narrow gap between Craigavon and Portadown is marked by the fields/playing fields in Lisnisky and Kernan. The gap between Craigavon and Lurgan is narrower, being marked by fields/playing fields in Ballynamony, Tullygally, Taghnevan and Monbrief.[4]

Between Craigavon and Aghacommon is the Portadown–Lurgan railway line and Craigavon Lakes. The railway line runs between the two lakes. Further north is the M1 motorway, which runs parallel with the railway line.[4]

Demography

For census purposes, Craigavon is not treated as a separate entity by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). Instead, it is combined with Portadown, Lurgan and Bleary to form the "Craigavon Urban Area". This makes it difficult to glean an accurate demographic picture of the area that is generally regarded as Craigavon – the mainly residential area between Portadown and Lurgan.[5] This area roughly corresponds with the Drumgask,[6] Drumgor,[7] Kernan[8] and (part of) Taghnevan[9] electoral wards.

On the day of the last census (27 March 2011) the combined population of these wards was about 16,000.

Craigavon has an 800-strong Chinese community and a high level of racially motivated incidents.[10]

Craigavon has been a historically Protestant town; however, in recent times, the electorate has become gradually less so, with higher numbers of Catholics and people of other religions or people of no declared religion.[11]

Education

Craigavon was provided with a number of schools.

Sport

Twin towns

Craigavon is twinned with:

Central Craigavon, aerial view, 2012. 
Craigavon Civic and Conference Centre, aerial view, 2012. 
Craigavon Civic and Conference Centre. 
Marlborough House. 
Rushmere Shopping Centre. 
The Balancing Lakes with an Enterprise - Craigavon lacking a railway station. 

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Craigavon.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.