Northern Ireland will lose its Mayors, Aldermen and council boroughs under new local government proposals, it emerged last night.

Around a dozen of the present 26 councils have borough status, which allows them to appoint Mayors and Deputy Mayors rather than chairpersons.

But none of the new names unveiled yesterday include ‘borough’. Apart from Belfast, they are ‘districts’.

Local Government Boundaries Commissioner Dick Mackenzie said: “It is not that it has been dropped, it is the fact that I did not have the authority to confer borough status on councils.

“For example, the new Causeway Coast council has four of the existing councils, two district and two borough, and the fact is that borough is thought to relate to a mostly urban settlement, whereas the Causeway area is largely rural.”

The future shape of local government came under fire from both Ulster Unionists and the SDLP last night after the names and areas of the 11 councils were announced, before an eight-week period of public consultation.

The proposals mean a massive expansion of the Belfast City Council area and amalgamations which will see both a Mid Antrim and a Mid-Ulster district council.

In Belfast part of the existing Castlereagh council, including Gilnahirk, Tullycarnet, Braniel, Castlereagh, Merok, Cregagh, Wynchurch, Glencregagh and Belvoir, as well as wards which now are within the Lisburn Council area — Colin Glen, Poleglass, Lagmore, Twinbrook, Kilwee and Dunmurry — will become part of the city boundaries.

A small area of housing at Knocknagoney will transfer from North Down into the Belfast area.

The new Causeway Council takes in Ballymoney, Coleraine, Limavady and Moyle.

Lisburn City will join Castlereagh and there will be an Armagh City and Bann District Council, incorporating not only the city of saints and scholars but Banbridge and Craigavon.

The area of Slieve Croob, which is part of the Mournes area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and lies between Down and Banbridge Council, will be part of a new Newry City and Down authority.

The other councils, drawn up in a deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein and replacing the Direct Rule administrations’ blueprint for just seven councils, are: Derry City and Strabane, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Ards and North Down, and Fermanagh and Omagh.

Dick Mackenzie, who drew up the provisional recommendations, said he had been worried the name of the Mid-Ulster authority could cause confusion.

But he said there was no identifying feature in the area which comprises the present councils of Magherafelt, Cookstown and Dungannon — while the Mid-Antrim council ties in Ballymena, Carrickfergus and Larne.

Mr McKenzie made clear the new councils can change their names once they come into being, if changes are not already made following the consultation period, or by the Assembly.

The number of wards overall reduces from the current 582 to 460. Belfast will have a total of 60 while each of the other ten areas will have 40.

Mr Mackenzie hoped the names of the new configurations would resonate in their localities.

Ulster Unionist local government spokesman Roy Beggs said: “This condemns Northern Ireland to entirely artificial local government boundaries that do not reflect the realities of local communities. This is particularly pronounced in Belfast. Contrary to some comments, it is not the case that Belfast’s boundaries have been expanded to reflect the City’s expansion in recent years. Tell that to the residents of Dundonald and others, who view themselves as part of east Belfast, and are now forced into a council area including Glenavy, Ballinderry, Moira and borders Lough Neagh.

“The DUP has to give answers. This 11 council model is their deal with Sinn Fein. They voted down the UUP amendments that would have allowed for sensible changes to remove some of the worst flaws in the 11 council model. It was the former and the present DUP Environment Ministers who wrongly assured the Assembly that meaningful change to the council boundaries would happen.”

SDLP Local Government spokesperson Tommy Gallagher MLA said there was “little to applaud” in the recommendations for boundaries. “This new plan is going to mean less effective representation for local people and a loss of identity for local areas. On the basis of this proposal, substantial sections of the electorate may well feel alienated and not adequately represented.

“The Commissioner has publicly said he has not taken into account political consequences in coming to these recommendations. By failing to do so these proposals will mean in some areas a continuation of political domination that has dogged local politics here. It will alienate people on the ground even more from local government.”

Sinn Fein said it would study the proposals in detail. South Belfast MLA Alex Maskey said: “The key issue for Sinn Féin is how local councils are governed in the future, including the protection of minority communities. Still today in some local councils, such as Lisburn and Coleraine, unionists operate the politics of exclusion.”