Communities living in the Craigavon Area

Craigavon is a diverse area with a range of communities living in the borough.

Craigavon has a resident population of 80,000 with almost 60,000 people living within the urban area. The Borough is made up of a diverse mix of cultures, traditions, races and creeds. Approximately 120 families of Chinese and Vietnamese origin, together with around 70 families of Asian extraction live in the Borough. Craigavon now boasts the second largest population of ethnic minorities outside Belfast. A Portuguese community has also begun to develop particularly in the Portadown area - it is estimated that there is in excess of 500 Portuguese employed in the local food processing industry. Concentrations of different ethnic groupings occur in the wards of Drumgask, Brownstown, Magheralin and Edenderry. The Craigavon area would also include a Travellers Community, with the fifth highest ratio in the Province although no purpose built Travellers Site exists to date.

In terms of religious make up, there are approximately 31,101 Protestants and 33,624 Catholics, worshipping in the Craigavon area, other religions or philosophies account for 288 of the population.

While the Borough of Craigavon is generally prosperous there are pockets of deprivation. For example, the wards of Court in Lurgan, Drumgask and Drumgor in Craigavon and Corcrain in Portadown, rank in the top 70 most deprived wards in the Province.

The average age of the population living in the Craigavon area is 35.
Within the Borough, women outnumber men by over 1,000. There are approximately 39,753 males as opposed to 40,918 females

The residents of Craigavon have a strong sense of community pride and of mutual welfare. With over 300 community and voluntary groups active within Craigavon such as the Asian Al Nur Association and the Chinese Wah Hep Group.

The Development Department has a key role to play in the community by providing support and resources.

The Community Development Unit is situated within the Development Department and consists of a Head of Community Development and a Community Development Officer. The aim of the unit is to work directly with local communities to assist them in identifying and assessing needs and to co-ordinate responses to those needs in conjunction with other resource agencies operating in the Borough. The Unit also plays a vital role in contributing to policy formation at a regional level. As part of a pilot project the role of the Community Relations Development Officer has been incorporated into the role and duties of the Community Development Officer(s). By adopting this approach the unit will endeavour to improve and develop relationships in the Borough using an integrated community development approach. 

The Community Resources Unit  supports local groups in their community development work through the provision of resources and advice.

Council provides a range of community facilities – 2 x Town Halls and 11  x Community Centres which provide groups and local communities with valuable resources such as meeting space to carry out activities and programmes,  equipment, advice and support from Council and networking opportunities with other local groups.

Community Resources also operate a Community Transport Scheme through the provision of 23 Seater Coach complete with a tail lift facility and wheelchair space.  The Coach is available to local community and voluntary groups and a driver is provided.

Further resources include an equipment hire scheme whereby local groups can borrow large items/volume of equipment such as table, chairs, crockery, cutlery, overhead projectors, flip charts etc.

A particular element of the Community Resources Unit is the Afterschools Scheme for children aged 5-13 years which is run by a team of Playworkers.  The Scheme operates on a year round basis and is based at Council run Community Centres.

The Community Resources Unit also operates an annual grant aid scheme for local community and voluntary groups and advice services.  The importance of the grant aid scheme is significant as it can be a lifeline for many community groups providing a contribution towards their core running costs as well as being an important leverage tool for groups attracting in funding from other sources. 

Local councils have the lead responsibility in funding advice services
and Craigavon Borough Council currently fund three primary advice services within the Borough.

See the ‘funding section’ for further information.

The most up to date research and data available from the Community Resources Unit is our Community Support Plan 2002 – 2003. A copy of this can be downloaded from our ‘Downloads Section’.