The business structure of the Council is made up of five main departments. Each department is structured into a number of individual service units responsible for the effective delivery of the Council's services.

A summary of the Council's departments and the responsibilities of each is given below.

Chief Executive: Ashley Boreland

Fundamental to the smooth operation of the Council are the administrative and legal services provided through the Chief Executive's Department.

Its work also encompasses other vital areas, such as equality, Freedom of Information, public relations, the registration of births, deaths and marriages and the provision of general advice and information to the public.

The Borough Inspector's Office is also part of the Chief Executive's Department and is responsible for issues such as dog control, litter control, bonfire control, petroleum licensing, entertainment licensing, street trading licensing and the issue of amusement permits. More recently, the Office is also overseeing two newer areas of work - Community Safety and the Ards District Policing Partnership - and is also responsible for the Anti-Social Behaviour Team, a unit of three Council staff working with local community police officers to tackle anti-social behaviour 'hot spots' and deal with those issues, from the consumption of alcohol in public places to youths causing annoyance, which can have such a detrimental impact on local people's quality of life.

Director of Corporate Services: Dave Clarke

Corporate Services incorporates the Finance, Human Resources and Information Technology sections.

Finance meets the financial service needs of the Council, providing Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Financial Accounting, Internal Audit, Management Accounting and Payroll while Recruitment and Selection, Employee Development, Industrial Relations and Health and Safety are the functions delivered by Human Resources.

Providing a support service to both elected members and council officers in developing the Council's computer systems is the responsibility of the Information Technology section. Ards was the first Council in Northern Ireland to establish a presence on the world wide web and continues to lead the way in the integration of information technology into the work of local authorities.

Director of Development: Derek McCallan

The Development Department offers a key external focus for the Council which is both strategically driven, in terms of the long term development of the Borough, and customer led, in terms of taking actions which tangibly improve diverse elements of the Ards economy.

The Department acts as the Council's main interface with developers, tourists, some 25 local and regional enterprise partner organisations, entrepreneurs, several government departments and their subsidiary agencies, auditors and fund managers of the European Union, international partners and regional counterparts in Northern Ireland, Britain and beyond.

The main functional elements of the department deal with economic and tourism development, strategic planning, and the creation of an Integrated Development Plan for the Ards Borough, in association with other key public sector agencies.

The Department's active role in tourism development is enhanced by two Tourist Information Centres and one Local Information Office (Pier 36 in Donaghadee) - the main centre in Newtownards and its seasonal satellite in Portaferry - which act as vital support mechanisms for local businesses by selling the whole tourism product to visitors. At the same time visitors have access to yet another unique Council initiative, Ards Crafts, a dedicated retail outlet for crafts, specifically promoting the work of local crafts people. Both Ards Crafts and Tourist Information Centre and the Portaferry Centre hold the Charter Mark status.

Events have also become a key element of the tourism development portfolio and each year, the Ards area is building on its reputation for organising unique, quality events. The Creative Peninsula, which showcases the wealth of artistic talent that abounds in Ards by opening up the normally private worlds of the artists and craftspeople who live and work across the area, is now well-established in the Northern Ireland events calendar. So, too, is the Festival of the Peninsula each September, when Ards joins with its counterparts in Scotland and Donegal to celebrate their shared history, music, art, literature and dance. There's always a feast of folk on offer as well as story-telling, talks, walks and tours.

Exploris in Portaferry, Northern Ireland's only aquarium, is also managed by the Development Department. The aquarium offers a unique opportunity for visitors to experience the wonders of the Irish Sea, with an open sea tank and marine discovery lab allowing immersion in the fascinating lives of the underwater communities of the sea. Exploris also plays a valuable role in rehabilitating abandoned or sick seal pups through its Seal Sanctuary. The sanctuary takes visitors through the seals' journey back to health - from the pens where the pups are kept when they are very young, right through to the point where they learn to swim. And there are special viewing points for visitors to see the seals - from above, alongside and underwater.

Community Development is also the responsibility of the Development Department.

Director of Environmental Services: John Rea

The Environmental Services Department is responsible for many of the services taken for granted in day to day life.

Street cleaning (over 700kms in total) and refuse collection, both household and trade (which amounts to more than 30,000 bins each week), are co-ordinated through this Department, while civic amenity sites at seven locations also provide disposal and recycling facilities. Indeed, recycling has become one of the Department's key focuses in the last number of years as it drives forward the implementation of its Waste Management Strategy and dramatic rises in recycling rates (from 10% in 2003 to over 20% by the end of 2004) have followed the introduction of blue and brown bin kerbside recycling schemes.

A maintenance service for the Council's 130 properties and sites across the Borough, including 40 playgrounds and an events support service, is provided by the Works section, based at the Council's North Road Depot in Newtownards, as is the team in the Stores section who are responsible for storing and allocating stock items across the range of Council's Departments, for the issue of domestic "wheelie bins", the control of the weighbridge and Council fuel facilities.

Building Control is also administered through the Environmental Services Department. Officers in this section are responsible for thousands of building control applications and building inspections every year, and also deal with street naming, postal numbering, property certificates and dangerous structures.

The Environmental Health section is also part of this Department and its work continues to be wide-ranging and to encompass a number of areas from food safety and pollution control to occupational health and safety and consumer protection.

Director of Leisure Services: Archie Walls

From the management of the Council's three leisure centres (Ards, Comber and Portaferry) as well as other sports facilities, the remit of the Leisure Services Department also includes responsibility for a range of cultural and sporting functions.

The Department operates a successful sports development programme, including dedicated schemes for football. The section is also responsible for the area's Sports Development Committee, an umbrella group established by the Council and run for and by local sports clubs.

A vibrant arts programme, co-ordinated by Ards Arts Centre in conjunction with its Arts Committee, encompasses both visual and performing arts, aiming to increase the quality and accessibility of the arts within the Borough. This area of work, along with community arts development is also undertaken by the Leisure Services Department.

The provision and maintenance of dedicated community centres is also a responsibility of the Department.