Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.
<small>Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.</small>
|- class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> !rowspan=2|Total<br />Cllrs<br /> |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">UUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">DUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">Alliance</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">SDLP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| <span style="black;">Others</span> |- |align="left"|Ards East |bgcolor="40BFF5"|52.1 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|4 |23.0 |1 |15.3 |1 |0.0 |0 |9.6 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Ards West |bgcolor="40BFF5"|56.1 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|3 |18.8 |1 |25.1 |2 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Newtownards |26.6 |2 |18.6 |1 |15.4 |1 |0.0 |0 |bgcolor="#0077FF"|39.4 |bgcolor="#0077FF"|2 |6 |- |align="left"|Peninsula |22.6 |1 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|29.7 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |28.8 |1 |18.2 |1 |0.7 |0 |5 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |39.6 |10 |22.6 |5 |21.1 |5 |4.6 |1 |12.1 |0 |23 |-
1993: 3 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance<br /> 1997: 4 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance<br /> 1993-1997 Change: UUP gain from DUP
1993: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP<br /> 1997: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP<br /> 1993-1997 Change: No change
1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist<br /> 1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance<br /> 1993-1997 Change: Independent Unionist gain from DUP
1993: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent<br /> 1997: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP<br /> 1997-2001 Change: DUP and SDLP gain from Alliance and Independent