CIRCUSES with wild animals wishing to use Antrim and Newtownabbey District Council land will have each application scrutinised by councillors.
Elected representatives overturned a previous decision not to ban the shows.
DUP councillor Phillip Brett tabled the motion to rescind that decision, just as he did in February when his proposal of a ban was defeated.
At the last ever meeting of the two councils as separate entities, councillors in favour of the ban took advantage of absentees to rescind the motion, with 20 members voting in favour, 13 against and one abstention.
At a meeting at the end of February, half of the total 40 councillors voted against a ban. An abstention by Alliance's Tom Campbell meant the proposal was not carried.
Although a full ban has not been enforced, each application will now be examined by councillors on the new Antrim and Newtownabbey District Council, which came into existence on Wednesday.
Two other new supercouncils, Belfast and North Down and Ards, have already imposed bans on wild-animal circuses on council land.
The move has been supported by members of the DUP, TUV and Alliance. SDLP, UUP and Sinn Féin voted against.
UUP councillor Paul Michael, a former Antrim mayor, said after the initial vote that there was "little evidence" to support a ban.
He said: "What protection would a ban have given in any event? The circus could just have gone to somewhere which is not council owned."
Antrim town councillor Neil Kelly, of Alliance, said he would continue to lobby for a full ban on wild animal circuses across the north.
He said: "A travelling circus is no place for wild animals and it is time that Northern Ireland caught up with the rest of the UK on this issue.
"Forcing wild animals to travel around the country is both morally and ethically wrong and while the decision taken by Antrim and Newtownabbey is not quite an outright ban, it means open debate and a vote will have to place on each application made."