Polling Districts, Places & Stations Review 2023

Since October 2013, all local authorities have been required to review their polling districts, polling places, and polling stations every five years. The review period starts in October, and must be completed within 16 months of this. Each authority may choose the exact dates and length of their review; however it must fall within this window. The current compulsory review period is from October 2023 to Jan 2025 although it is good practice to have completed the review before the next General Election is called..

The review for Bromsgrove District Council started on 2 October 2023. You can view the official notice of review on this page.

The definition of the terms for the items being reviewed are:

• A 'polling district' is a geographical subdivision of an electoral area such as a district or parish ward which a polling place is designate.
• A 'polling place' is defined as the building or area in which a polling station resides.
• A 'polling station' is the room or area within a polling place where voting takes place. Unlike polling districts and polling places which are fixed by the local authority, polling stations are chosen by the Interim (Acting) Returning Officer.

The review requires the council to:

• Seek to ensure that all the electors in the constituency have such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances.
• Seek to ensure that so far as is reasonable and practicable, the polling places they are responsible for are accessible to all electors, and when considering the designation of a polling place, must have regard to the accessibility needs of disabled persons.
• Seek to ensure that polling places are within their polling district unless special circumstances (such as no suitable building being available) make it desirable to designate an area outside the polling district.

The Interim (Acting) Returning Officer is required to decide how many polling stations are needed for each polling place and to allocate electors to the polling stations in such a manner they think most convenient.

The following is not considered as part of the review:

• The changing of any district ward boundaries (which can only be done by statute following an electoral review carried out by the Local Government Boundary Commission - a review for Bromsgrove District is going to be carried out in the near future). This review is concerned only with the administrative subdivision of a ward into polling districts which are then assigned polling places;

or

• The changing of polling districts in areas which are also aligned with parish boundaries and therefore cannot be amended during this review (these can only be amended during a Community Governance Review).

Links to the background papers and interactive map setting out the current situation of polling districts and places within Bromsgrove is available in the related documents section of this page.

The consultation has now closed and submissions and results of the review will appear on this page.