Polling Districts, Places & Stations Review 2019

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 next compulsory review period is from October 2018 to Jan 2020.

The review for Bromsgrove District Council starts on 17 July 2019. View the notice of review here.

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 ward within 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 (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 make it desirable to designate an area outside the polling district.

The (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 he thinks 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). 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).

The first stage of consultations finished on 28 August and the Electoral Matters Committee considered all submissions at it's meeting on 10 September. Copies of the submissions can be viewed on the right hand side of this page and the full reports, maps and minutes of the Electoral Matters Committee can be found here. Information is also on deposit at the Council Offices, Parkside, Market St, Bromsgrove.

The recommendations of the Electoral Matters Committee and submission from the Acting Returning Officer can be found in the spreadsheet here or in the summary of changes document.

The Council welcomed comments on these recommendations and also considered other submissions. Consultation on this stage closed on 7 October.

On 24 October the final proposals were considered and the new scheme of Polling Places was agreed. It was decided that the scheme would take effect from the date of poll of any election/referendum held or on of publication of the revised Register of Electors on 1st December 2019 whichever is sooner.  The full reports and minutes from the 24 October meeting can be found here.