Review of polling districts, polling places and polling stations 2024

Overview

In accordance with the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, Herefordshire Council is required to complete a full review of all polling districts, polling places and polling stations every five years. The review must be held within a 16 month period between 1 October 2023 and 31 January 2025 with a public consultation forming part of that review.

Background

The Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 introduced a change to the timing of compulsory reviews of UK Parliamentary polling districts and polling places. The last such review in Herefordshire was undertaken in July 2019 from which the results were agreed by full council in October 2019 and new electoral arrangements were implemented for 1 December 2019.

A review of polling places offers an opportunity to take account of known future changes, for example, where buildings have ceased or will cease to be capable of being used as polling stations and more suitable buildings that are, or are due to become, available.

The proposals made in this review involve changes to various polling places located throughout the county. This review is undertaken under section 18C(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1983 which allows the council to carry out at any time a review of a particular polling district or polling place. While the pattern of provision will never be ideal to suit all electors, the proposals try to maximise convenience by using the best locations.

Definition of terms

• A 'polling district' is a geographical subdivision of an electoral area such as a district ward within which a polling place is designated
• A 'polling place' is defined as the building or area in which a polling station will be selected by the (Acting) Returning Officer
• 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 electors in a constituency have such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances
• Seek to ensure that every polling place 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. It is important to note that the review does not affect ward or constituency boundaries, but is instead about the location people cast their vote.

The review

A Notice of Review was published on 30 August 2024 to start the polling station review. The (Acting) Returning Officer has now published their recommendations and responses after inviting everyone from members of the public, to councillors, political parties and disability groups to comment on the recommendations proposed.

View the consultee responses and the final recommendations.

Have your say

The consultation stage is for representations and comments to be made on the existing and proposed arrangements for polling districts and polling places.

The consultation ran for 10 weeks from Monday 16 September to Monday 18 November 2024.

We will write to individuals affected by the implementation of the review to tell them about any changes to the place they must attend to vote.

You can use our postcode checker to find your councillor and see other information including your polling station and polling district boundary.

We were keen to receive representations from any interested individual, group or organisation, particularly those with expertise in access for persons with any type of disability, on alterations to current electoral arrangements. Representations should, wherever possible, have included suggested alternative premises which may be used for polling purposes.

Any elector within the authority or within the North Herefordshire or Hereford and South Herefordshire parliamentary constituencies could make a representation.

For further information about this review contact elections@herefordshire.gov.uk