Summary
Under the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, all local authorities must undertake a review of all polling districts and polling places every five years. North Kesteven District Council has now concluded the review which must be completed between October 2018 and January 2020. The final proposals were approved at the meeting of full Council held on 18 December 2018. All changes take effect for all elections held after 1 February 2019. Details of the conclusion of the review are available below:
- Notice of Conclusion of Polling Districts and Polling Places
- Schedule of Final Proposals
Polling arrangements will continue to be kept under review. The next compulsory full review of polling districts and polling places will take place between October 2023 and January 2025.
The Review Process
Consultation on the proposals for future polling districts, places and stations commenced on Monday 15 October 2018 and concluded on Friday 12 November 2018.
Representations on the Returning Officer’s proposals were open for public inspection and taken into account when the final report was prepared for resolution by the Council at its meeting on Tuesday 18 December 2018.
During the review, representations and feedback on any aspect of the allocated polling districts, places and/or stations were sought from:
- Returning Officers for each constituency within the district council area;
- Members of Parliament;
- North Kesteven District Councillors;
- Lincolnshire County Councillors;
- Parish Councils (via Parish Clerks); and
- Political Parties (who have fielded candidates at recent local elections)
Comments were also invited from:
- Electors within the North Kesteven district area; and
- Disability and Access Groups and persons / organisations with expertise in relation to access for disabled persons.
What does a Polling District and Polling Places Reviews cover?
The review requires the Council to:
- seek to ensure that all electors have reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances
- seek to ensure that so far as is reasonable and practicable, every polling place is accessible to electors who are disabled, and when considering the designation of a polling place, must have regard to the accessibility needs of disabled persons
What is not covered by the Review
The following matters are 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 type of review is concerned only with the administrative subdivision of the wards into Polling Districts which are then assigned Polling Places;
or
- The changing of polling districts in areas that are also aligned with Parish boundaries and therefore cannot be amended during this review (these can only be amended during a Community Governance Review)