Introduction
North Kesteven District Council has approved the Interim Polling Place Review 2022 at the meeting of Council on 14 July 2022.
The Council undertook this interim review of polling districts and polling places to take account of the district ward boundary changes from the NKDC Electoral Review; conducted by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. The changes to the district ward boundaries and district ward names will legally take effect from the NKDC district elections on 4 May 2023.
This polling place review assessed the boundary changes against the current polling districts, to see where adjustments were required to ensure balanced elector numbers and check the suitability of polling station locations.
The NKDC Elections Team will implement the changes approved by Council in readiness for the local government elections scheduled for 4 May 2023.
The Review Process
The public consultation for this review was held from Tuesday 3 May 2022 to Monday 6 June 2022.
The Council sought views on the Returning Officer’s proposals for changes to various polling districts and polling places as a result of the district ward boundary changes from the NKDC Electoral 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.
The next statutory full review of all polling districts and polling places in North Kesteven, will take place between October 2023 and January 2025.
Why is this Interim Review needed?
This interim review has been conducted to take account of the district ward boundaries changes in North Kesteven that will take effect on 4 May 2023. The Electoral Review, conducted by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, has re-drawn the district warding pattern in North Kesteven to ensure each ward councillor represents approximately the same number of voters.
The changes from the Electoral Review will reduce the total number of district wards from 26 to 24. A number of the 24 district wards will have different boundaries as well as many changing their ward name. More details on the Electoral Review.
What does a Polling District and Polling Places Review 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 have a disability, and when considering the designation of a polling place, must have regard to the accessibility needs of disabled persons.
Terms used in the Review
- Polling District - a geographical subdivision of an electoral area, for example a District/Parish Ward within which a polling place is designated
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Polling Place – an area or building in which polling stations are located, and which can be as wide as a complete polling district.
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Polling Station – the actual area in which voting takes place.
What does this Interim Review not cover?
The following matters are not considered as part of the review:
- Changes to district ward boundaries can only be made via an Electoral Review. The Council has recently undergone an Electoral review in 2019-2021 and the statutory outcomes of that review will take effect on 4 May 2023. No further changes can be made to the District Ward boundaries until a further Electoral Review is carried out by the Local Government Boundary Commission. This is not anticipated for at least ten years or unless the electoral variance in NK district wards become severely unbalanced. This type of review is concerned only with the administrative subdivision of the wards into Polling Districts which are then assigned Polling Places.
or
- Where polling district boundaries are aligned with parish boundaries these cannot be amended during this review (these can only be amended during a Community Governance Review).