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Issue - meetings

Interim Review of Polling District, Polling Places and Polling Stations

 

 

Meeting: 29/01/2026 - Council (Item 76)

76 INTERIM REVIEW OF POLLING DISTRICT, POLLING PLACES AND POLLING STATIONS pdf icon PDF 215 KB

REPORT OF THE DEMOCRATIC SERVICES MANAGER

 

To detail the outcome of the interim review of Polling Districts, Polling Places and Polling Stations following the Community Governance Review in 2025.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED: That Council designated the Polling Districts and Polling Places as per the Returning Officer’s Proposals attached as Appendix A to the submitted report, effective as of 2 March 2026.

 

REASONS FOR DECISION:

 

(1)   The Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 introduced a change to the timing of compulsory reviews of UK Parliamentary Polling Districts and Polling Places, which had to be concluded by 31 January 2025.

 

(2)   Outside of compulsory reviews, the (Acting) Returning Officer (RO) for each authority is also encouraged to conduct regular assessments of existing arrangements. Following completion of the Community Governance Review (CGR) 2025 which resulted in changes to parish wards – specifically in Ickleford, Baldock, Royston, Clothall and Bygrave. Therefore, the polling arrangements were required to be considered.

Minutes:

Audio recording 19 minutes 59 seconds

 

The Electoral Services Manager presented the report entitled ‘Interim Review of Polling District, Polling Places and Polling Stations’ and advised that:

 

·       Following completion of the Community Governance Review (CGR) in 2025, the Council was required to undertake an interim Polling District Review.

·       An interim review followed the same process as a statutory polling district and polling places review and included a public consultation period.

·       The consultation period ran between 14 October 2025 to 30 November 2025 and a total of 20 responses were received as summarised in Appendix B.

·       Consideration of the suitability of a polling place included accessibility, parking and transport links, as detailed in Appendix A.

·       Details of amendments were set out in paragraph 8.6 of the report as well as in detail in Appendix A.

·       Electors in the new polling district of Lavender Grange, which was part of Ickleford parish would continue to vote at Ickleford Village Hall.

·       The Council had applied to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to participate in the forthcoming flexible voting election pilots.

·       In preparation, it was planned to have voting hubs located in Codicote, Knebworth, Kimpton and Royston if the elections were contested.

·       If the election pilots went ahead, electors would be able to vote early in person on Saturday 2 May and Sunday 3 May at Voting Hubs.

In response to a question from Councillor Ralph Muncer, the Democratic Services Manager advised that early voting would be applied for any scheduled parish election or any unscheduled parish or district election on 7 May 2026.

In response to a question from Councillor Jon Clayden, the Electoral Services Manager advised that the change in the polling district boundary line affecting the dwellings in Billing Place, Hitchin was detailed in the map in Appendix B. These changes were being made to ensure that voters in these dwellings could vote at their closest polling station.

Councillor Daniel Allen proposed and Councillor Val Bryant seconded and, following a vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED: That Council designated the Polling Districts and Polling Places as per the Returning Officer’s Proposals attached as Appendix A to the submitted report, effective as of 2 March 2026.

 

REASONS FOR DECISION:

 

(1)   The Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 introduced a change to the timing of compulsory reviews of UK Parliamentary Polling Districts and Polling Places, which had to be concluded by 31 January 2025.

 

(2)   Outside of compulsory reviews, the (Acting) Returning Officer (RO) for each authority is also encouraged to conduct regular assessments of existing arrangements. Following completion of the Community Governance Review (CGR) 2025 which resulted in changes to parish wards – specifically in Ickleford, Baldock, Royston, Clothall and Bygrave. Therefore, the polling arrangements were required to be considered.