To consider the above report

Members considered the recommendations of the cross-party polling district and polling places working group and the Returning Officer for reviewing the boundaries of the Borough’s parliamentary polling districts and designation of polling places for all types of elections.

Councillor Gilmore, Chairman of the working group explained that the polling district scheme appeared as the Appendix to the report, which set out the details of the polling district names and codes, and corresponding polling places for each of the 62 polling districts. The electorate figures referred to the local government electorate at September 2018.

The 2018 polling district review had been a mandatory exercise following the redrawing of the boundaries of the borough’s electoral wards by the Local Government Boundary Commission. One of the effects of the review was that polling districts now crossed multiple wards. It was not possible to administer an election under these arrangements, and polling districts must be contained in one ward.

The objective of the polling district review working group had been to recommend change to the polling districts only where it was necessary. The report stated that change was recommended for 31 polling districts, either a change to the boundary and/or polling place. It should be noted that where change was proposed to the polling district boundary, for the vast majority of polling districts this was a simple change to make the existing polling district boundary coterminous with the new ward boundary. New polling districts had not been drawn from scratch.

For polling places, the working group had again endeavoured to follow the principle of minimal change. The group was recommending the adoption of six new polling station venues, one of which was a temporary building on St Leonard’s Hill. The proposed new polling stations (with the exception of the mobile unit), had been visited by officers and deemed to be suitable polling locations.

Councillor Gilmore referred to the specific situation in Pinkney’s Green. He had proposed a more central location for a polling station to reduce the distances people would have to travel, but the new location had access issues therefore the group had agreed to retain the original station at Pinkney’s Green Youth and Community Centre.

RBWM as the local authority responsible for administering the review, was required to carry out public consultation on the proposed scheme. Modifications had been made to the scheme in light of feedback from residents, Members, parish councils and local community groups. Public engagement in the review had been very high, with over 50 responses received to the first consultation in October 2018.

Councillor Gilmore thanked officers, members of the working group and residents who had responded to the consultation. Council was being asked to endorse the adoption of the polling district scheme in full so that the 2019 local elections could be administered under the new ward boundaries.

Councillor Hilton highlighted that the report referred to changes in 31 out of 62 areas. In some cases voters would need to go to a new polling station within the same area, in others a group of properties would be moved to a new station as a result of the boundary changes. Only time would reveal the consequences. On 2 May 2019 he was keen that he did not hear stories of voters saying they had gone to a polling station to find it was closed or they had been told to go elsewhere. He asked what actions were being taken to ensure residents across the borough would be fully aware of the changes and how they would be affected.

Councillor Sharma welcomed the amendments in Furze Platt ward; in particular the use of St Peters made sense. However he questioned why there was no reference to MFP1.

Councillor Hill asked if there would be adequate parking outside the Town Hall for voters in Oldfield and the new St Mary’s ward given the town hall car park was due to close. Councillor Hill commented that his opposition to the changes was well known; he believed a reduction from 57 to 41 councillors was a retrograde step that would lead to a loss of representation and would limit access to democracy. Councillor Hill was advised that the reduction in councillors was not relevant to the report before Members for consideration.

Councillor D. Wilson commented that changes in the population in Oldfield ward had necessitated the boundary review.  He requested that when the new electoral registers were published in February that a map was also provided to show the amended boundaries.

Councillor Stretton highlighted that she had raised at the all-Member briefing the previous week her concern that not enough resources were being put into ensuring residents were clear about the changes.

Councillor E. Wilson welcomed the changes in Clewer and Dedworth West, in particular the removal of Homer School as a polling station. Homer was a small school that struggled with the requirements of being a polling station. He was also grateful for the continued use of Tinkers Lane. He thanked officers for their work on what was a difficult and complex task.

Councillor N. Airey, as Lead Member for Children’s Services, welcomed the changes meaning that less schools would need to close to be used as polling stations.

Councillor Dudley echoed the words of Councillor E. Wilson; the officers had done excellent work in a professional manner. In response to councillor Hill, he explained that the Members’ parking area was constrained by the contract with the DWP. The disabled bays previously adjacent to the Town Hall had been reprovided in the Members’ parking area. Alternative parking for voters would be available in Grove Road car park and Nicholson’s car park. He would be happy to ensure all Member parking spaces were made available for voters on election day.

Councillor Targowska thanked the officers and Members on the working group. As Lead Member she agreed a good communications plan would be very important.

It was proposed by Councillor Gilmore, seconded by Councillor Dudley, and:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: ThatFull Council notes the report and:

i)          That the revised polling district boundaries and designation of the polling places affecting the following wards be approved, (as detailed in Appendix 1):

·         Belmont, Boyn Hill, Furze Platt, Oldfield, Riverside, St Mary’s, Ascot & Sunninghill, Clewer & Dedworth East, Clewer & Dedworth West, Clewer East, Datchet, Horton & Wraysbury, Eton & Castle, Old Windsor and Sunningdale & Cheapside.

ii)            That the Returning Officer reviews the polling districts and polling places following the May 2019 elections and recommend further revisions to the scheme where necessary, with the support of the polling district and polling places working group. If a further review is required, proposals will be referred to Council by no later than 31 January 2020.