Agenda item

To consider a report by the Democratic Services Manager (copy attached) regarding the review of Polling Districts and Polling Places in Denbighshire.

The Democratic Services Manager, Steve Price, presented the Review of Polling Districts and Places in Denbighshire report (previously circulated).

The Council had a statutory duty to review its polling districts and polling places at least once every five years.

Public comments on the current or suggested polling districts, places and stations were invited during November and December of 2024.  It was recommended that suggestions for changes to polling places should consider the following points –

(i)             Was it big enough to accommodate the number of electors (registered voters) allocated

(ii)            Was it in as central location as possible for the polling district it served

(iii)          Would there be long term guaranteed use of the polling place

(iv)          Would it, as far as practicable, be accessible to people with disabilities.

Consultation went live with information published on the Councils website and sent out to City Town and Community Councils, all councillors, and a range of accessibility and voluntary organisations whose remit covered Denbighshire. 

The consultation and website information contained a link to a questionnaire for collective responses and the responses received were shown in Appendix 2. 

Assessing the suitability of polling places and stations did not rely on the statutory review as the election office would consider changes, changes in circumstances and proposals at any time. 

Experiences from recent elections held in the area or the potential of a more suitable premises, may and do prompt a change.  A building that had been utilised as a polling station may become unavailable, which happened recently, and that prompted an immediate search for a suitable alternative. 

The Electoral Commission stated there should be a choice of a range of fully accessible buildings conveniently located for electors in the area with owners willing to hire them out as a polling station at low cost.  Unfortunately, in practice this was not always the case and in some areas there may be little choice available.    The existing network appeared to be well received and fit for purpose.  The consultation information stated that there is no requirement or expectation to submit representations though people were welcome to do so.   If no representations were submitted, it would be assumed that the existing polling arrangements were suitable for the community. 

The representations made were shown in Appendix 2 and were supportive of the existing arrangements.  The exception was the suggestion made by the Acting Returning Officer (ARO) for Clwyd East who is also Flintshire County Council’s Chief Executive, and who had responsibility for UK Parliamentary elections for Clwyd East which included the area covered by Waen Parish Hall on which the ARO commented on. 

The requested change to be considered was to combine three polling stations using Waen Parish Hall to a single station for UK Parliamentary Elections.  This change was supported by the electoral office as would not impact on voters, and voters would not notice the change.  It would be a more efficient use of the polling station staff and the total number of voters for that polling station would be manageable.

One complaint had been made in the north of the county at an election held in 2024 in respect of a tactile voting device which could be used by people with impaired vision.  The voter refused to use the device and the complaint received had not been from the actual voter but from a person who had been in the polling station at the time and had been confused as to whether a tactile voting device had been available.

Accessibility was extremely important and was raised by the Elections Act 2022.  Within the polling stations there will be more gadgets eg: pen grips, adequate lighting, signage and also training of the polling station staff on accessibility issues.

Not all polling stations were built for accessibility but these were issues of which the electoral office was aware.

PROPOSED by Councillor Julie Matthews and SECONDED by Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts.

A vote took place by a show of hands and was unanimously agreed to approve the review.

RESOLVED that –

(i)             Council approve the existing network of polling districts, polling places and polling stations as set out in Appendix 1, subject to recommendation (ii) below

(ii)            In respect of the Tremeirchion electoral ward, Council support the Returning Officer’s response to the representations made in Appendix 2 for the combining for parliamentary elections of the 3 polling stations into a single polling station for polling districts BKB, BKC and BKD located within Waen Parish Hall.