Polling district and places review 2019

A polling districts and places review was conducted in 2019. On this page you can find out about its background and read the review's conclusions.

Changes as a result of the review

Following the statutory review of polling districts and places, we have now agreed the proposals put forward by the Returning Officer and recommended by the General Purposes and Licensing Committee. You can view the report using the link below.

Report to General and Licensing Committee 13 September 2019

The review has resulted in some changes to some polling places and polling stations. These changes are identified in the documents below.

Polling stations - Changes [448.28KB]

Polling stations - No changes [513.62KB]

Electors affected by the changes will be provided with details of their new polling station. They will have been given the opportunity to vote by an alternative means, such as postal or proxy voting. 

Poll cards will also have indicated where polling stations have changed.

The results of the review as contained here will also be made available at the council's main office.

Representations

Representations received concerning this review will be published here when confirmed.

Correspondence in relation to accessibility

The following groups were also invited to comment on the accessibility of polling stations:

• New Forest Disability
• Solent Mind
• Headway
• Dementia Friendly Hampshire

Other documents and appendices

For further information, download the documents below.

Official notice of review [494.74KB]

Plan of current polling districts and identifiers [511.76KB]

Schedule of all polling stations with returning officer's comments [522.0KB]

Background to the review

Councils are required by law to review the polling districts and polling places within their areas at least every five years.

The last review for New Forest District Council concluded in 2014. The current compulsory review had to be completed by the end of 2019 in order to be in place for elections in 2020. All members of the council were consulted, together with disability groups and MPs.

Any changes to polling districts and polling places took effect with the publication of the Electoral Register in December 2019.

Our General Purposes and Licensing Committee set up a five-member Working Party, to undertake detailed work relating to the review and to submit recommendations to the Committee.

The following is a brief resume of what is being reviewed:

• A 'polling district' is a geographical area created by a sub-division of a UK Parliamentary constituency for the purposes of a UK Parliamentary Election.
• A 'polling place' is a building or area in which the polling station is located. It can be defined as the entire polling district or as tightly as a particular building.
• A 'polling station' is the room or area where the process of voting takes place, and must be located within the polling place designated for the particular polling district. Polling stations are allocated by the Returning Officer.

The factors required to be addressed as part of the review are to ensure that:

• all electors have such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances
• every polling place is accessible to electors who are disabled, as far as is reasonable and practicable
• the polling place must be within the polling district, unless special circumstances make it desirable to designate an area outside of polling district.

It is the responsibility of the Returning Officer to designate the individual polling stations for each election. Bob Jackson, in his dual roles of Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer, does not propose any major changes to the polling districts.

The practice in the authority of designating the whole of the polling district as a polling place will continue. This gives flexibility in the event of a particular polling station not being available, especially when by-elections are called at short notice.

We try to use the same polling stations in order to provide continuity for voters, but sometimes a change is unavoidable.