Compulsory Parliamentary Polling Districts and Polling Place review

Local authorities are required to review their polling districts and polling places for UK parliamentary constituencies at least once every five years. The next compulsory review period is the 16 months between 1 October 2023 and 31 January 2025.

Local authorities must also comply with the following legislative requirements regarding the designation of polling districts and polling places:

• each parish in England and community in Wales is to be a separate polling district, unless special circumstances apply 
• the council must designate a polling place for each polling district, unless the size or other circumstances of a polling district are such that the situation of the polling stations does not materially affect the convenience of the electors
• the polling place must be an area in the district, unless special circumstances make it desirable to designate an area wholly or partly outside the district (for example, if no accessible polling place can be identified in the district)
• the polling place must be small enough to indicate to electors in different parts of the district how they will be able to reach the polling station.

As part of the compulsory review, local authorities must consider the accessibility of potential polling stations when considering designating or reviewing a polling place. In doing so they must seek to ensure that:

• all electors in a constituency in the local authority area have such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances
• so far as is reasonable and practicable, every polling place for which it is responsible is accessible to electors who are disabled.

Waverley Borough Council commenced its review on Monday 2 October 2023.

Final proposals for polling places and polling districts were approved at the Full Council meeting on 12 December 2023.

The revised scheme of polling stations and polling places will be used at elections from 4 May 2024.