Agenda item

The 1983 Representation of the People Act as amended places a duty on the Council to divide its area into polling districts for parliamentary and other elections.   These districts must also be kept under review so as to ensure that electors are given reasonable facilities for voting.

This report proposes alterations to polling district boundaries bringing them into line with the new parliamentary constituency boundaries that come into effect at the next General Election.   Some further alterations to boundaries are also proposed to rationalise the existing layout and also to the names of polling districts to recognise the new constituencies.

The polling district maps are attached separately.

Sean O’Sullivan (Electoral Services Manager) introduced the report, from the Democratic Services Manager, which proposed alterations to polling district boundaries to ensure that they would be brought into line with the new parliamentary constituency boundaries that would come into effect at the next General Election.  He explained that further alterations to boundaries, in order to rationalise the existing layout, were also proposed in the report, as were changes to the names of polling districts to recognise the new constituencies. 

The Electoral Services Manager drew attention to the Kilburn Ward recommendation that polling districts EKi4, EKi5 and EKi6 be merged into a single district and that the polling station location for the new district be the Oxford Kilburn Club and the fact that Ward Councillor, Councillor Arnold, was of the opinion that the Salvation Army Goodwill Centre should be retained because of the distance from Oxford Kilburn Centre for some electors.

In the discussion which followed, the committee noted that change to a polling station sometimes meant that electors could have further to travel to a station and could cause some confusion for electors, but that this all needed to be weighed up against the benefits of consolidation. The Electoral Services Manager assured the committees that polling stations would be clearly signposted and that every household concerned would be made aware of the change of polling stations. 

A concern was raised about the possible confusion which could arise over the fact that electors from the Welsh Harp Ward would be voting in Fryent School which would mean that two parliamentary constituencies would be voting at the same place.  The Kingsbury Town Football Club was put forward as a possible alternative and the Electoral Services Manager agreed to look into this. 

A suggestion was made for Blenheim Gardens,in the Preston Ward, to be moved from NPR2 to NPR4 as electors pass NPR4 on their way to NPR2. The Electoral Services Manager agreed that this was a good idea and that Blenheim Gardens would be moved to NPR4.  The committee noted that as it was only local elections that the council paid for, the amount of savings for the council from all the changes would be relatively small.  

RESOLVED:

i)          that the polling district boundaries be re-drawn as follows:

Alperton Ward

that polling districts SAL3 and SAL5 be combined into a single district and that Alperton Community School be the polling station for the new district.

Barnhill Ward

no change.

Brondesbury Park Ward

no change.

Dollis Hill Ward

no change.

Dudden Hill Ward

no change.

Fryent Ward

that polling districts NFR6 and NFR7 be combined and that Fryent School be retained as the polling station for the enlarged district.

Harlesden Ward

no change.

Kensal Green Ward

that polling districts EKG7 and EKG8 be merged with SKG5 and that the polling district for the new district be St Mark’s Church Hall.

Kenton Ward

that NKE4 and NKE5 be merged into a single polling district and that St John’s United Reformed Church be retained as the polling station for the new district.

Kilburn Ward

that polling districts EKi4, EKi5 and EKi6 be merged into a single district and  that the polling station location for the new district be the Oxford Kilburn (OK) Club.

Mapesbury Ward

no change.

Northwick Park Ward

that NNP2 be merged with NNP4 and that the polling station for the  new district be St Cuthbert’s Church Hall.

Preston Ward

that Blenheim Gardens be moved fromNPR2 to NPR4.

Queen’s Park Ward

a)    that polling districts EQP3 and EQP7 be combined and that Kensal Rise School be retained as the polling station for the new district;

b)    that polling districts EQP4 and EQP5 be combined and that Salusbury  School be the polling station for the new district.

Queensbury Ward

no change.

Stonebridge Ward

that EST7 be merged with SST1 and that the Children’s Centre at Pitfield Way be retained as the polling station.

Sudbury Ward

a)    that polling districts NSU5 and SSU7 be combined into a single district and that St John’s Evangelist Church Hall be retained as the polling station for the new district;

b)    that polling districts SSU3 and SSU6 be combined and that Sudbury Baptist Church Hall be the polling station for the new district.

Tokyngton Ward

that polling districts NTO6 and STO2 be combined into a single district and that St Joseph’s Social Club be retained as the polling station for the new district.

Welsh Harp Ward

no change but that Kingsbury Town Football Club be considered as a possible alternative to Fryent School for the relevant Welsh Harp Ward electors.

Wembley Central Ward

no change but that further consideration be given to the boundaries of polling districts in this ward.

Willesden Green Ward

a)    that polling districts EWG1 and EWG2 be combined and that St Andrew and St Francis School be the polling station for the new district

b)    that polling districts EWG3 and EWG4 be combined and that St Mary Magdalen’s School be the polling station for the new district;

c)    that polling districts EWG5, SWG6 and EWG7 be combined and that Kings Hall be the polling station for the new district.

ii)         that the polling district names be amended to reflect the new parliamentary constituencies following the principle that the first letter denote the parliamentary constituency and the next two the ward in which it is situated as indicated in the report;