Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor M. Glass be elected Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

RESOLVED that Councillor R. J. Hunter be elected Vice Chairman of the Committee for the Municipal Year.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor L. C. R. Mallett.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest, although it was noted that Councillors S. R. Colella, R. J. Deeming and S. G. Hession were also parish councillors.

The minutes of the meeting of the Electoral Matters Committee held on 28^th February 2018 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Electoral Matters Committee held on 28th February 2018 be approved as a correct record.

The Electoral Services Manager introduced the report and explained that legislation required a formal review of Polling Districts, Places and Stations be completed every five years, with the next review to be completed by January 2020.

The following areas were highlighted during the presentation of the report:

·         The review would cover Polling Districts (geographical areas), Polling Places (buildings or areas where Polling Stations would be located) and Polling Stations (where polling would take place).

·         The Committee would decide on Polling Districts and Polling Places and the (Acting) Returning Officer would decide on the amount of polling stations within the polling place.

·         This form of review would not cover Parish or Ward boundaries.

·         Stakeholders would have the chance to make initial comments and to comment on proposals before the conclusion of the review.

·         Any submissions would also be sent to the relevant Ward Member for comment.

·         Although the review would need to be completed by January 2020, the Committee were advised that 29 November 2019 would be an ideal completion date to align with the printing of the revised Electoral Register on 1 December 2019.

Following the presentation, Members asked for clarification in respect of:

·         It was confirmed that the schedule would be the same for the Police and Crime Commissioner election to be held in May 2020.

·         There would be flexibility within the timetable if a General Election where to be held later in 2019.

There were no further discussions, the Committee

RESOLVED that

(a)  the timetable as set out in appendix 2 for the review be agreed; and

(b)  that the review would commence on 17 July 2019.