Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Joe Baker, Tom Baker-Price, Matthew Dormer and David Thain.  The Committee was advised that Councillors Joanna Kane and Nyear Nazir were attending as Councillors Baker and Dormer’s substitutes respectively.

In the absence of the Chair, the Vice Chair, Councillor Peter Fleming, chaired the meeting.

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.

The Chair commented that, whilst he had not been a member of the Electoral Matters Committee in the 2021/22 municipal year, he had been in attendance at the previous meeting of the Committee.  This had not been noted in the minutes and it was suggested that this should have been recorded.

RESOLVED that

subject to the amendment detailed in the preamble above, the minutes of the meeting of the Electoral Matters Committee held on Tuesday 21^st February 2022 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Electoral Services Manager presented a report on the subject of a polling places changes review for Winyates ward.

The report outlined two available options in terms of the location of polling stations in the WIA and WIB polling districts.  These options, ‘The Space’ for WIA polling district and ‘The Link’ office for WIB polling district, had been discussed at the previous meeting of the Committee, when a decision had been made to make temporary changes to the locations of the polling stations for those two polling districts.  In both cases, these buildings were located in Winyates district centre.

When agreeing to this temporary change, the Committee had requested that a survey should be undertaken with electors inviting them to comment on the suitability of ‘The Space’ and ‘The Link’ to be used as polling stations again in the future.  In the feedback provided by residents who had participated in the survey, a number of electors had commented that they liked ‘The Space’ and would be happy to use it again.  The feedback received in respect of ‘The Link’ had been more mixed.  Concerns had been raised by both electors and polling station staff about the space available and residents had also highlighted concerns about the restricted access for people with physical disabilities.  The Committee was asked to note that, since 2019, there had been an increase in the number of electors living in WIB polling district and therefore an additional Poll Clerk would need to be employed to work in the polling station for a general election.  Under these circumstances, the Council would struggle to accommodate a polling station in the space available in the ‘The Link’.

Suggestions had been made by a Councillor representing Winyates ward regarding alternative locations in which polling stations could be sited in both polling districts.  This included the potential use of the community room in Ibstock House, Retirement Housing on Ibstock Close for WIA polling district.  Members were asked to note that whilst this could potentially be used as a polling station, it was located in the far north of the polling district.  The potential to set up portable buildings on Edgmond Close, Badger Close and Dinmore Close, in WIB polling district, had also been suggested.  However, when Officers had visited Badger Close and Dinmore Close, they had discovered that these locations would be too small to host a portable building.  Whilst space was available at Edgmond Close, this could only occur with the permission of the landowner, Worcestershire County Council.  The option for a portable building to be installed on Colt’s Lane had also been suggested and there was a large grassy space that could potentially be used for this purpose.  However, this area was surrounded by a number of trees and the Council would therefore need to consult with external contractors about the potential to install a portable building in that space.

In preparing the report, the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Enabling had been consulted as the relevant lead Portfolio  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.