Identify and book suitable venues and plan layouts
You should identify appropriate venues for all election activities as early as possible.
Your project plan should cover the identification of suitable venues for all processes that you are responsible for.
You should contact the managers of these premises at an early stage to inform them of the relevant dates, and the necessary booking arrangements made. This will highlight where venues are not available and should allow sufficient time to act on the information and identify alternative premises.
Cross-boundary constituencies
In the case of a constituency that covers more than one local authority, some processes may be happening at more than one location in the constituency. In these circumstances venues used for these processes may be identified and booked by appointed deputies from any other local authorities and the guidance in this section will also be relevant to them.
Ensuring venues are accessible
As part of your review of previous electoral events, you should have undertaken an evaluation of the suitability of venues used. The results of this should be used to inform your planning and to ensure that any identified barriers to access can be overcome.
Under the Equality Act 2010, service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to avoid putting disabled people at a substantial disadvantage compared to people who are not disabled.1
In order to comply with the duty, you should work closely with people who have a particular expertise in relation to access to premises or facilities for disabled people. The equalities officer at your local authority should be able to provide you with advice and assistance.
You will also be required to provide information on the accessibility arrangements in place at polling stations to the EMB for inclusion on the elections information platform. For more information see the EMB website.