Impact of new boundaries on the compulsory review process
Polling district reviews are undertaken in respect of, and polling places are allocated based on, UK Parliamentary constituencies. Planned boundary changes to existing constituencies will impact on your planning for the review.
Polling districts will form the building blocks of your review and the identification of the current polling district structure for the existing UK Parliamentary boundaries will be a useful basis for the review.
When planning and carrying out the compulsory review, local authorities will need to be mindful of what impact the new boundaries being laid will have on their polling districts, and how the scale of any required changes may impact on the timing of the review.
To support the review, local authorities should think about:
identifying where polling districts affected by the new boundaries may need to be altered
identifying potential polling places where polling districts may change, and carrying out an initial assessment on suitable buildings within the area
identifying the polling districts where a change of polling place is likely to be required
identifying where polling districts are not affected by the new boundaries (in whole or in part)
This information will give you an idea of the scope of any changes needed when the new boundaries come into force. Polling districts and places that do not have enforced changes as a result of boundary changes will still be subject to the full review process.
Further guidance relating to local government boundary changes coming into effect in the same period is set out in Local government boundary changes.