Polling district review 2018 - 2020

In accordance with Section 17 of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, every council in England and Wales must undertake and complete a compulsory review of all the polling districts and polling places in its area, within a 16-month period commencing from 1 October every five years. The last compulsory review in Ipswich was completed in November 2020 and the recommendations can be found at the bottom of this page.

Ipswich Borough currently has 16 wards, split into 70 polling districts, 70 polling places and 73 polling stations.

The review will look at:

• Electorate equality within polling districts.
• Suitability of polling places – including quantity, location, size, availability, facilities and accessibility.
• Opportunities to reduce the number of schools and mobile polling stations.
• Electorate equality across the 16 Wards of Ipswich Borough Council.

We will ensure:

• Electors have such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances.
• As far as is reasonable and practicable, that polling places are accessible to all electors, including those with disabilities, and when designating a polling place, have regard to the accessibility needs of disabled persons.

The review is not concerned with the established ward, county district and parliamentary constituency boundaries; it is only concerned with polling district boundaries.

The recommendations presented following the review must plan for any predicted changes in electorate over the following four years, including extensive property developments.

Definitions

• Polling district – This is a geographical sub-division of an electoral area (e.g. a ward or constituency.)
• Polling place - This is a designated area or building with space for a polling station to be located within. For example, this could be as widely diverse as a recreation ground or a community centre.
• Polling Station – This is the actual area where the process of voting takes place, within the polling place. For example, this could be a room within a community centre or a mobile unit placed in a recreation ground.

There may be more than one polling station within a polling place.

Notices

• Notice of review

Timetable

• Schedule of review 

Existing arrangements

• Schedule of current voting arrangements
• Online Mapping
• Find my polling station

Proposals for new arrangements

• Summary of proposed changes
• Recommendations for polling districts and polling places

Consultation

The public consultation for the review ended on 18 September 2020. The consultation responses and comments can be viewed here.

Final recommendations

Following the consultation, the Electoral Services Working Group made recommendations of amendments to the Council. These were considered and agreed at the Council meeting on 18 November 2020.

If you have any queries or require further information on this or the previous polling district reviews held in 2011 and in 2013, please contact Electoral Services using the details on the left of this page.