Polling District and Polling Station Review 2014 – Final Recommendations Proposals for polling districts, polling places and polling stations in the Shepway District Council area with Returning Officer comments. Notes: • The total and proposed electorate figures in this report include postal voters which make up on average 20% of the electorate. • Electoral Commission guidance recommends a maximum polling station electorate of 2500. • Maps only relate to polling districts where a change to the existing electoral arrangements has been proposed. Wayne Fitter Electoral Services Manager Initial Draft: 16 July 2014 Revised: 15 August 2014 Revised: 02 September 2014 – amendments following General Purposes Committee meeting. Revised: 23 September 2014 – updates to polling district maps and additional of comments following investigation of Town Hall, 2 Guildhall Street. Revised: 04 November 2014 – amendment following General Purposes Committee meeting. Current Ward: Folkestone Cheriton New Ward: Cheriton Proposed Electorate: 8444 PD and Parish Total Electorate Polling Station Proposed Change Proposed Proposed Polling to Polling Station Electorate Station Electorate FCH1 2984 All Souls Church 3129 2503 Folkestone Hall, Somerset Rd, Cheriton ward of Folkestone, Kent, 2984 + 145 electors Folkestone Town CT19 4NW as proposed by Cllr Council Gane FCH2 2206 Army Cadet Hall, 2206 1765 Folkestone Church Road, Cheriton ward of Folkestone, Kent, Folkestone Town CT20 3EL Council FM1 2715 St Andrews 2570 2056 Folkestone Methodist Church Morehall ward of Hall, Surrenden 2715 - 145 electors Folkestone Town Road, Folkestone, as proposed by Cllr Council Kent, CT19 4DY Gane FM2 539 St Georges Church, 539 431 Folkestone 8 Audley Road, Morehall ward of Folkestone, Kent, Folkestone Town CT20 3QA Council Page 2 of 57 Returning Officer’s Comments: • No Changes proposed to existing arrangements. • Recommend renaming polling districts to reflect new ward name • To rename the Polling District names: FM2 to CH1, FCH2 to CH2, FCH1 to CH3 and FM1 to CH4 Proposal from Councillor Gane in consultation with Councillors Grundy and West • Electors in Ashley Avenue (51), Dennis Way (15), Diamond Close (3), Fosters Close (37) and Postling Road (39) are moved from FM1 (CH4) to FCH1 (CH3) to allow electors to vote at the closer polling station Page 3 of 57 Page 4 of 57 Current Wards: Part of Folkestone East, part of Folkestone Park and Folkestone Foord New Wards: East Folkestone Proposed Electorate: 8159 PD and Parish Total Electorate Polling Station Proposed Change Proposed Proposed Polling to Polling Station Electorate Station Electorate FE1 1920 Wood Avenue Wood Avenue 3644 2915 Folkestone East Library, Wood Library, Wood ward of Folkestone Avenue, Avenue, Town Council Folkestone, Kent, Folkestone, Kent, CT19 6HS CT19 6HS FE2 400 of 1506 Folkestone Baptist Folkestone East Church, Hill Road, ward of Folkestone Folkestone, Kent, Town Council CT19 6LY FP1 1324 St Saviours Church 1324 – 171 electors Folkestone Park Hall, 130 as proposed by ward of Folkestone Canterbury Road, Folkestone and Town Council Folkestone, Kent, Hythe Labour Party CT19 5NR FF1 1672 The Salvation Army 2598 2078 Folkestone Foord Citadel, 75-79 ward of Folkestone Canterbury Road, Town Council Folkestone, Kent, CT19 5NL Page 5 of 57 FF2 1640 The Salvation Army 1640 – 714 electors Folkestone Foord Citadel, 75-79 as proposed by ward of Folkestone Canterbury Road, Folkestone and Town Council Folkestone, Kent, Hythe Labour Party CT19 5NL FF3 643 St Johns The 2088 1670 Folkestone Foord Baptist Church Hall, ward of Folkestone St Johns Church Town Council Road, Folkestone, Kent, CT19 5BQ 1203 + 171 from FP5 560 of 671 St Johns The FP1 +714 from FF2 Folkestone Park Baptist Church Hall, as proposed by ward of Folkestone St Johns Church Folkestone and Town Council Road, Folkestone, Hythe Labour Party Kent, CT19 5BQ Returning Officer’s Comments: • The new East Folkestone Ward includes all of the existing Folkestone Foord Ward and parts of the existing Folkestone East and Folkestone Park wards. The existing electoral arrangements have been reviewed in full to reflect the new ward. • It is recommended FE1 is extended to include the 348 electors from FE2 in the northern part of Green Lane, Ingoldsby Road, Tennyson Place, Browning Place, Tyson Road, eastern part of Wood Avenue, Northwest Dover Road and South part of Hill Road. • Wood Avenue Library can be made a double polling station for electors in FP1. The staff at St Saviours Church have informed the Elections Team that its future is uncertain and recommended using an alternative venue. Page 6 of 57 • FF3 and the 577 electors of FP5 can be combined into a new polling district of 1203 electors and continue to vote at St Johns Church Hall. • To rename the Polling District names FF1 to EF1, FF2 to EF2, FF3 & part of FP5 to EF3, FP1 to EF4 and FE1 & part of FE2 to EF5. Folkestone and Hythe Labour Party Proposal • Electors in Park Farm Road, Downside, Moat Farm Road and Moat Farm Close should instead vote as part of the new PD serving the new ward of East Folkestone at St John the Baptist Church Hall on St Johns Road. To walk is over 0.6 miles down alleys and poorly lit areas. To drive is over a mile which is ludicrous in a built up area such as Folkestone. The driving distance to St Johns Road is approximately a third of a mile and considerably closer. • Polling district of FF2 is redrawn to enable all electors on the west side of Black Bull Road, namely Black Bull Road (odds), Watkin Road, Russell Road, Bonsor Road, Albert Road, Allendale Road, Garden Road, Mead Road, Walton Road, Jesmond Street and Edward Road to vote at St Johns the Baptist Church Hall on St Johns Road as it is considerably closer and more accessible for voters. General Purposes Committee 02 September 2014: Resolved: That wards EF1 and EF2 are amalgamated to use the same polling station situated at the Salvation Army Citadel. Councillor Paul Marsh provided comments in addition to those at General Purposes Committee on 02 September 2014: One of the suggestions adopted by the committee was the combining of EF1 and EF2 into one polling district. At the time I meant to suggest the same for EF4 and EF5. Page 7 of 57 Although, the combined electorate would be slightly above the recommended 2500; but in actual fact would end up with exactly the same number of voters allocated to attend Wood Avenue Library. It would also have the same benefits as the combination of EF1 and EF2; namely being a more logical split on alphabetic position, rather than a geographical split that has no meaning to the voters. Additional Returning Officer comments: Even though the amalgamation of EF4 and EF5 results in an electorate above the Electoral Commission guidelines, this arrangement provides electors with a more streamline polling station experience and should result in less elector confusion. The recommendations from General Purposes Committee on 02 September 2014 and Councillor Marsh, will amend the initially proposed Polling District names to the following: FF1 and FF2 to EF1, FF3 & part of FP5 to EF2 and FP1, FE1 & part of FE2 to EF3. Page 8 of 57 Page 9 of 57 Page 10 of 57 Page 11 of 57 Current Wards: Folkestone Harbour, part of Folkestone East and part of Folkestone Harvey Central New Ward: Folkestone Harbour Proposed Electorate: 4826 PD and Parish Total Electorate Polling Station Proposed Change Proposed Proposed Polling to Polling Station Electorate Station Electorate FH1 722 of 862 Tourist Information 920 736 Folkestone Harbour Centre, Tram Road ward of Folkestone Car Park, Tram Town Council Road, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 1QN FHC4 198 Tourist Information Folkestone Harvey Centre, Harbour Central ward of Street, Folkestone, Folkestone Town Kent, CT20 1QN Council FH2 1074 of 1191 Pembroke Court, Dover Road Social 1074 859 Folkestone Harbour Dover Road, Club, Old School ward of Folkestone Folkestone, Kent. House, Dover Town Council Road, Folkestone CT20 1LA FH3 1728 Philippa House, Harbour Church, 1728 1382 Folkestone Harbour Warren Road, Wear Bay Road, ward of Folkestone Folkestone, Kent, Folkestone CT19 Town Council CT19 6DW 6BL Page 12 of 57 FE2 1104 of 1506 Folkestone Baptist 1104 883 Folkestone East Church Hall, Hill ward of Folkestone Road, Folkestone, Town Council Kent, CT19 6LY Returning Officer’s Comments: The new Folkestone Harbour Ward includes existing Folkestone Harbour Ward and parts of Folkestone East and Folkestone Harvey Central Wards. The existing polling arrangements must be reviewed in full to reflect the new ward. It is recommended that: • FH1 and FHC4 are combined and the use of the Tourist Information Centre is continued. The new electorate will be 920. • Electors in the existing FH2 use Dover Road Social Club as a polling station. The Social Club was trialled during the recent European Election and received excellent feedback. The existing polling station at Pembroke Court has no disabled access, access is through a raised patio door and electors have the potential to enter the residential areas of the residential home. • Electors in FH3 use the Harbour Church, Wear Bay Road as a polling station. The Harbour Church has recently undergone refurbishment and provides the latest accessibility features. The current polling station at Phillippa House is sheltered housing and incidents between the election staff and residents have occurred during the last few elections. There is also the risk of electors entering other areas where vulnerable adults reside. The housing manager has requested the