Interim polling district review

We are carrying out an interim review of polling districts and polling places. This reviews the electoral boundaries that determine where people go to cast their vote.

Each polling district has a polling place (also known as polling station), where all of the people registered to vote in that area go to cast their vote.

We have to make sure these polling places are accessible and practical for everyone in the area and so we can provide a good voting experience.

We carried out a full review in 2019 and the next full review is scheduled to take place between October 2023 and January 2024.

This interim review is to amend existing polling district boundaries to reflect parish boundary changes following the recent Community Governance Review. However, the review is not limited to these matters and will consider other issues, where appropriate.

Each parish must be a separate polling district, unless special circumstances apply, and each polling district must have its own polling place. However, this does not apply if the size (or other circumstances) of a polling district means that the location of the polling stations does not materially affect the convenience of the electors.

In addition, each polling place must:

be small enough to indicate to electors in different parts of the district how they can reach the polling station
be within the district, unless it’s necessary to place it wholly or partly outside the district (for example, if there are no accessible polling place in the district)

We also have to comply with certain access requirements. As part of the review, we must seek to ensure that:

all electors have reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances
every polling place for which it is responsible is accessible to electors who are disabled, so far as is reasonable and practicable

You can view a map detailing the current arrangements and initial proposals

You can search a specific address in this map by using the search box in the top right-hand corner. Alternatively, you can zoom in on and navigate around a wider area.

You can select the layers icon to turn on/off the boundary layers of this map.

The key layers to look at are:

polling stations (stars)
polling districts (pink)
polling districts initial proposals (purple)

You may also find it helpful to look at:

new parishes (yellow)
new parish wards (blue)
city wards (green)

We have proposed eight sets of changes and you can read the initial recommendations and the official notice of review.

We have recommended no changes to the polling districts and polling places within the following wards:

Bicknacre and East and West Hanningfield
Chelmer Village and Beaulieu park
Chelmsford Rural West
Galleywood
Goat Hall
Great Baddow West
Little Baddow, Danbury and Sandon
Marconi
Moulsham Lodge
Patching Hall
South Hanningfield, Stock and Margaretting
South Woodham: Chetwood and Collingwood
South Woodham: Elmwood and Woodville
St Andrews
The Lawns
Trinity
Waterhouse Farm

The officer submitted the recommendations to the Governance Committee on 31 October 2022, which agreed them.

Polling district: A geographical area created by sub-dividing other electoral boundaries for the purpose of administering elections.
Polling place: A building or area that hosts a polling station for voting.
Polling station: The room or area within the polling place where voting takes place.
Returning Officer: The officer responsible for administering elections within the local authority area.