Agenda item

Please note that this is an additional page circulated in connection with the main report

The Council had before it a report by the Chief Executive which detailed the additional work which was required to take account of lessons learnt from recent elections, changes in circumstances and the needs of elections to be held in 2011.

The report explained that Section 16 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 required each local authority to conduct a review of polling districts and polling places for use at parliamentary elections every four years. In doing so, the local authority must ensure reasonable facilities for voting and that polling places were accessible to all electors, including voters with a disability, so far as was practicable. It was highlighted that the most recent review of polling districts and polling places had been completed in February 2009.

The report advised that Returning Officers had been asked to plan on the basis that there would be new boundaries in force for the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, although these had yet to be formally ratified. The proposed new Scottish Parliament boundaries split three existing polling districts within the Aberdeen City area, CN0503 (Woodside), CN0504 (Kittybrewster) and CN0505 (Rosehill), into two parts. Under the new boundaries the vast majority and northern sections of these polling districts would be in the Aberdeen Donside constituency, as opposed to Aberdeen Central, with a small section in the south of the polling district in the new Aberdeen Central constituency.

In addition, the report explained that the new boundaries allowed for the removal of two very small polling districts which had been created to account for the difference in Scottish Parliament and Westminster Parliament constituencies. These were DN0311 (Summerhill Endrick) which could be combined with DN0310 (Summerhill Central), and SN1004 (Fernielea) which could be combined with SN1003 (Summerhill South).

The report set out the following recommendations for changes to polling districts:-

• retain the northern parts of what were CN0503, CN0504 and CN0505 as separate polling districts within Aberdeen Donside;
• take the southern parts of what were CN0503 and CN0504 and create a new district called CN0508 (Kittybrewster) in Aberdeen Central;
• take the southern part of what was CN0505 and create a new polling district called CN0507 (Cornhill) in Aberdeen Central;
• combine DN0311 (Summerhill Endrick) with DN0310 (Summerhill Central) and call it DN0310 (Summerhill Central); and
• combine SN1004 (Fernielea) with SN1003 (Summerhill South) and call it SN1003 (Summerhill South)

In regard to polling places, the report proposed a number of changes, as undernoted, and explained the rationale behind each change.

The report also proposed some additional changes to current polling places in existing polling districts as follows:-

An addendum to the report explained that an inspection of the new Manor Park School had been arranged to ensure that it was a suitable replacement for Smithfield Primary School in polling district DN0403 (Middlefield). Inspections were also scheduled in order to find a suitable replacement for Linksfield Campus which was no longer available in polling district CN0605 (Seaton South).

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)              note the changes to three existing polling districts, as required by the proposed new Scottish Parliament constituencies;

(b)              subject to any changes, agree the recommended changes to polling districts as outlined within the report;

(c)               subject to any changes, agree the recommended changes to polling places as outlined within the report;

(d)              agree that following approval of the recommended changes to polling districts and polling places, the Council proceed to public consultation; and

(e)              agree that following approval of the recommended changes to polling districts and polling places, the Council allow the public consultation to include any further changes necessitated through any circumstances which might arise.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.