Where to vote in 2016

Woking Council has just provided details of proposed new polling districts to fit the new ward boundaries.  Each polling district has a polling place - where you cast your vote on election days. A consultation on this can be found here and is open until Friday 25 September.

As outlined here and here there are new boundaries for Woking Borough Council wards next year.  Elections on the 5 May 2016 will be contested on the new boundaries.  All 30 of the new seats across 10 borough wards will be up for election.

Horsell will be just one ward in future, rather than two wards.  It will cover an area of most of Horsell West ward (losing Merrivale Gardens and Hedgerley Court to the west and the top end of Brewery Road including the car park, Kingswood Court and Alwyne Court and the Broomhalls to the east) and the Horsell East part of the former Horsell East and Woodham ward (except for the first section of Chobham Road between Victoria Way and Horsell Rise, The Grove and Ferndale Road).

Polling districts in Horsell ward change very little, the map shows the split - indicated by a purple line. The central area of Horsell vote at the Evangelical Church in the High Street as now, everyone living from the Arthurs Bridge / Church Hill / Brewery Road roundabout going east vote at Trinity and those in the old Horsell East vote also continue to vote at Trinity. 

Polling Districts of new Horsell ward

Currently Trinity has two polling places in one, with separate voting areas for those in the Horsell Park area of Horsell West and Horsell East residents.  Whilst it is important for the Horsell Park area to have a polling place at this end of the village there is no good reason for these polling stations not to be combined under the new boundaries. Having been at the Trinity polling place I know that both of the old polling districts are not busy for much of the day and combining them would reduce the staff needed whilst not having a negative impact on voters. This was not possible in the past when Horsell had two separate wards but could easily be achieved now and I am pleased that my suggestion via the Lib Dem representatives on the Council has been taken on board in the proposals.

Crazy Canalside ward

The crazy thing about the changes that the Boundary Commission made to the boundary plans submitted by Woking Council is that people living within literally a few minutes walk of Trinity Church in places such as Broomhall Road, The Grove and the flats in Brewery Road will no longer vote there.

The Canalside ward that these roads are being put into is a very long and narrow ward and that requires a large number of polling districts and polling places. The proposal is for these electors to cast their vote at The Lightbox.

Polling Districts of new Canalside ward