Pub plan for voters in Coventry
Full council will meet on Tuesday to discuss proposals to use venues as polling stations
Voters could be heading to the pub, rugby club or retirement village when Coventry goes to the polls in May, if councillors agree to changes to the city’s polling stations at a full council meeting this week.
Boundary changes will come into effect ahead of the city-wide elections on May 7 and the council was legally obligated to carry out a review to ensure that polling arrangements met statutory requirements for accessibility and voter convenience. This ensures that people do not have to travel excessive distances to cast their vote.
A report to be considered by councillors on Tuesday (2 December) explains that several factors need to be weighed up. These include challenges with school-based polling stations and accessibility concerns, particularly with Portacabins, which often fail to meet standards for wheelchair users despite temporary adaptations.
Feedback from elections held in May and July last year also highlighted minor issues and the unavailability of some existing polling places. Rising venue hire costs and limited availability was also flagged up as a problem.
Among the proposed changes is one to create a polling station at the Wyken Inn on Ansty Road and another at the Barkers’ Butts rugby club in Pickford Grange Lane, Allesley. There are suggested changes in most of the council wards and some voters in Sherbourne could be directed to Earlsdon Park Retirement Village in Albany Road if the amendments are approved.
The report explained that proposed polling stations were contacted for their views on the review to see if there were any issues around the future use of the premises. Meetings were also held with councillors to provide the opportunity to consider the suggestions for alternative polling stations and polling district boundaries.
At the full council meeting, members will be asked to ‘consider and approve the revised polling district and polling place scheme and, if any further polling places become unavailable prior to an election, that the director of law and governance be delegated authority, following consultation with the leader, deputy leader and the appropriate ward councillors to make amendments to the scheme as required.