Electoral reviews of Croydon

The Electoral Registration Act 2013 introduced a formal process for the timings of compulsory reviews of UK parliamentary polling districts and polling places.  A full review of the whole borough must be undertaken at intervals of not less than 5 years. The last review was completed in January 2020.

Although the law requires a review of UK parliamentary polling districts and polling places, this is effectively a review for all elections that take place in Croydon as these will be used for local government elections.

The review cannot make any changes to the existing UK parliamentary constituency boundaries or the Croydon Council ward boundaries.

Polling districts

A polling district is a geographical area created by the sub-division of a parliamentary constituency for the purposes of a UK parliamentary election. To provide consistency the designated polling districts for UK parliamentary elections are also used at local government elections.

Polling places

A polling place is the building or area in which the Returning Officer will locate a polling station. The polling place should be designated so that the polling station is within as easy reach as possible for all electors in the polling district.

Polling stations

A polling station is the room where voting takes place. For example, the polling place could be a school, and the polling station is the School Hall.

Preliminary review and development of proposals

The Returning Officer has undertaken a preliminary review of the current polling arrangements in Croydon and developed proposals for the future. 

The following issues were considered:

• the suitability of the polling place. A detailed assessment of all polling places took place in 2024. This included accessibility and facilities for the staff and electors. 
• the size of the polling district electorate. Following the introduction of Voter ID at polling stations, the Electoral Commission reduced the recommended maximum number of polling station electors from 2,500 to 2,250. Ideally polling station electorates will also be above 1,000.
• how far electors have to travel to their polling place - where possible, keeping this below 15 minutes’ walk (the geography of the ward, the density of population, and availability of suitable venues means that this is not always possible).
• the geography of the wards and routes that electors will take to travel to their polling place.
• whether any proposed changes to current arrangements are necessary or beneficial to electors, or if they would they cause more confusion or inconvenience for electors effected.
• proposed future residential developments over the next five years the changes this could have on the number of electors.

The Returning Officer’s proposals for future arrangements are set out in the Review of polling districts and polling places consultation document 2025, PDF 3.7MB).

Public consultation process

A public consultation on the Returning Officer’s proposals for future arrangements for polling districts and polling places will run from Monday 20 January 2025 until midnight on Sunday 16 February 2025.

This consultation document has been sent to the Croydon Members of Parliament, The Executive Mayor, Councillors, and local political parties. It will also be sent to individuals and organisations with particular expertise in relation to access to premises or who represent groups with protected status under the Equality Act 2010.

Submit a representation

Any registered elector in Croydon may make a representation regarding the proposals.

By email
seth.alker@croydon.gov.uk

By post

Electoral Services
Floor 11
Bernard Weatherill House
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Anyone making representations is encouraged to suggest alternative polling districts or places where appropriate and to give reasons for the alternative.

Following the close of the public consultation, all correspondence and representations received relating to the review must be published. For individual electors, this will include their name and the ward they are an elector in, but their address and contact information will not be published.

Resources

There are a number of resources available to assist individuals and organisations who wish to make representations:

• maps of the current polling districts
• numbers of electors broken down by polling district and street

To request copies please email seth.alker@croydon.gov.uk

Completing the review

Following the public consultation, all representations will be considered, in addition to any further information regarding the availability or suitability of polling places. Council officers will then develop final recommendations for future arrangements.

The final recommendations will be published in a report to the Council’s General Purposes Committee which is scheduled to meet on 29 April 2025.

Following ratification of the recommendations by the General Purposes Committee, any changes to polling districts will be made to the electoral register when it is updated on 1 May 2025.
New arrangements will take effect at any election where the Notice of Election is published on or after 1 May 2025.

Contact

If you have any queries regarding this review please contact Seth Alker, Head of Electoral Services: seth.alker@croydon.gov.uk