Agenda item

5.10pm to 5.50pm

The Service Director for Corporate presented a report to the Committee regarding the Local Government Boundary Review Changes and associated Communication Plan.

The purpose of the update was to consult with scrutiny members for a wider view on how to share information with the public for consideration as part of the development of the communication plan.

The report considered the challenges and opportunities around communicating to the electorate the changes around electoral boundaries following the Local Government Boundary Review Commission Review.

Implications for consideration included Financial, as there is a limited budget for elections which would be utilised to support the communication plan, Climate Change, an assessment of the overall communications plan will consider individual proposals from a climate change perspective, and Equality and Diversity.

The Chair thanked the Service Director for presenting the report and opened for suggestions from committee members.

Members discussed historical instances of certain polling districts which lead to lower electorate attendance and asked about the possibility of utilising double polling stations.  The Service Director confirmed that a working group was to be set up to look at polling districts and associated polling stations.

A member discussed the need to focus on the younger voters to encourage greater participation in these lower age groups and also queried how many boundary name changes were expected.  The Service Director confirmed that all social media channels would be utilised to target younger voters and that although specific numbers were unconfirmed a significant number of name changes were anticipated.

A member also highlighted that with the boundary changes, many voters will still not be changing wards even though the name of their ward may change, so there was a need to ensure voters were aware of this.  It was also asked if there was scope to look at this from a street by street perspective as opposed to voter by voter.  The Service Director advised that all aspects would be looked at taking into account name changes, moves and no moves.

Questions were also asked around lessons learnt from other areas and the possibility of utilising a post code checker for voters to be able to check which ward they would come under.  It was stated that it was hoped a post code type checker would be available online through the CBC website and lessons learnt from other areas who commenced work prior to CBC were being shared. However, this may not be possible due to the extremely pressured timetable impacted by additional Commission consultation and consideration periods.

When asked by a member if the posting of Council Tax bills could be utilised to share information, the Service Director discussed the potential cost implications of including extra content with Council Tax bills, but also confirmed that there were two planned publications of Your Chesterfield which would be highlighting the changes which would engage the same audience.

Final questions were asked around what data CBC currently held around political voter patterns and if this could be utilised in any way and could all specific local area names be included in the new ward names.  The Service Director considered that political voting patterns were an issue for the parties themselves, for Chesterfield Borough Council the key issue is ensuring that the electorate know how they can exercise their vote. Information in publications and website etc. will detail the areas included in each new ward.

RESOLVED –

That the update be noted.