Representation of the People Act 1983

18 Polling districts and places at parliamentary elections

(1) Every constituency shall be divided into polling districts and subject to the provisions of this section there shall be a polling place designated for each polling district.

(2) In England and Wales it is the duty of the council of each district or London borough to divide their area into polling districts for the purpose of parliamentary elections for so much of any constituency as is situated in their area, and to designate the polling places for those polling districts, and to keep the polling districts and polling places under review, in accordance with the following rules—

(a) the council shall exercise the powers conferred by this section with a view to giving all electors in so much of the constituency as falls within their area such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances;

(b) in the case of a county constituency, each parish or community shall in the absence of special circumstances be a separate polling district or districts;

(c) the polling place for any polling district shall be an area in that district, except where special circumstances make it desirable to designate an area wholly or partly outside the polling district, and shall be small enough to indicate to electors in different parts of the polling district how they will be able to reach the polling station;

(d) a polling place need not be designated for any polling district, if the size and other circumstances of the district are such that the situation of the polling stations does not materially affect the convenience of the electors or any body of them.

(3) In Scotland it is the returning officer's duty to make the division into polling districts and to designate the polling places, and to keep the polling districts and polling places under review in accordance with the following rules—

(a) the returning officer shall exercise the powers conferred by this section with a view to giving all electors in the constituency such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances ;

(b) each electoral area established for the purpose of local government elections which is within the constituency, and that part within the constituency of any such area which is partly within the constituency and partly within another constituency, shall, in the absence of special circumstances, be a separate polling district or districts ;

(c) the polling place for any polling district shall be an area in that district, except where special circumstances make it desirable to designate an area wholly or partly outside the polling district, and shall be small enough to indicate to electors in different parts of the polling district how they will be able to reach the polling station;

(d) a polling place need not be designated for any polling district, if the size and other circumstances of the district are such that the situation of the polling stations does not materially affect the convenience of the electors or any body of them.

(4) In the case of a polling district for which no polling place is designated the polling district shall be taken to be the polling place for the purposes of this Act.

(5) If any interested authority or not less than 30 electors in a constituency make a representation to the Secretary of State that the powers conferred by this section have not been exercised so as to meet the reasonable requirements of the electors in the constituency or any body of those electors, the Secretary of State shall consider the representation and may, if he thinks fit

(a) direct the council (or in Scotland, the returning officer)by whom the powers are exercisable, to make any alterations which the Secretary of State thinks necessary in the circumstances, and

(b) if the council or returning officer fails to make those alterations within a month after the direction is given, himself make the alterations,

and any alterations made by the Secretary of State under this subsection shall have effect as if they had been made by the council or returning officer.

In this subsection the expression " interested authority ", in relation to any constituency, means—

(i) as respects England, the council or where there is no such council the parish meeting of a parish which is wholly or partly situated within the constituency ;

(ii) as respects Wales, the council of a community which is so situated;

(iii) as respects Scotland, the council of any region, islands area or district within whose area the constituency is wholly or partly situated.

(6) On the exercise of any power given by this section, the council or returning officer—

(a) shall publish in the constituency a notice showing the boundaries of any polling districts or polling places constituted as a result of the exercise of the power; and

(b) unless the power was exercised by the Secretary of State, shall also send him a report giving the same information.

(7) Subsections (2) to (6) above do not apply to Northern Ireland, and in Northern Ireland the polling districts and polling places are those for the time being established under the law relating to the election of members to serve in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(8) Regulations—

(a) may provide for adapting the register in force for the time being to any alteration of polling districts, and

(b) may make special provisions for cases where any alteration of polling districts is made between the publication of any electors lists and the coming into force of the register prepared from those lists,

but except in cases for which provision is made by regulations an alteration of polling districts shall not be effective until the coming into force of the first register prepared from electors lists published after the alteration is made.

(9) An election shall not be questioned by reason of—

(a) any non-compliance with the provisions of this section ; or

(b) any informality relative to polling districts or polling places.