Tracey Onslow, St Johns County Councillor and Blakebrook and Habberley South District Councillor, wishes to highlight to residents that Wyre Forest District Council is currently consulting on the future of the Gainsborough Polling Station. This Consultation concerns residents who currently cast their democratic vote at the Gainsborough House Hotel Polliing Station on Bewdley Hill.
Wyre Forest District Council is consulting with the public on the proposal to relocate the Gainsborough Hotel polling station to the Social Club on Habberley Estate or to Kidderminster Carolians Rugby Club. This follows an earlier consultation in September 2019 where 10 voters out the 3150 voters registered to vote at the Gainsborough Polling Station responded. Those 10 voters, on the question about the possibility of relocating their specific polling station responded as follows:
3 said it should be moved into the Town Centre
4 said it should stay at the Gainsborough
3 said it should move to Habberley Estate
(8 other commenters - not all Gainsborough voters - were in favour of an additional polling station on Habberley Estate)
Unfortunately, this current consultation is only providing one option for residents to respond to - that the Gainsborough polling station be moved to Habberley Estate for some voters or to Kidderminster Carolians Rugby Football Club for others. This ignores the majority of responses, which were either to leave it and/or to have an additional polling station on the Estate.
Tracey said “I urge all residents who vote at the Gainsborough Hotel on election days to participate in this consultation . Points raised by residents in September 2019’s consultation have not transferred into this next consultation. What I object to is asking residents their opinion and then ignoring it and I have raised this issue with WFDC.
“For me, it is up to residents where they have their polling station: Habberley, Carolians, Gainsborough or in town, it is wherever it is most suitable for the majority, as decided by a fair process. In the table showing measurements of distance to polling stations, the results show that relocating the polling station to these locations moves the polling stations further away from voters. Again it is up to local residents to decide and therefore I urge as many voters to participate to ensure a decision can be made with good representation by the community. Also, if the availability of the Gainsborough should change in future, then all possible sites should be consulted on, not just two picked at random."
To Have Your Say on what happens to the Gainsborough Polling Station, you must complete the consultation.
The Consultation details are:
The consultation is on now and ends 6th November.
