New Forest District Council urged to remove polling station from Waterside Primary School in Hythe as it undertakes review

USING a Waterside school as a polling station creates safeguarding issues and affects attendance, New Forest District Council has been told.

The authority is set to review its polling locations at a meeting of the general purposes and licensing committee tomorrow (Friday) following a public consultation held in September.

Concerns raised by an unnamed member of staff at Waterside Primary School in Hythe said using the site as a venue greatly impacted staff and pupils and urged the council to reconsider its use.

As part of the review the council also asked for the views of disability groups, elected representatives and parish councils.

Information provided to the elections team in May and July of this year from poll clerks, presiding officers, voters and polling station inspectors was also considered.

A report to members said there had been “a good response” to the consultation, with 82 comments received. Of these, 45 were “wholly positive”.

There were 28 negative comments covering 15 venues, including eight for Bashley Village Hall and five for Waterside Primary School.

Other respondents raised points of note including suggestions stations be paperless and computerised, and that postal voting be encouraged for all. There was also a complaint over the use of religious and Pride “propaganda” displayed at some, and one person said they had difficulties accessing information on the review.

A letter from an employee at the primary school said: “I have been at Waterside for nearly 20 years and we have always been the designated polling station despite the impact this has on the running of the school.

“Now more than ever I would ask that the council reconsiders the use of the school as a station and there are a great number of reasons for this. Due to the layout of the school and its location, it is essential that we close the whole premises on polling day. The main reason for this is safeguarding.

“Cars coming on to the site are also a risk and we have previously had incidents of voters driving on to our playground and even through a fenced area. We did have volunteers assigned to parking for the general election, but members of the public still created safeguarding hazards.”

The letter added: “Sadly we do have an increasing number of high-need pupils and the added complication of having members of the public freely accessing the site makes it less secure and safe.

“Ensuring good attendance is a government priority and we have worked tirelessly with parents to communicate this. Closing the school contradicts our message and undermines the work we are doing in this area.”

The employee explained that on the last two occasions the site had been used, the school had closed for an inset day, but this had limited what teachers could do and “does not always fit with training programmes and school improvement priorities”.

A report by the council’s returning officer and chief executive, Kate Ryan, considered the representations made but recommended the school continued to be used. She said: “It is acknowledged that the use of the school poses difficulties.

“All alternatives have been considered and do not meet standards of accessibility. Unfortunately, there is no alternative than to continue to use the school site and [NFDC] will use every effort to mitigate impacts as far as possible and continue to liaise with the school.”

Despite objection, there will also be no changes to the polling station at Bashley Village Hall.

Access to the hall is difficult, residents claimed, due to a lack of pavements, and driving and parking is very restricted at busy times.

Many said the previous venue for the area, New Milton cricket ground, was preferable.

However, Ms Ryan said the cricket ground could not be used as it is now within another ward following boundary changes put in place for the 2023 district elections.

She added: “It is acknowledged that there is no pavement on the road leading to the village hall. However, the hall is used for other purposes and functions.

“The parking is considered adequate, although at times during the parliamentary election was busy. There are no alternatives which would be more suitable and therefore no change is proposed.”

“Very limited” proposed changes are suggested to polling stations in the review due to the previous changes implemented in the lead-up to the 2023 district election, the report concluded.