All change for local elections on 2nd May

Photo of a teller outside the Brook Way Activity Centre in Bradley Stoke.

Residents across the Stokes will be called on to elect representatives to both South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) and their respective parish council in local elections which take place on Thursday 2nd May.

A decision to reduce the number of seats on SGC from 70 to 61 means that there have been significant changes to ward boundaries across the district, so some voters may find themselves in a different ward or being asked to elect a different number of representatives compared to the last across-the-board local elections held in 2015.

Bradley Stoke

Bradley Stoke parish (town) previously elected five SGC members, two each for the wards of Bradley Stoke South and Bradley Stoke Central & Stoke Lodge and one for the Bradley Stoke North ward. For 2019, there are just two wards, Bradley Stoke South and Bradley Stoke North (the latter incorporating Stoke Lodge), each represented by two members.

In order to balance the numbers of electors in the district wards, some properties in the extreme south of Bradley Stoke parish have historically been allocated to the Stoke Gifford district ward and the boundary changes for 2019 have seen more properties fall into this area of overlap.

No changes have been made to the Bradley Stoke (or any other) parish/town boundary, but the number of parish wards in Bradley Stoke has been reduced from the present seven to just three, named North, South and Stoke Brook, electing six, seven and two members respectively to the town council.

The Stoke Brook parish ward of Bradley Stoke corresponds to the part of the town which falls within the Stoke Gifford district ward.

Stoke Gifford and Little Stoke

For 2019, Stoke Gifford parish (which includes Little Stoke) will elect four SGC members, three for a reshaped Stoke Gifford ward north of the A4174 and a fourth for a new ward named Stoke Park and Cheswick.

The three previous Stoke Gifford parish wards north of the A4174 have been combined into a single Central parish ward electing nine members, while the existing University ward (corresponding to the Stoke Park and Cheswick district ward) elects three members.

Election timetable

Publication of Notice of Election Friday 22nd March
Receipt of Nominations Wednesday 3rd April
Publication of Statement of Persons Nominated Thursday 4th April
Last Date for Registration Friday 12th April
Receipt of Postal Vote Applications Monday 15th April
Publication of Notice of Poll Wednesday 24th April
Day of Poll Thursday 2nd May

Registering to vote

Register online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

You can call 01454 863030 or email electoral.services@southglos.gov.uk to check whether you are on the register.

Follow the progress of the elections on these pages of the Journal websites:

Related links:

Archive photo: A teller outside the polling station at Brook Way Activity Centre, Bradley Stoke.

A version of this article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine (on page 27). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH (except August), to ALL 8,700 homes in Bradley Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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