Six Wirral polling districts get new venues for May 2027, from the Williamson Art Gallery to the Grange pub. One Oxton district still has nowhere to vote.
Six Wirral polling districts are set to vote in a different building from May 2027, after the council’s review of where people vote. A seventh, in Oxton, has lost the venue proposed for it and has no replacement yet.
The changes are in a report to the council’s Regulatory and General Purposes Committee, which meets at Wallasey Town Hall at 6pm on Thursday 8 October. Councillors are asked to note the consultation and agree the new venues (Conclusion of statutory review of polling districts and places 2026, Wirral Council).
The review follows the new ward map that takes effect at the borough elections on 6 May 2027. When we reported the proposals in August, at least 15,900 electors were in line to vote somewhere new. Read every ward’s original proposals.
The new polling places
| District | Ward from May 2027 | Old venue | New venue | Why it changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DD | Oxton | Christchurch Oxton | Williamson Art Gallery | Church closed for refurbishment, no end date given |
| AF | Bidston and St James | Christ the King Church | Equilibrium Northwest Family Hub, Livingstone Street | Councillor said the church is too close to district AE’s polling place and too far from most AF voters, many without a car |
| WD | Liscard and Egremont | Grosvenor Ballroom | Hebron Evangelical Church, Egerton Grove, Wallasey | The ballroom’s owner no longer wants it used |
| HA | Bromborough and Port Sunlight | New Ferry Village Hall | Sea Cadet Bebington Corps, Cronwell Close | The hall falls inside Rock Ferry and New Ferry ward under the new boundary |
| YD | Moreton West and Saughall Massie | Moreton Baptist Church, shared with district YC | The Grange pub, function room | Councillor said the church is not big enough for two districts |
| VF | Wallasey | St Hilary’s Church | Wallasey Village Library | Residents complained about the distance from the road and the uneven path to the church |
New Ferry Village Hall does not close as a polling place. It becomes the venue for district EE, which is moving into Rock Ferry and New Ferry ward.
Every new venue in the table has been assessed by the council as suitable.
Oxton: one district without a venue
The owner of The McAllester Pavilion has told the council it does not want the building used as a polling place in future. That leaves district DA in Oxton with no polling place.
The August proposals had named the pavilion as the new polling place for 586 electors moving from Oxton St Saviours. The report says no alternative has been identified, and ward councillors will be told once one has been found and assessed.
Heswall: the Royal British Legion stays
Polling district RC in Heswall drew the most requests for change. Four respondents asked for somewhere other than the Royal British Legion. One said it was too far for elderly residents to walk to. Another said they walk there because it is close.
The alternatives people suggested were:
- the Lighthouse Church on Telegraph Road
- the Quaker House on Telegraph Road
- Heswall Hall
- Barnston Primary School
The council turned all four down. The first three are outside district RC’s boundary, and Barnston Primary is already the polling place for district RA. The report concludes that no suitable alternative to the Royal British Legion exists for RC.
What people said
The consultation ran from 10 August to 20 September. It drew 35 responses through the council’s Have Your Say site, plus emails from councillors in Oxton, Bidston and St James, and Wallasey wards.
- 28 respondents were satisfied with where they vote now
- 7 did not think their polling place was suitable
- 2 objected to schools being used as polling places
- 1 said it was hard to park at their polling station
Oxton produced the most responses, with nine, and Heswall the next most, with six.
On schools, the report says Wirral has 103 polling places. Schools made up 45 of them in 2019 and 34 at the May 2023 elections. The Returning Officer has a legal right to use local authority schools free of charge, and the report says avoiding them would mean paying for private buildings or mobile units instead.
The ward map is now law
The committee report says the order bringing in the new wards “is currently subject to parliamentary scrutiny”. That is out of date. The Wirral (Electoral Changes) Order 2026 was made on 17 September 2026 (SI 2026/1045, legislation.gov.uk).
A second report to the same meeting sets out what the order does (Ward boundary review report, Wirral Council):
- councillors fall from 66 to 65
- the borough keeps 22 wards, and 13 of them change shape
- Hoylake and Meols becomes the only ward with two councillors, after the West Kirby area moves out
- five wards are renamed: Bromborough and Port Sunlight, Claughton and Noctorum, Liscard and Egremont, Rock Ferry and New Ferry, and Upton and Woodchurch
It is the first redrawing of Wirral’s wards since 2003. Pensby and Thingwall is the only ward forecast to sit more than 10% above the borough’s average electors per councillor by 2030, at 11%. The Boundary Commission left it alone because changing it would split established community ties (Appendix 1, Wirral Council).
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. The new districts and polling places apply from the elections on 6 May 2027.
- Check your poll card next spring. It will name your polling station. The changes to the electoral register take effect when it is republished on 1 February 2027.
- If you vote in district DA in Oxton, your polling place has still to be found.
- Affected electors will get a letter. The council says everyone whose ward or polling arrangements change will be written to.
- To speak at Thursday’s meeting, the deadline for public questions and statements is noon on Monday 5 October, through the meeting page. Questions are limited to 100 words.
- Not happy with how the review was run? You can make representations to the Electoral Commission, but it will only look at whether the review was conducted correctly, not at the choice of venue.
- Postal and proxy votes remain available if a new venue does not suit you.
Have your say