Agenda item

            The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       To consider initial arrangements for the Local Elections in May 2019.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is recommended to:

·        Note the information on the Local Election timetable;

·        Agree that the Election Count venue will be the City Hall; and

·        Agree the dates upon which each count will be held, as set out in paragraph 3.3.3 of the report

3.0       Main report

3.1       Key Issues

3.1.1     The Local Elections will be held on 2nd May 2019, with the counts being held on 3rd and 4th May 2019.  The election timetable is attached at Appendix 1 for information

3.1.2     There are some early decisions which the Council is required to take to allow officers to make early preparations.

3.2       Count Venue

3.2.1     The counts for the 10 District Electoral Areas (DEAs) in the Belfast District will take place on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th May.  The suggestion is that 5 counts will take place on each day and it is recommended that the Committee agree that the venue for all of the counts will be the City Hall.  This would require 3 counts to take place in the Great Hall and 1 each in the Banqueting Hall and the Reception Room.

3.3       Order of Counts

3.3.1     It is recognised that most Members would prefer the count for the DEA in which they are standing to take place on the Friday rather than the Saturday.  In deciding which 5 DEAs should be counted on the Friday, there are some logistical matters which need to be taken into account:

·        The Reception Room is being used as a count venue and it is significantly smaller than the other count venues in the City Hall.  The Banqueting Hall is the largest of the venues being used.

·        The 10 DEAs do not all elect the same number of councillors.  Black Mountain and Ormiston DEAs elect 7 members each; Balmoral and Botanic DEAs elect 5 members each; and Castle, Oldpark, Court, Collin, Lisnasharragh and Titanic DEAs each elect 6 members.

3.3.2     It is accepted that the number of members to be elected to a DEA does not necessarily mean that the count will take less time to complete but that is the only variable which can reasonably be used to assess which counts should be held in which venue.  Accordingly it is suggested that the following breakdown is agreed:

            Reception Room – Balmoral and Botanic DEAs (5 members each)

            Banqueting Hall – Black Mountain and Ormiston DEAs (7 members each)

            Great Hall (1) – Castle and Oldpark DEAs (6 members each)

            Great Hall (2) – Court and Colin DEAs (6 members each)

            Great Hall (3) – Lisnasharragh and Titanic DEAs (6 members each)

3.3.3     When the Committee agreed in 2014 which counts would be held on which day it was agreed also that the counts held on the Saturday in 2014 would be held on the Friday in 2019.  Therefore, it is recommended that the counts should be held as follows:

            Friday 3rd May, 2019

            Reception Room – Botanic DEA

            Banqueting Hall – Ormiston DEA

            Great Hall 1 – Oldpark DEA

            Great Hall 2 – Colin DEA

            Great Hall 3 – Titanic DEA

            Saturday 4th May, 2019

            Reception Room – Balmoral DEA

            Banqueting Hall – Black Mountain DEA

            Great Hall 1 – Castle DEA

            Great Hall 2 – Court DEA

            Great Hall 3 – Lisnasharragh DEA

3.4       Financial & Resource Implications

3.4.1     The costs of the Local Elections in May 2019 will be met out of the existing elections budget.

3.5      Equality or Good Relations Implications/Rural Needs Assessment

3.5.1     None associated with this report.”

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.