Plans for Wakefield’s first “all-out” local elections in 20 years expected to be postponed

Every council seat in the district was due to be contested in 2024, as the Local Government Boundary Commission (LGBC) is set to make changes to the 21 wards that Wakefield is divided into.

However, those changes are now unlikely to be made in time for the 2024 elections, meaning that the all-out polls are set to take place two years later instead.

The LGBC redraws the boundaries within a council area if the population spread across each ward becomes uneven.

Every ward is supposed to have a roughly similar number of voters, to ensure people are fairly represented.

But large-scale housebuilding across the Wakefield district means the current setup is outdated, with the boundaries having last been changed in 2004.

For example, the Wakefield East and Castleford Central and Glasshoughton wards have seen an influx of people because of the number of new homes in those areas.

Both of those seats are among those expected to be carved up by the Commission.

The Commission said their review would start towards the end of this year and will be subject to several rounds of public consultation, to allow people to have their say.

A spokesman for LGBC said that, with the agreement of the council, the changes would “probably” come into effect in 2026.

He added: “This is because the review is likely to receive Parliamentary approval too close to the 2024 elections for the necessary changes to be made.

“There are no local elections in Wakefield in 2025, so 2026 are the elections at which changes are made.”

The issue does not affect voting for the local elections taking place this May, where as is routine, a third of the council’s seats – one in each ward – are due to be contested.

There are implications for councillors and candidates standing this year however, as they will now be serving a full four-year term instead of the two years they had been expecting.

The changes are completely separate to the proposed Parliamentary boundary changes, which are going through rounds of public consultation at the moment.

Those alterations are being led by a different body and only affect MPs and Westminster, rather than town halls and local government.

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