A major shake-up in Liverpool's electoral arrangements is imminent. Up until now, the City has been divided up into fairly large Wards, each represented by 3 councillors. In  May, however, all of the existing councillors will stand down, and the election will be fought on the basis of (mostly) smaller wards, each represented by just one councillor. The Wavertree Society's 'area of benefit' (as defined by our Constitution) will almost exactly coincide with three of the new wards: Wavertree Village, Wavertree Garden Suburb and Church.

The new boundaries, at least in our area, are easier to describe than under the present system. Wavertree Village and Wavertree Garden Suburb wards will be separated by Mill Lane, WGS and Church will be separated by Childwall Road, and Church and Wavertree Village will be separated by Prince Alfred Road and Grant Avenue. This means that, for example, the Olive Mount Community Centre will be in Wavertree Garden Suburb ward, and Waterloo Street will be in Church ward - the boundaries having been drawn to ensure that, as far as possible, each ward contains the same number of electors.

The area of Wavertree west of the railway embankment - which is in L15 but has never officially been part of the Society's area - will form the new Smithdown ward. Here, the electoral arrangements will be slightly different, its larger size meaning that it will be represented by 2 councillors.

The elections on 4th May will be very important, because every one of the new councillors will serve for 4 years. The elections will also be subject to the government's new ID rules: unless you have a postal vote, you will need to take an approved form of photo ID to the polling station in order to be eligible to cast your vote. Further information is available on the City Council's website at https://liverpool.gov.uk/council/voting-and-elections/