Stevenage Borough Council has responded to complaints from residents over a chapel at a cemetery being used as a polling station in the local elections taking place today.
The Comet has been contacted by a number of readers about the chapel at Weston Road Cemetery being used as the polling station for Woodfield ward.
“Of all the community centres in Stevenage. Why have they set up a polling station at Weston Road Cemetery? Its disgusting. I’m very upset about this. Its my dad’s resting place,” said one reader.
Another said: “Weston Road Cemetery is being used as a polling station. How disrespectful is that?”
And another asked: “Why do the council think that using the cemetery as a polling station is acceptable?”
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Stevenage Borough Council issued a statement in response to the complaints, saying: “The polling station previously used for this polling district was Canterbury Way Park Pavilion, which has now closed and could not be used for this election.
“Polling cards were sent to all electors at the end of March and the beginning of April with details of the new polling station, including an additional card for each property informing them of this change of polling station.
“Many different types of buildings are used as polling stations across the UK, including churches, cemeteries, schools and public houses.
“To date our electoral services office has received one comment directly on the use of this site as a polling station, which was some weeks ago.”
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