Election of councillors to Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Local elections elect borough councillors to Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council which is responsible for running a range of local services. Knowsley is divided into a series of wards, four of which cover Kirkby. The names of the wards relate to either a major area or road in Kirkby, but they do not cover exactly the same areas as each ward is meant to have a similar number of voters (electors):
- Cherryfield Ward – covering Field Lane and most of Southdene
- Northwood Ward – covering Northwood, St. Kevin’s Estate, the northeastern part of Southdene and Kirkby Industrial Estate
- Shevington Ward – covering all of Towerhill, Shevington Park and Melling Mount
- Whitefield Ward – covering Kirkby Town Centre, Westvale, Kirkby Park and part of Southdene
There are 3 borough councillor seats for each ward and normally local council elections are held every 3 out of 4 years, with the other year being a ‘fallow year’ when no election is held. During this normal cycle only one seat is up for election at a time.
The most recent election took place on 2nd May 2019, and the next local elections were due to take place on 7th May 2020 alongside Police and Crime Commissioner and Liverpool City Region Mayor elections. However these were postponed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, and the next local elections will take place on 6th May 2021.
Following a review of local council wards in Knowsley by the Boundary Commission for England, Kirkby has had 4 local council wards since the elections which took place on Thursday 5th May 2016. As a result of this boundary change, all 12 Kirkby seats (3 per ward) on Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council were up for election in 2016, with each voter being able to vote for up to 3 candidates in their ward. The four new wards were given the same names as four of the six wards they replace, but the boundaries are different.
Information on earlier votes can be found at Past Local Elections, including plots of the number of votes cast and percentage voter share since 1973.
The current ward boundaries can be viewed here: