Elections 2 May 2024

Please do not put postal votes through the Council Office's letterbox as they will be rejected.

There are three ways you can return your completed postal vote:

• The quickest and easiest way is to pop your completed postal vote in any post box so it arrives at the Council Offices by 10pm on Thursday 2 May.
• During office hours, bring your completed postal vote to the Council Offices in Oxted. You can also hand in up to five other people's postal votes. At the reception desk, fill out a form and hand it in with your postal vote to our reception staff.  You must fill out the form, or your postal vote will be rejected.
• On Thursday 2 May between 7am-10pm, you can hand your completed postal vote to polling staff at your polling station. You can also submit up to five other people's postal votes along with yours at a polling station in your ward. You will need to fill out a form which the polling station staff have. You must fill out the form, or your postal vote will be rejected.

If you want to vote in a polling station on Thursday 2 May, you must bring photo ID with you, otherwise you won't be able to vote. This is a relatively new requirement following changes to the law. If you don't have acceptable photo ID, you will not be able to vote.

Your ID needs to be the original. It cannot be a photocopy, or pictures of ID on mobile phones.

Acceptable ID can be:

• A driving licence (including provisional licence).
• A passport.
• Blue Badge.
• Identity card with PASS mark (Proof of Age Standards Scheme).
• Certain concessionary travel cards.
• Biometric immigration document.
• Defence identity card.
• National identity card.

If you have one of these IDs, but it is out of date, you can still use it to vote at a polling station if it still looks like you.

Other forms of ID are acceptable. The Electoral Commission website contains a full list of accepted forms of photo ID and further information about the introduction of voter ID.

I do not have photo ID?

If you don’t have one of the accepted forms of photo ID and you want to vote in a polling station, you will need to apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate. To apply, please visit the GOV.uk website by 5pm on Wednesday 24 April. 

Postal voters will not be affected and will be issued with their postal ballot papers as usual. If you choose to vote by proxy then the person who will vote on your behalf will have to take their own photo ID to the polling station.

Following a boundary review, some ward boundaries have changed in the district. The number of wards has also changed from 20 to 18. This means you may need to go to a different polling station to vote.

To find your polling station you can:

• Check your polling card, which you received from 20 March onwards, for the location.
• Search using your postcode in the box below.

There are three ways to cast your vote:

• In person: this means going to the polling station to vote on Thursday 2 May.
• By post: this means we will send you a postal voting pack so you can complete your ballot paper at home and return it by post. Please do not pop it in the letterbox at the Council Offices in Oxted.
• By proxy: this means appointing a person to vote on your behalf at your polling station.

You can quickly and easily apply to vote by post or proxy:

• To vote by post, please complete the online application form on the GOV.uk website. Apply by 5pm on Wednesday 17 April.
• To vote by proxy, please complete the online application form on the GOV.uk website. Apply by 5pm on Wednesday 24 April.

All district councillors are up for election. 43 councillors will be elected, this has increased by one councillor following a review by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.

There will be 18 wards and 10 three-councillor, five two-councillor, three single-councillor wards as set out in the table below. The boundaries of 10 wards have changed and 10 have stayed the same.

The following parishes are up for election:

• Caterham on the Hill (Portley ward, Queens park ward and Westway ward).
• Caterham Valley (Valley ward and Harestone ward).
• Warlingham.
• Whyteleafe.
• Woldingham.

The election of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Surrey is taking place on Thursday 2 May 2024.

The Police and Crime Commissioner is responsible for holding the Chief Constable and Surrey Police to account on the public’s behalf. They also oversee how crime is tackled in Surrey and aim to make sure Surrey Police provides a good service. 

The Surrey Police area is made up of the 11 district and borough councils in the county. David Ford, Chief Executive of the Council and Returning Officer is responsible for arranging and delivering the poll for the electors in the Tandridge district.

The Police Area Returning Officer (PARO) for Surrey is Mari Roberts-Wood, Managing Director of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. Mari is legally accountable for the effective running of the election across the county.

Police and Crime Commissioners are elected every four years using the first-past-the-post voting system. The last PCC election took place on 6 May 2021.

Residents in Tatsfield will also be voting on the referendum on the Tatsfield Neighbourhood Plan, a community-led framework which will guide the future development, regeneration and conservation of the area. 

Tatsfield notice of Neighbourhood Plan Referendum information statement.

In partnership with Mencap, the Electoral Commission has developed easy read guides to voting in the local elections, for people with a learning disability. The guide includes information about registering to vote, voting by post or proxy voter identification requirements and what support people can have if they vote at a polling station.

Polling cards will look different this year. They’ll be bigger, containing information about the need to bring photo ID and where your polling station is.

You don’t need to bring your polling card to vote on Thursday 2 May, but don't forget your photo ID.

From May 2024, the 18 wards in the Tandridge district will be:

• Bletchingley & Nutfield
• Burstow, Horne & Outwood
• Chaldon
• Dormansland & Felbridge
• Godstone
• Harestone
• Limpsfield
• Lingfield & Crowhurst
• Oxted North
• Oxted South
• Portley & Queens Park
• Tatsfield & Titsey
• Valley
• Warlingham East, Chelsham & Farleigh
• Warlingham West
• Westway
• Whyteleafe
• Woldingham

To be able to vote you must be included in the Register of Electors. If you're not already registered, please complete an online application form on the GOV.uk website and submit it by Tuesday 16 April.