Who has Access to the Register of Electors?

• Anyone may call into Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council's main office to view the Edited Register of Electors and Monthly Updates to the Register, both of which are available in the Reception Area at the Guildhall.  The opening hours for the public Reception Area are 8.30am to 5.00pm on Mondays to Thursdays and 8.30am to 4.30pm on Fridays.
• The Full Register of Electors is also available for inspection, but must be viewed under supervision - the same opening hours apply.  
• Anyone may telephone the Borough Council to enquire about a particular entry on the Register, but we can only confirm whether a named person DOES or DOES NOT live at a given address.  If the caller wants to know who lives at an address but does not have a matching name, we will NOT give out the details of the person registered at that property.
• Former Registers (up to 2001) are held by Shropshire County Council's Local Studies Library.  Opening times vary, so initial enquiries should be made by telephone to 01743 - 255350.
• Format of Registers:  When searching the Registers, please be aware that they are held in street order within polling districts and are not in alphabetical name order.  You should therefore allow yourself plenty of time to undertake your search as potentially there may be 74,500 names to search through before finding the person you are looking for!

Representation of the People Regulations 2001

By law under the above regulations, Electoral Registration Officers must supply a copy of the Full Register to the following bodies automatically:-

(1)  The British Library

(2)  The Office for National Statistics

(3)  Electoral Commission

(4)  Boundary Commission

(5)  Returning Officer for that Registration Area

(6)  Area Returning Officer for a shared constituency at a Parliamentary Election

(7)  Local Returning Officer for a shared constituency at a European Parliamentary Election

(8)  Returning Officer for a shared constituency or region at an election to the National Assembly of Wales.

For the Shrewsbury and Atcham Constituency, items (6) and (8) do not apply as we do not form a shared constituency for Parliamentary Elections, nor are we involved in the National Assembly of Wales Elections.

The following people/bodies are entitled to request one copy of the Full Register during its "shelf-life" (between 1st December and 30th November of the following year):-

(1)  MP for that Constituency

(2)  MEP for that Electoral Region

(3)  Member of the National Assembly of Wales for that Constituency or Region

(4)  Councillors for that Electoral Area

(5)  Mayor of London/London Members for the Greater London Area only

(6)  Constituency Member of the Greater London Authorities for the Assembly Constituency

(7)  Elected Mayor for the whole registration area

(8)  The Council by which the Electoral Registration Officer was appointed, for the whole registration area

(9)  Parish or Community Council for that Parish or Community Area only

(10) Candidates for the Area in which he/she is standing

(11) Nominated Person of a Registered Political Party for local constituency purposes (re. Controls on donations)

(12) Holder of a relevant elective office for the whole registration area

(13) Candidate at a Parliamentary, local government or GLA election for the whole registration area

(14) Registered political party for the whole registration area

(15) Recognised third parties for the whole registration area

(16) Permitted participants for the whole registration area

(17) Police for the whole registration area

Items (3), (5), (6) and (7) do not apply to the Shrewsbury and Atcham Constituency.  Any request to receive information from the above list must be by way of a written request and the information is supplied to them with a covering information sheet stating the uses to which the information can be put.

The Full Register is available free of charge to those entitled to receive it in connection with electoral purposes, to facilitate the democratic process and for the purposes of security, law enforcement and crime prevention purposes.  It may also be sold to Government Departments for security, law enforcement and crime prevention purposes and to Credit Reference Agencies for money laundering and credit assessment checks.

For clarification on any of the above items, please contact:

The Electoral Commission,
Trevelyan House,
Great Peter Street,
London,
SW1P 2HW

Tel. 020 - 72710500.