Holy Island tide times ahead of local elections

Once the polls close at 10pm, hundreds of ballot boxes from across the county will need to be brought to Blyth Sports Centre so that the votes can be counted.

For the most part, this is a simple enough task – although some boxes will need to travel quite a distance due to the county’s sheer size.

However, those on Holy Island can sometimes require a little more planning. The island is cut off from the mainland twice a day by rising tides.

Road vehicles are unable to get through at these times, with many drivers finding this out the hard way over the years and having to be rescued by the RNLI.

Despite this, there are still 180 residents living on the island able to cast their votes. The island is part of the Norham and Islandshires ward.

Thankfully, this year there will be no such issues. According to the council’s website, it will be safe to cross from the island from 10pm – when the polls close – until 4.35am, leaving plenty of time for the ballot boxes to make the almost 60 mile journey to Blyth.

Other long journeys include the boxes from Berwick, which will have to travel 62.2 miles, as well as those from Kielder (58.6 miles) and Allenheads (52.9 miles) before they can be counted.

Thursday will see 69 councillors elected. This is up from 67 at the previous election following boundary changes, with two additional wards being created as a result of changing population patterns.

The Conservatives are currently the largest party on the council with 33 councillors, followed by Labour on 18 and the Independent Group with eight. The Liberal Democrats have four councillors, while the Greens have two – the remaining councillor is non-aligned.