Walking around the picturesque village of Meriden on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, you would find it hard to spot any signs of election fever. With just a week to go until polling day for a borough election in which all seats will be contested, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) visited the village widely recognised as the geographical centre of England. However, we saw no election posters or banners, nor any canvassing taking place.
Residents Speak Out
Speaking to residents on their doorsteps, many said that if you did not know, you could easily have missed that an election was happening at all. One Arden Close resident commented: “We are aware there is an election. We do not see our councillors – I have never met any of them. At the last general election, they did the rounds, but no one has knocked on the door this time. They want my vote but do not knock on my door. I will vote but will make a decision on the day – none of them are impressing me at the moment.”
Another resident added: “I have had no leaflets, no knock on the door, just the polling card. They do not seem to work very hard for your vote around here. We used to get people coming round years ago. It has all changed, all on social media now. I will vote Reform because I am sick of the others; at least they are something different. No one is talking about the election. People are just fed up.”
A neighbour said: “I will probably vote, but I have not thought much about it. It is a nice place around here; the state of the road and potholes is the main thing that needs sorting.”
A resident who recently moved to the area noted: “We will probably vote, but we do not know who for. No candidates have knocked on the door, no leaflets either. Maybe we will get some in the last week.”
Election Details
Voting takes place on May 7 with polling stations open between 7am and 10pm. The Solihull results will be announced on Friday, May 8.
