VOTERS might have to travel an extra five minutes or cast their ballot in a temporary building next year.

New polling stations are being proposed after several were unavailable for the May 2015 elections.

The council said there are “no easy answers” after residents of Wish and Goldsmid wards were left without an alternative station.

Residents are being asked to take part in a consultation and suggest alternative options.

Hove Town Hall will be closed for refurbishments in May 2015, with the Parish Room at the Church of the Sacred Heart on Norton Road put forward as an alternative venue.

The Avondale Centre on Montefiore Road is no longer available and no alternative sites have been found in the Goldsmid ward.

The proposal is to use the Refectory Room at nearby Brighton and Hove Sixth Form College, about six minutes walk away. The Saxon Road Pavilion at the Aldrington Recreation Ground, also known as Wish Park, is not available.

No alternative site has been found so residents are being asked to consider either a temporary building or maquee on Saxon Road or the recreation ground.

National and local elections are expected to take place on May 7, 2015.

Penny Thompson, Brighton and Hove City Council chief executive and returning officer, said: “This is about making sure polling stations in the city are convenient and accessible.

“We’ve looked at a number of options for Wish and Goldsmid wards but unfortunately there are no easy answers.

“We have no powers to force the owners of buildings to let us use them as polling stations. If residents would like to propose possible alternative venues and can give reasons why these would improve access to voting in their area, we promise to take their suggestions very seriously.”

To give your views visit the council’s consultation website at consult.brighton-hove.gov.uk/portal.

Further information is available at www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/pollingplacereview, by emailing the Electoral Services team at electors@brighton-hove.gov.uk, calling 01273 291999 or visiting Brighton Town Hall by December 19, 2014.

The council is expected to make a decision on the proposed changes in January.