ELECTION chaos is being predicted in Marlborough next Thursday because many voters have not checked the location of their polling station.

For the first time in living memory the town is being split into two for voting and it is feared that many people will go to the wrong places to try and vote.

Historically Marlborough electors have voted at the town hall while residents of Manton, which is part of the town, vote at their village hall.

This year, however, east ward voters will continue to go to the town hall but those in the west ward and electors living in Manton have to go to the leisure centre in Bath Road.

But many people, it appears, have not been reading the small print on the voting cards sent to them by Kennet District Council and could end up going to the wrong place.

People in both wards will be going to the polls next Thursday to choose a new county councillor for Marlborough and vote for an MP for the Devizes constituency.

The division between the two wards follows the road that many people take through the town on their way between Swindon and Burbage.

The dividing line is Herd Street, Barn Street, London Road and Salisbury Road. Homes to the east of this route are in the east ward and will vote at the town hall; those on the west side fall in the west ward and this year electors have to go to the leisure centre to vote.

Deputy mayor Hilary Cripps said the decision to split the town voting between two centres was causing a lot of confusion and she believed it would lead to chaos next Thursday.

Coun Cripps said it was not only west ward voters who could end up at the wrong polling station because she had heard that a large number of people in the Portfields area were under the impression that they had to vote at the leisure centre on the far side of town.

"I think it's diabolical and that the old people and young mothers with children will not be able or willing to walk all the way to the leisure centre," she said.

"Not all people have cars and I have had a lot of people tell me that if they can't go to the town hall then they will not bother to vote."

Former mayor Coun Bill Cavill lives on the town side of Salisbury Road and will have to go the leisure centre to vote although neighbours on the opposite side of the road will continue to use the town hall.

Coun Maurice Cooper lives at Manton where voting has traditionally taken place in the village hall.

He told the town council on Monday: "A lot of older people in Manton have said they will not walk across to the leisure centre."

Coun Cooper said he thought changing the polling stations was a backward step, adding: "I will be interested to see how it affects the number of voters."

A 73-year-old woman who lives in George Lane said she had been planning to vote at the town hall as she had done for the last 50 years when a friend pointed out that her polling card stated leisure centre.

Kennet elections officer Jonathan Gale explained there were several reasons why the change was made.

He said the town hall struggled in the past to cope with the volume of voters while the leisure centre had its own car park and disabled access.

The town hall has no access for disabled voters and ideally should not be used for elections, he added.

Mr Gale implored voters to check the location on their polling cards.