22/04/2008: Increase in voters

The number of people registered to vote in Brent, north west London, ahead of the London election on 1 May is higher than at any time in the past eight years suggesting that turnout may be up significantly on Thursday (1 May) compared to previous GLA elections.

Brent Council has received 4,854 new applications to vote since the beginning of the year, with 2,300 applications between 1 April and 16 April.

Brent has recruited 400 new voters this year by registering people before citizenship ceremonies at the town hall. Brent Council election staff processed 13,000 postal vote applications this week ahead of the London election on 1 May, over ten times the amount received before the 2004 GLA election.

In 2004 Brent received just over 1000 postal voting applications, lagging well behind many local authorities in London.

A concerted effort by the council over the past four years has increased the number of postal votes to make the borough one of the better performing in London.

The postal votes were returned to householders via a special postal collection.

For more information about the election on 1 May please telephone Brent Council on 020 8937 1372 or visit www.brent.gov.uk/election