Surrey Heath | |
---|---|
Motto(s): Festina diligenter (Latin: Make haste carefully) | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Constituent country | England |
Region | South East England |
Non-metropolitan county | Surrey |
Status | Non-metropolitan district |
Admin HQ | Camberley |
Incorporated | 1 April 1974 |
Government | |
• Type | Non-metropolitan district council |
• Body | Surrey Heath Borough Council |
• MPs | Al Pinkerton (Lib Dem) |
Area | |
• Total | 36.7 sq mi (95.1 km2) |
• Rank | 202nd (of 296) |
Population (2022) | |
• Total | 91,237 |
• Rank | 261st (of 296) |
• Density | 2,500/sq mi (960/km2) |
Ethnicity (2021) | |
• Ethnic groups | |
Religion (2021) | |
• Religion | List
|
Time zone | UTC0 (GMT) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
ONS code | 43UJ (ONS) E07000214 (GSS) |
OS grid reference | SU8752760851 |
Surrey Heath is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt.
The neighbouring districts are Runnymede, Woking, Guildford, Rushmoor, Hart, Bracknell Forest, and Windsor and Maidenhead.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district covered the area of two former districts, which were both abolished at the same time: [2]
The new district was named "Surrey Heath" in recognition of the extensive areas of heathland it contains, including Chobham Common and Lightwater Country Park, which form part of the wider Thames Basin Heaths. [3] The new district was granted borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor. [4]
Surrey Heath Borough Council | |
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Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Nick Steevens since 1 July 2024 (interim) [7] | |
Structure | |
Seats | 35 councillors |
Political groups |
|
Elections | |
Last election | 4 May 2023 |
Next election | 6 May 2027 |
Meeting place | |
Surrey Heath House, Knoll Road, Camberley, GU15 3HD | |
Website | |
www |
Surrey Heath Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Surrey County Council. The eastern part of the borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government. [8]
Since the 2023 election the council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control. Prior to 2023 the council had been led by Conservatives from its creation in 1974.
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: [9]
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
Conservative | 1974–2020 | |
No overall control | 2020–2021 | |
Conservative | 2021–2022 | |
No overall control | 2022–2023 | |
Liberal Democrats | 2023–present |
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Surrey Heath. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1996 have been: [10]
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Vivienne Chapman | Conservative | pre-1996 | 27 May 1998 | |
Moira Gibson [11] | Conservative | 27 May 1998 | 27 Feb 2019 | |
Richard Brooks [12] [13] | Conservative | 27 Feb 2019 | 20 Jan 2020 | |
Alan McClafferty | Conservative | 29 Jan 2020 | 17 May 2023 | |
David Whitcroft | Liberal Democrats | 17 May 2023 | 28 Jun 2023 | |
Shaun Macdonald | Liberal Democrats | 28 Jun 2023 |
Following the 2023 election (including a postponed election in one ward) the composition of the council is as follows:
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | 24 | |
Conservative | 6 | |
Independent | 3 | |
Labour | 2 | |
Total | 35 |
The three independent councillors sit together as "The Community Group". [14] The next election is due in 2027.
The council is based at Surrey Heath House on Knoll Road in Camberley. The building was purpose-built for the council for £4.25m and was completed in 1987. The building was formally opened by Valerian Wellesley, Duke of Wellington on 17 July 1987. [15]
In 2016 the council bought The Square, the main shopping centre in the centre of Camberley, for £109 million. [16] By early 2023 the centre was reportedly valued at only £30 million, and the rents being received did not cover the interest payments on the debts the council had incurred in buying it. [17]
In 2020 the council's chief executive, Karen Whelan, resigned after an independent investigation found that a 30% increase in her remuneration during 2018–19 compared to the year before had been unlawfully approved by the former leader of the council, Moira Gibson. [18] [19] [20]
The area forms the heart of the heath that spans Esher, Oxshott, Weybridge, Wisley, all around Woking, Brookwood, Deepcut, Pirbright, Frimley, Lightwater, Camberley, Chobham Common, Virginia Water and Ottershaw. It is made up of naturally wet, very acid sandy and loamy soil, which is just 1.9% of English soil and 0.2% of Welsh soil, which gives rise to pines and coniferous landscapes, such as pioneered at Wentworth and Foxhills estate (now spa, hotel, restaurant and golf club) by pro-American independence statesman Charles James Fox. [21] In geology it gives rise to the name, Bagshot Formation.
The western section of the district is largely urbanised, with heaths nonetheless providing substantial green buffer around Camberley, Lightwater, Deepcut, Frimley, Frimley Green and Mytchett. The east of the district is less urbanized, and contains Surrey Heath's four civil parishes: [22]
The former Frimley and Camberley Urban District covering the west of the borough is an unparished area, governed directly by Surrey Heath Borough Council. [23]
Within the borough there are five Sites of Special Scientific Interest, four of which are part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area of European Importance as a habitat for certain endangered bird species; these make up some of the six Wildlife Reserves managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust in Surrey Heath.
Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 35 Councillors representing 14 wards, with each ward electing two or three Councillors. Elections are held every four years. [24]
The whole borough lies within the Surrey Heath constituency. The constituency is slightly larger than the borough, including the Normandy and Pirbright ward of Guildford Borough Council. [23]
In 2014, the British Election Study named Surrey Heath as the most right-wing constituency in the country. [25]
Surrey Heath is twinned with Sucy-en-Brie, France, and Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany. [28]
Camberley is a town in northwest Surrey, England, around 29 miles south-west of central London. It is in the Borough of Surrey Heath and is close to the county boundaries with Hampshire and Berkshire. Known originally as "Cambridge Town", it was assigned its current name by the General Post Office in 1877.
Bagshot is a large village in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately 26 miles (42 km) southwest of central London. In the past, Bagshot served as an important staging post between London, Southampton and the West Country, evidenced by the original coaching inns still present in the village today.
Surrey Heath is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Al Pinkerton, a Liberal Democrat. The Home counties suburban constituency is in the London commuter belt, on the outskirts of Greater London. Surrey Heath is in the north west of Surrey and borders the counties of Berkshire and Hampshire.
Woking is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Will Forster, a Liberal Democrat. Since it was first created for the 1950 general election, it had only ever returned Conservative Party candidates until it elected a Liberal Democrat for the first time in 2024.
Frimley Green is a large village and ward of 580 acres (2.3 km2) in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately 30 mi (48 km) southwest of central London. It is 1 mi (1.6 km) south of the town of Frimley.
Mytchett is a village in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately 30 mi (48 km) southwest of central London. It is 2 miles (3 km) to the east of Farnborough, the nearest town. Much of the village dates from the first half of the twentieth century. Mytchett had a population of 4,624 in the 2011 Census.
Lightwater is a village in the Surrey Heath district of Surrey, England, about 27 miles (43 km) southwest of central London. Immediately surrounding towns and villages include Bagshot, Deepcut, Windlesham, Camberley, and West End, Woking. It is bounded to the north-west by the M3 motorway and to the north-east by the "Lightwater Bypass" (A322). To the south-east it is bounded by the "Red Road" (B311), while to the south-west there are vehicle-testing tracks owned by the Ministry of Defence.
Deepcut is a village in the borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately 28 mi (45 km) southwest of central London. The nearest towns are Camberley, Surrey and Farnborough, Hampshire. Deepcut is named after the excavations required for the building of the Basingstoke Canal during the 1790s, although the village dates primarily from the early 20th century.
Ash is a village and civil parish in the far west of the borough of Guildford, Surrey. Ash is on the eastern side of the River Blackwater, with a station on the Reading-Guildford-Gatwick line, and direct roads to Aldershot, Farnham and Guildford. The 2011 census counted the residents of the main ward of Ash, which excludes Ash Vale, as 6,120. Ash has a small museum in the local cemetery chapel, a large secondary school and a library.
Frimley and Camberley was an urban district in Surrey, England from 1894 to 1974.
Chertsey sometimes seen as Surrey North Western, equally the North Western Division of Surrey was created as one of six county constituencies of Surrey for the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The seat underwent two net reductions and variously included and excluded growing suburban settlements: Egham, Frimley, Weybridge, Walton-on-Thames and Woking.
The Ascot–Ash Vale line is an 11-mile-58-chain (18.9 km) railway line in Berkshire and Surrey, England. It runs from Ascot station, on the Waterloo–Reading line, to Ash Vale, on the Alton line. There are intermediate stations at Bagshot, Camberley and Frimley, all three of which are in the Borough of Surrey Heath.
The River Bourne is the name given to a Thames tributary in northwest Surrey, England which has a longer tributary, the Windle Brook, that rises nears Bagshot Park in the south of Swinley Forest, Berkshire, merging with it while flowing through villages north of Woking; downstream the Bourne joins the Thames near Weybridge.
Bagshot Rural District was a rural district in the administrative county of Surrey, England from 1933 to 1974, covering an area in the north-west of the county.
Brentmoor Heath is a 28.6-hectare (71-acre) Local Nature Reserve east of Camberley in Surrey. It is part of Brentmoor Heath and Folly Bog nature reserve, the ownership of which is divided between the Ministry of Defence, Surrey County Council and Surrey Heath Borough Council, and is managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust. The site is also part of Colony Bog and Bagshot Heath site of Special Scientific Interest, Thursley, Ash, Pirbright & Chobham Special Area of Conservation and Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area.
Mindenhurst is a new neighbourhood in the village of Deepcut in Surrey, England, which is being built on the Princess Royal Barracks. It is in the London commuter belt giving families a rural lifestyle whilst being able to easily commute into the city. It will provide 1,200 new homes alongside 69 hectares of green space including woodlands. It will also have a number of amenities to support the new community.
The 2023 Surrey Heath Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect 32 of 35 members of Surrey Heath Borough Council in England. It was held on the same day as other local elections. The Liberal Democrats took control of the council from a minority Conservative administration.
This is a summary of the electoral history of Michael Gove, who is a prominent Conservative Party politician who has served as a Cabinet minister under David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, and has been a Member of Parliament since 2005.