West Surrey Council

Last updated

West Surrey Council is a planned English unitary authority for the local government district of West Surrey.

Contents

Background

As part of the Starmer ministry's planned local government reform (as set out by the English Devolution White Paper), a goal of "simpler local government structures", [1] was set out by the government, including a commitment to phase out two tier local government structures. [2] Surrey County Council applied to be part of the Devolution Priority Programme in 2025, which would fast-track the transition to a new local government arrangement. Surrey County Council, Mole Valley District Council, and Elmbridge Borough Council proposed a setup with two unitary authorities, whilst Epsom and Ewell, Guildford, Reigate and Banstead, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Waverley, Woking Borough Councils, and Tandridge District Council proposed a setup with three unitary authorities. [3]

On 28 October 2025, the government announced its decision for two authorities to cover Surrey. [4] [5] Alison McGovern, Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness said that "although both proposals met the criteria, the proposal for two unitaries better meets the criteria in the case of Surrey". [3]

Timeline

The 2026 West Surrey Council election is set to take place on 7 May 2026, with the authority taking over local government responsibilities on 1 April 2027. [6]

Debt

A spokeperson for Surrey Liberal Democrat MPs Zöe Franklin, Will Forster, and Al Pinkerton said that the party had concerns that the council would be "bankrupt from day one", with BBC figures showing that the districts forming West Surrey have a combined £4.5 billion in debt. [4]

References

  1. ↑ "Local government reorganisation: Policy and programme updates". GOV.UK. 2025-07-11. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
  2. ↑ "Summary of the local government reorganisation process". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
  3. 1 2 "Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament". questions-statements.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
  4. 1 2 "Surrey unitary council 'could be bankrupt from day one', say MPs". BBC News. 2025-10-29. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
  5. ↑ "Surrey to be split in two in council reorganisation". BBC News. 2025-10-28. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
  6. ↑ "Government confirms new East and West councils for Surrey". Surrey County Council News. 2025-10-28. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.