The government has confirmed that Surrey is to be part of the first wave of areas to take part in local government reorganisation. It has also confirmed that the Surrey County Council elections, scheduled for 1 May, have been cancelled.
As part of the reorganisation, the government is planning to abolish councils where two tiers of government exist, such as in Surrey, and replace them with unitary councils. A unitary is a local government structure that provides all local services for a single area. At some point, there will also be a Mayoral Strategic Authority. The reorganisation means that District and Borough councils, including Tandridge, will disappear.
A steering group, made up of the 11 Surrey District and Borough council leaders and the Surrey County Council leader, is now meeting weekly to develop an interim proposal for reorganisation, in line with government criteria, to be submitted by 21 March. A full proposal is to follow by 9 May.
The government has said new unitary councils should aim for a population of 500,000 or more. There were concerns that a single mega Surrey unitary council would result, covering £1.2 million people but, last Friday 7 February, the steering group agreed that option will not be put forward to the government.
OLRG’s Catherine Sayer, leader of Tandridge District Council and a member of the steering group, said: “Really pleased we’ve ruled that out, a council that size would have been completely unaccountable to residents. I would like to see new unitary councils being small enough and local enough to preserve a close link to communities, as well as retaining strong democratic accountability."
Catherine is also particularly concerned about the Woking Borough Council £2 billion debt. The government said again last week it is not planning to write off the debt and indicated the new unitary councils will need to address it.
It would be very unfair for Tandridge residents to inherit any of it, especially given the efforts our council has made to successfully achieve a financially stable position.
These efforts have recently been highlighted by the Local Government Association in this case study click here
7 January 2025
Tandridge District Council, together with other district and borough councils, is earmarked for abolition under government plans for a major shake-up of local government.
Local services in Surrey are currently governed under a two-tier system with 11 district and borough councils responsible for services such as planning, waste collection, collecting council tax and, in Tandridge’s case, managing around 2,580 council houses. Then there is Surrey County Council which is responsible for other services such as highways, education and adult social care. It is Surrey County Council which is dealing with the government over the reorganisation.
It’s not clear yet what any new structure will be. There could be one single unitary authority covering the whole county, or there could be two or three separate unitaries. A unitary is a local government structure that provides all local services for a single area. There could be a Mayoral Strategic Authority encompassing neighbouring areas in addition to Surrey.
Surrey County Council is keen to move forward quickly and is now proposing that May's elections should be cancelled. The matter will be decided at a meeting of the county council on Wednesday, 8 January which is webcast.
To see the agenda click here See Item 3, English Devolution White Paper which includes a draft letter (Annex 2) proposing cancellation of the elections with new unitary elections taking place in 2026 and a Mayoral election in 2027.
The government says its proposals will mean better value for money, better financial resilience, will give regions a bigger voice, will unlock economic growth and will help build 1.5m homes across England.
However, there is concern that the reforms will create mega councils which could prove the opposite of devolution, that powers will be taken away from local communities with distant decision-takers enabling measures to be forced through, for example inappropriate planning decisions.
There is also concern about the large amount of debt built up by some district and borough councils in West Surrey. You may have read about Woking Borough Council which, in June last year, declared itself effectively bankrupt revealing a staggering £2bn of debt from property investments. There are others in the west with large amounts of debt. We understand the government has indicated it wants the debt shared across the new unitary councils.
It would be very unfair for Tandridge residents to inherit any of it, especially given the tremendous efforts our council has made to successfully achieve a financially stable position.
