Epsom & Ewell Borough Council started a review to invite feedback about the need for parish or town councils. The link below has details of the review process and how to submit feedback. The review process ended on 9th October!
The information from EEBC only refers to parishes, not towns. The description of the responsibilities is rather limited. The article on Parish and Town Councils below gives more complete information on parish and town councils that has not been supplied by EEBC.
Epsom, Ewell, Horton, Langley Vale, Stoneleigh are all in the borough of Epsom & Ewell. They could benefit having a town or parish council. In about 18 months they will be part of a large unitary authority with no form of local representation. The unitary authorities in Surrey have yet to be finalised, but they are each likely to be about half of Surrey, each with a population of approximately 500,000 people. The population of Epsom & Ewell is approximately 81,000 people and expected to grow significantly.
Community Governance Review for Epsom and Ewell
https://eebc.inconsult.uk/CGR/consultationHome
As part of the government’s devolution proposals, Epsom and Ewell Borough Council will be merged into a wider unitary authority within the next few years.
Right now, Epsom and Ewell doesn’t have any parish areas or parish councils. We are therefore carrying out a Community Governance Review and seeking views about alternative local governance structures and arrangements and what they may look like.
Consultation Closed on 9 Oct 2025 at 23:59
Feedback So Far – 15th October
There is no feedback yet from EEBC on the number of responses or any initial conclusions. There are no timelines apart from a full meeting of the Borough Council, estimated to be on 9th December.
The comments below were sent to EEBC recently, but there has not yet been a response apart from confirmation of receipt.
I am sorry to report that some aspects of the CGR we find to be misleading. There was a strong steer to one or two Parish Councils, but there should have been clear options for no parish Council or for three or more Parish Councils.
There is the option of creating a Town Council, which is not mentioned in the CGR. There are also different levels of service that can be provided by a Parish Council or a Town Council. The level of services were not mentioned in the CGR.
The link below has details of the Parish Councils in the UK. I am surprised to see that there is already a Parish Council for Epsom & Ewell listed, and that there is a page on the web site for EEBC that is dedicated to Epsom & Ewell Parish Council. This looks like a done deal that was actioned well before the CGR.
On the above link, there is a good description of the responsibilities of a Parish Council. These are much clearer that the descriptions on the web page for Epsom & Ewell CGR.
The link below has details of the Parish Councils and Town Councils in Surrey. There are a lot of them. There are several Town Councils listed, including Farnham, Godalming, Haslemere, Horley, Westerham.
The CGR makes no mention of Town Councils, but from the options above, there should be a Town Council for Epsom and a separate Town Council for Ewell. There were three options in the CGR for splitting the borough in half. There are parishes outside of Epsom and Ewell that could be considered for Parish Councils. Horton and Stoneleigh could be examples.
There are gaps and misinformation in the facts presented in the CGR. This is unfortunate to say the least. I hope that there results of the consultation will be published soon. Also that there will be discussions on the how to correct the issues raised above.
Wikipedia has separate pages for the towns of Epsom and Ewell. There is a lot of useful information, including a list of wards in each town. This could show the way on how to split the two towns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsom
Parish and town councils
https://www.nalc.gov.uk/about/parish-and-town-councils.html
A local council is a universal term for community, neighbourhood, parish and town councils. They are the first tier of local government and are statutory bodies. They serve electorates, are independently elected, and raise their precept (a form of council tax). There are 10,000 parish and town councils in England and 100,000 councillors serving in these councils, with over £2 billion invested into these communities annually.
Parish and town council activities fall into three categories:
- Delivering services to meet local needs
- Giving the community a voice and representation
- Improving the quality of life and community wellbeing.
Parish and town councils run numerous services, depending on their council size.
Delivering services (such as allotments, car parks, celebrations and festivals, community buses, community and leisure centres, litter bins, parks and open spaces, public toilets and street lights),
Improving the quality of life (such as community hubs, neighbourhood plans, funding community projects and services, suitable housing, setting up dementia-friendly groups, solar panels, tackling loneliness and youth projects)
Ewell Green Belt 