An update from Surrey County Council and UK Government
The government has confirmed plans for Local Government Reorganisation in Surrey. From April 2027, two new unitary councils – East Surrey and West Surrey – will replace the existing twelve councils. Elections for councillors should be held in May 2026.
A delay to the process for several councils was announced on 19th December. The situation for East and West Surrey is uncertain. The article below is in the Daily Mail.
Elections watchdog condemns Starmer’s delays to council votes amid fury at desperate Labour bid to dodge bloodbath
The link below is for the Electoral Commission. This gives the next election for any post code for England. No elections can be found for Surrey, but the situation may change.
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/your-election-information
Council offices and community spaces will remain open, and services will continue as usual. We will be updating these pages shortly with more information on the new arrangements.
https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/lgr/about
Why two councils is best
There’s a number of reasons why we think this arrangement is best for Surrey residents and businesses:
It saves money and offers better value for tax payers, with stable finances to protect vital services.
It simplifies services, delivering everything residents need to a high quality, with fewer points of contact and reduced confusion about which council does what.
It will strengthen our local communities by connecting people through Neighbourhood Area Committees in towns and villages.
The Strategic Authority and the new unitary councils will each have clear responsibilities to ensure services are delivered effectively across Surrey.
Strategic Authority
This will have an elected Mayor for the whole of Surrey, with some key services: Economic development, Housing, Health improvement and inequalities, Public safety including Fire and Rescue, Skills and Employment, Strategic planning and Transport.
Unitary Councils
All remaining county council and district and borough services.
Comment
it remains to be seen how power and services will be split between the Strategic Authority and East Surrey, West Surrey. The public consultation voted strongly in favour of three unitary councils, but the wishes have by overruled by UK Government, who decided on two unitary councils.
Surrey County and Borough Councils own and manage large amounts of land., especially green spaces. How will these be transitioned?
East Surrey and West Surrey will be among the largest unitary councils in England. Most unitary councils are less than half the size and population.
Cost savings are unlikely, with huge costs associated with merging 12 councils into 2 councils, changing and moving offices, relocation of services, changes to IT systems, redundancy of excess staff. Experience of other new unitary authorities has shown several years of excess costs and disruption to services.
Will councillors be elected for the Strategic Authority or will there be an elected mayor plus executive?
The Strategic Authority is looking more like a smaller County Council, with several key services and responsibilities.
Housing
Health improvement and Inequalities
Fire and Rescue
Skills and Employment
Strategic Planning
Transport
The two layer approach proposed for Surrey is different to that used for other parts of the UK. The table below shows the normal allocation of responsibilities for Unitary Council compared with a non-metropolitan count or district.
The number of councillors will be greatly reduced in East Surrey and the size of each unitary council much larger. Each ward in borough councils have 2 or 3 councillors. Each division in Surrey County has 1 councillor.
Tandridge has 43 councillors for 91,000 people, 95.8 square miles
Elmbridge has 48 councillors for 142,000 people, 37.2 square miles
Epsom & Ewell has 35 councillors for 83,000 people, 13.2 square miles
Mole Valley has 39 councillors for 89,000 people, 99.7 square miles
Reigate & Banstead has 45 councillors for 159,000 people, 49.8 square miles
Borough councils have an average of 2,686 people per councillor
Surrey County has 80 councillors for 1,215,00 people, 642 square milles
Surrey CC has an average of 15,000 people per councillor
East Surrey predicted 76 councillors for 564,000 people, 295.7 square miles
East Surrey expected to have 7,400 people per councillor
East Surrey predicted 38 divisions, average 15,000 people, 7.8 square miles
West Surrey predicted 84 councillors for 651,000 people , 346.3 square miles
West Surrey expected to have 7,800 people per councillor
West Surrey predicted 42 divisions, average 15,500 people, 8.2 square miles
Each division of East and West Surrey will have two councillors. There will be more work for each pair of unitary councillors as they could be doing the work of 6 or 7 existing borough councillors and 1 existing county councillor. The divisions for unitary council cover a much larger area than wards in a borough council.
As a comparison, BCP (Bournemouth Christchurch Poole) Council has 76 councillors for 409,000 people, 63 square miles.
Ewell Green Belt 