On Wednesday, 5 February 2025, the government announced that Surrey has been selected to be in the “first wave” for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), which aims to devolve power from national to local government. This means that Surrey, which currently has a two-tier council system, with 11 district and borough councils and a county council, is asked to move to a unitary model. The result is that over the next few years, the county and district and borough councils will all dissolve, and a new unitary council or councils will be formed to deliver all the services. As a result of this, the government has postponeded Surrey’s planned local election in May 2025, until 2026 whilst a decision on what the future council authroires will be.
Surrey County Council (SCC) has been working with all 12 councils across the county to put an interim proposal together for initial government review. A final proposal is to be submitted by the 9th of May, with a decision made in the autumn of 2025.
In a public statement, the leader of SCC, Tim Oliver, said;
In February, government asked Surrey to move forward quickly with plans for reorganisation. Since then, we’ve been working collaboratively across all 12 of our councils to put an interim proposal together to share Surrey’s future. The interim proposal sets out two options for reorganisation in Surrey. Surrey County Councils preferred recommendation, backed by supporting evidence, is that Surrey’s current 12 councils be replaced by 2 new unitary councils. One for each half of the county.
Two unitary council would deliver clarity for residents for who is responsible for all of the services. More efficient council services and better partnership working, millions of pounds in reduced costs year one year. The right economies of scale to deliver at less cost. The right structure and governance to engage the community at a local level. The opportunity for devolved powers from government to a mayoral combined authority in line with the governments ultimate plan for uk devolution.
Financial analysis shows that the more councils created by reorganisation, the smaller the saving to the public purse. Some district and borough councils are recommending that there be three unitary councils in Surrey. Three unitary councils would mean smaller councils, serving fewer people with lots of split services, increased duplication and cost. Essentially, the more councils you created, the greater the cost, and the greater risk to the delivery of good quality services.
Meaningful local community engagement happens as part of a whole system approach within the actual areas people live – Surrey’s towns and villages. Alongside the creation of two unitarys, we would look to build our towns and villages. Work in collaboration with the health system and other partners, as well as working with the strong town and parish councils across the county.
We’re confident that the new structure would enable us to maintain Surrey’s close working with local communities and that a two unitary model would on balance bring the most benefits to residents.
The deadline for submitting this interim proposal is the 21st March, and we hope the government will give us an indication of which option they would like us to develop further before we finalise the proposal for submission by the 9th May 2025. We expect the government to make a financial decision in the autumn.
We’ll continue to share regular updates along the way, and you can find out more about Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation on the Surrey County Council website and previous videos we shared on social media. “