Proposed change – abolish Borough Councils and combine their duties and budgets into either 2 or 3 Unitary Authorities
This will be the biggest change we have seen in local government reorganisation in 50 years.
Please click here to complete the survey by 20th APRIL. If you would like to know more please read on…..
English Devolution White Paper 2024
What is devolution for England?
The transfer of powers and funding from Central government to more local governing bodies. Decisions that are currently made by Central Government such as appeals to planning applications will be made in the new authorities. They should be better aware of local issues.
This government has introduced a vision for the next ten years to create Strategic Unitary Authorities with autonomy and Mayors with powers, long term budgets and statutory duties – you can read the White Paper by clicking here
Unitary Councils will be spread across all England. At the moment about half of councils have one tier – County level – not two like Surrey where we have Surrey County Council plus Borough and Town Councils. Where there are Parish councils they will remain.
Surrey County Council and the 11 Boroughs
The services needed are divided – Surrey CC controls education, social care and highways, Boroughs and Districts provide waste collection, social housing, local business support and planning plus many more. Tax money from Council tax to National Insurance and central government grants all gets spent by a combination of councillors and officers to provide public services.
There are 21 County Councils in England, 32 London Boroughs plus City of London, 36 District Councils, 62 Unitary Authorities plus Isles of Scilly, 164 District Councils – total 317 – all with locally elected political councillors who influence how money is spent for 4 years at a time.
Improvements to health and life expectancy?
Greater Manchester is a Mayoral authority combining 10 Councils, and looked at over the last ten years is experiencing reductions in inequalities including health – you can read the King’s Fund assessment of the White Paper here where they examine the health benefits of this restructuring.
However – “If, as The King’s Fund and many others have argued, public service decision-making and services need to relate to and be closer to communities and the places and neighbourhoods they affect, abolishing district councils seems a retrograde step unless government can show that the benefits of aggregation outweigh this loss.“
Should Surrey be split into 2 or 3 Unitary Authorities?
Surrey has a population of 1.2 million – one of England’s most densely populated counties.
Reorganised into 2 unitary authorities would mean a population of between 500,000 and 600,000 + in each authority. This is the Government’s preference.
Reorganised into 3 unitary authorities would mean a population of between 300,000 and 400,000+ residents in each authority, allowing room for growth.
Leaders of all 12 councils in Surrey are united in their view that now is the time to seize the opportunity for devolution which will enable communities to take greater control and create a new simpler system of local government. One that provides better value for money, improved outcomes for residents and fosters inclusive economic growth. Too little money, too much debt and reduced outcomes must be tackled.
Following much discussion between Surrey County Council and the leaders of our Borough and District Councils, interim proposals have been put to government requesting that Surrey go ahead with Local Government Reorganisation.
Both Surrey County Council and our 11 District and Borough Councils agree that just 1 Unitary Authority would not be the right choice for Surrey.
Government criteria states that a single Unitary Authority(UA) and a Mayoral Strategic Authority (MUA) cannot be established on the same geographical footprint.
A Mayoral Strategic Authority (MSA) can only be created if Surrey is split into more than 1 Unitary Authority and a MSA brings with it more opportunities for Surrey and improved connections with other counties in England. Both Surrey County Council and our Borough and District Councils believe that having a MSA will be beneficial for our County.
Even though the option of a single Unitary Authority would have brought with it more financial efficiencies and minimised disruption to county wide services, it has been decided that 2 or 3 UA’s will be the best choice for Surrey.
Difference in opinion when it comes to whether Surrey should have 2 or 3 UA’s.
Surrey County Council has made the decision to submit a direct proposal/ full business case to government for 2 UA’s by May 9th 2025.
BUT the majority of Surrey’s District and Borough Councils support the 3 UA option
and they will submit their own direct proposal/full business case to government by May 9th.
A survey run by our District and Borough Councils in Surrey is shown in the link below and they are asking for your input into the above changes.
This is important and we need as many Surrey residents to ‘have their say’ before a proposal is put to government on May the 9th.
You can also read their interim proposal document here which includes information on all of their financial estimations and calculations. please click here to complete the survey
Surrey County Council has produced its own document and has chosen not to consult with many residents at this time, although they have engaged with local MP’s, the Police and Crime Commissioner, other Councils and Councillors, Integrated Care Partners (NHS) plus others, which you can see if you read their full document in the link below which includes their financial estimations and calculations. They prefer the option of reorganising Surrey into 2 Unitary Authorities. You can read their interim proposal – Interim Plan Part B – by clicking on the link below.
Please click here to find the document
Government will the make the final decision on the number of UA’s it sees as the best option for Surrey, by Autumn 2025.
What is a Mayoral Strategic Authority?
The process of Local Government Reorganisation in Surrey will also see the formation of a Mayoral Strategic Authority (overseeing and working alongside UA’s)
Two or more Unitary Authorities would need to combine to form this Strategic Authority which will be headed up by a directly elected Mayor.
This will strengthen local governance by providing robust and accountable leadership with a direct electoral link to residents.
Mayors will have the opportunity to sit on on various councils chaired by the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister allowing cross regional working with other Mayors across the Country on issues such as water supply, energy supply and emergency response coordination.
This could lead to greater influence on decision making and funding closer to local communities.
Our Police and Crime Commissioner and the Fire and Rescue Service (already working on a county-wide footprint) will move into the Strategic Authority under the Mayor.
The Mayor will also have a seat on the Integrated Care Partnership Board and could have an influence on joined up care across Surrey, on our blue light services and health systems.
A Mayoral Strategic Authority also has enhanced powers and responsibilities for local transport, infrastructure, housing, planning, climate change etc
These powers could be utilised to address some of the key challenges Surrey is facing.
What are the benefits of Local Government Reorganisation – Unitary Authorities?
- There are financial benefits to moving to both the 2 and 3 Unitary Authority options:
- Enhanced efficiency.
- Less overlap and reduction of duplication.
- Savings in staff and buildings costs.
- Reduction in senior leaders and management costs through early retirement or redundancy. For example, Chief Executives in Surrey will be reduced from 11 to 2 or 3.
- Fewer elections = less cost.
- Reduction of Councillors across Surrey – from 534 to 243 – Is this beneficial? Can fewer Councillors cope with their workload?
- Less bureaucracy.
- Streamlining local government
- Mayoral Strategic Authority
FINANCIAL Cost of implementation -? £60 million, though this does not include the considerable officer time and loss of capacity involved in developing and moving the proposal forward – Councils are keen to know if government will offer financial support
Next Steps
Government will make a decision on whether Surrey will be a 2 or 3 unitary authority.
Discussions need to be had with government about how Surrey can deal with its debt pre Local Government Reorganisation and how LGR itself can be funded.
As Surrey has been selected for the ‘first wave’ of LGR, the May 2025 Councillor elections have been postponed. It is likely that elections for any new Unitary Authorities/Councils will take place in May 2026, with a Mayoral election in 2027.
