Agenda item

The Report and Appendices are to follow once the Council has received a letter from the Minister Local Government & English Devolution advising all authorities in Surrey whether the County Council elections should be postponed and consequently whether the Surrey Local Government Reorganisation will be in the first priority wave.

The Leader made the following announcement:

“The English Devolution White Paper sets out the Government’s policy for devolution and local government reorganisation. This Government’s stated long-term vision is for simpler structures, making it clearer for residents who they should look to on local issues, with more strategic decisions to unlock growth and to deliver better services for local communities.

On 16 December 2024, the Minister for Local Government wrote to all councils in two-tier areas to set out plans for a joint programme of devolution coupled with local government reorganisation.  Yesterday afternoon, we received confirmation from the Government that Surrey is to be in the first wave of local government reorganisation and that County elections planned for May 2025 will be postponed.  All Surrey Councils now recognise that there is an inevitability that within a couple of years, unitarization will take place.

That will mean that all Surrey Council’s will be amalgamated into a yet to be agreed unitary configuration of 1, 2 or 3 new authorities. This is by far the biggest reorganisation local government has undergone in the last 50 years and will mean that Spelthorne Borough Council as a sovereign authority will no longer exist within three years. 

The Government has set an ambitious timetable for both devolution and local reorganisation, though it is for local areas to self-organise and to agree what shape unitarization should take. That is why a pan-County Steering Group made up of Leaders has been meeting weekly to agree and coordinate that transition.

However, note that from intelligence gained at the Steering Group, government will not accept a request by Spelthorne or other Surrey Councils on the borders of London to join with any London Boroughs. Any unitary configuration will be composed of an amalgam of existing Surrey Councils only.

To ensure that I as Leader of Spelthorne have the democratic mandate to represent the wishes of all Members in this Chamber, I called for this ECM to take place so that we could debate and agree on what optimum configuration of new unitary authority would best serve the interests of our residents going forward.

Tonight, within the context of Local Government Reorganisation, Council is asked to:

1. Agree the preferred optimum number of proposed new unitary authorities in Surrey

2. Agree the preferred configuration for a potential two new unitary configuration for Surrey

3. Agree the preferred configuration for a potential three new unitary configuration for Surrey

4. Agree Terms of Reference for the proposed cross--chamber Spelthorne Reorganisation Board”