Surrey residents to benefit from improved public services

People in Surrey are set to see improved council services focused on more preventative care, public services that meet residents’ needs, and faster help for a range of other issues under reforms announced today.  

11 District and Borough Councils and one County Council will be simplified into two strengthened and streamlined Unitary Authorities, West Surrey and East Surrey. The reorganisation will reduce the number of highly paid senior managers and councillors, and wipe away needless bureaucratic boundaries. 

Bringing local services under one-roof will mean critical services, like housing, planning and roads, are brought together to help make quicker decisions, speed up housebuilding, and get vital infrastructure projects moving so that local people are better connected.  

Creating more efficient authorities will cut red tape, duplication and speed up service delivery and end local people dealing with fragmented services across county and district councils. As a result, residents will receive better, more efficient public services which, freeing up cash to be invested in local priorities.  

Minister for Local Government and Homelessness, Alison McGovern, said:

Countless confusing councils and fragmented services don’t build community pride or local identity – good local jobs, better public services and more money for local services do. 

This plan will enable local leaders to take the decisions needed to support local economic growth and make sure that Surrey residents get the public services and preventative support they need, as promised in our Plan for Change.

Local Government Reorganisation is part of government’s wider ambition for kickstarting economic growth at a regional level. Outdated layers of bureaucracy in English councils, that do not reflect the 21st Century, will be reorganised to unlock regional opportunities for growth, attract investment and more devolution powers.  

Local Government Reorganisation in Surrey will lead to:  

• Improved resident experience and more preventative care when accessing multiple services. A family needing SEND, social housing and education services will only need to contact one council rather than passed between multiple councils. This will help families access the right services at the right time meaning more preventative, early help.
• Better reflection of local need by bringing together Housing, Children’s and Adult Social Care and Planning so housing supply meets the specific needs of residents, including people with physical, mental and learning disabilities, and young people leaving children’s social care.
• Long-term financial stability combining services and delivering for a larger population will provide efficiencies, opportunities for making savings and delivering better value for taxpayer cash across the County.
• Joined-up more effective services will lower the cost of delivery while improving services, like bringing together waste collection and disposal services to reduce landfill and boost recycling, or Trading Standards working with Licensing teams to tackle underage sales of illegal tobacco and vapes.
• More accountability for taxpayer cash by removing blurred lines of accountability and moving from 12 councils to two, complaints and improvements will be dealt with more directly. The current two-tier structures are a source of confusion – for example, in 2018 Leicestershire County Council reported more than 140,000 people called the wrong local council when trying to get help.

Local leaders in Surrey have been working closely with the government on an accelerated timeline to Local Government Reorganisation given the need to create sustainable unitary local government as soon as possible. As part of this, the government has committed to provide debt repayment support to Woking Borough Council, which is unable to manage this locally.  

Further information

On Surrey 

• Surrey is currently made up of the County Council and 11 small district and borough councils, the two new Unitary Authorities will be made up as:
• West Surrey: Guilford BC, Runnymede BC, Spelthorne BC, Surrey Heath BC, Waverley BC, Woking BC
• East Surrey: Elmbridge BC, Epsom and Ewell BC, Mole Valley DC, Reigate and Banstead BC, Tandridge DC
• Full details of the proposal can be found on gov.uk here and a Written Ministerial Statement is available here
• Proposed timetable:
• A Structural Changes Order to implement unitary local government in Surrey will now be brought to Parliament to be approved.
• Subject to Parliamentary approval we expect the two new unitary councils to take on full council roles from April 2027.
• Transitional arrangements will be in place as soon as the secondary legislation comes into force, including election to the new councils in May 2026.
• The Government is also announcing its commitment to repay in-principle £500m of Woking Borough Council’s debt in 2026-27. This is a significant and unprecedented commitment given historic capital practices at the Council.
• This is a first tranche of repayment support, and we will continue to explore what further debt support is required at a later point. Any support must take into account value for money for the local and national taxpayer and the Council’s continued commitment to reduce debt as far as possible within their local capacity. We have committed to supporting a new unitary authority with interim financial support for any legacy debt servicing costs from Woking Council until a final decision is made.

On wider Local Government Reorganisation 

• All councils’ proposals for reorganisation will be submitted to the Department to be assessed and analysed against published criteria including delivery of high-quality public services, housing growth, efficiencies, sustainability, value for money. Only proposals that deliver on the criteria will be taken forward.
• The government set out the case for reorganisation last December in the English Devolution White Paper (Section 4.2.3).
• Previous reorganisations have delivered:
• Savings of over £40 million in North Yorkshire expected by March 2026
• Savings of over £75 million since 2020 in Buckinghamshire, and delivery of a Programme to harmonise systems and processes including its property portfolio and IT systems.
• Savings of over £17 million in three years in North Northamptonshire by delivering a transformation programme that reduced senior management posts, contract rationalisation, and new case management systems.