Local Government Reorganisation 

All change in Surrey Councils - the view from your Elmbridge Borough Councillors

Few residents are aware of the massive changes that are happening within local government that will have lasting changes on our Council services.

The Government believes in devolving powers to Mayoral authorities, which are already working well in some parts of the Country, and wants to roll them out across the rest of the UK. The idea is to devolve decision making and spending powers 'from Whitehall to the Town Hall' and reduce local authority dependence on government funding so they can focus on areas most in need.

The fall-out of this is that 'two tier' local authorities, such as we have in Surrey with one County Council (SCC) and eleven Districts and Boroughs (of which Elmbridge - EBC - is one) are being abolished and replaced with Unitary Authorities that deliver all the services currently offered by both tiers. The strategic Mayoral Authority would sit above a number of unitaries and would not be directly involved in service provision.

Sounds sensible, right? We all know there is scope for efficiency in local government and on the face of it this makes financial sense.

The trouble is that all the focus is on finances and not on what is best for local residents and service delivery. As Resident Association councillors, your local councillors all believe that local government is about local services for local people. This Local Government Reorganisation programme (LGR) is centralising services and making the Council more remote.

SCC and the eleven districts and boroughs are to all intents and purposes being put in a giant mixing bowl to make a new cake - and how that cake will be sliced (into new Unitaries) has not yet been decided. SCC wants to cut it two ways - East and West, with Elmbridge ending up in the East with Reigate and Banstead, Mole Valley, Tandridge and Epsom and Ewell. Eight of the Districts and Boroughs want to split it three ways, which would put Elmbridge in a North 'slice' with Spelthorne and Runnymede.

EBC (and all your local EBC councillors) support the SCC proposal. We feel that being in a group with Spelthorne and Runnymede risks fundamentally changing the character of Elmbridge forever. The housing pressures on this group, all within the M25, will be enormous. Add to that the fact that Spelthorne is already in special measures because of its debt and Runnymede also carries a lot of debt, so financially prudent Elmbridge would take on a share of their debts.

The focus of the unitaries will have to be on delivering core statutory services (adult social care, education, planning, housing, waste collection and disposal etc) and there is likely to be little or no money left for the additional 'discretionary' spending that Elmbridge residents currently benefit from (six centres for the community; meals on wheels; financial support for charities; grant schemes for High Streets, cost of living and climate change; investment in our playgrounds and green spaces, to name a few).

As a result we believe that the SCC proposal of an East/West split is potentially better for Elmbridge residents, placing us in a larger geographic area with greater capacity to absorb housing needs and in a group of other former boroughs and districts that are more financially sound and have a history - like Elmbridge - of strong residents voices through Resident Association councillors.

We think residents stand a better chance of not seeing our services eroded if we have two unitaries - although it feels like the lesser of two evils. Two unitaries will make the Council feel even more remote and it further undermines local democracy. The number of Councillors representing us is likely to shrink from the current four (three per EBC ward and one per SCC division), to just one (SCC's preference) or two (our preference).

However, at the end of the day our view counts for nothing! All the decision making power lies with the Government. They have both proposals in front of them and they will make a decision. There is no scope for public feedback; no chance to vote on the outcome.

And the timing of all this? Well, the plan is that the new Councillors will be elected next May to a 'shadow' Council and the existing Councils will all disappear at midnight on 30th March 2027. EBC - and your local Councillors - will all stay in place until then and keep working for you.

If you want to understand more about this you can talk to any of the TD&WGRA councillors. There is information on the EBC website (https://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/local-government-reorganisation) and it is worth watching the Special Council meeting on 6th May (https://elmbridge.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/980312) to see what Councillors across all parties said about it.