Update From Your Tandridge District Councillor – March 2025
2025 County Elections Cancelled for Restructuring of Local Government
2025 Surrey County Elections are Cancelled. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that 9 County Councils will have their 2025 elections cancelled. Elections are cancelled in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Thurrock, Surrey, East and West Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. This is to enable them to engage in local government restructuring with a view to holding elections in 2026 for a completely new entity.
6 of these Counties are engaging in two processes: restructuring the County and District tiers of government into one tier of Unitary Authorities which hold all the powers of the District and the County and then creating a strategic authority with a mayor above them, to which powers from central government are devolved. 3 are simply focussing on restructuring. Surrey is one of those 3.
Why Cancel the Election and does it matter? Reform, Independents and other parties, and many citizens are upset as they believe cancelling the elections has removed the democratic right to voice who the people want to take forward the reorganisation of local government. The Government view is that the restructuring takes time and holding elections for what should, if restructuring is completed timely, be a one-year period, does not make sense and is a waste of money.
What is a Unitary authority? A Unitary Authority is a tier of local government that holds all the powers of the former County and District Councils. For example, in our county, Surrey, street repair is done by the County, street cleaning by our District. The County handles planning for highways and minerals licenses but the Districts and Boroughs handle planning permission for other development on land. This means infrastructure decisions are split between authorities, which can make strategic planning difficult. The government has for decades had a programme enabling local authorities to strategically move these powers into one tier of local government, a “Unitary Authority.”
What is Devolution? Devolution started decades ago. It exists first and foremost at the country level. Parliament devolved powers to Scotland and Wales but not England. England does not have its own house of Parliament. Nevertheless, devolution in England has been slowly rolling out over the last couple of decades, by devolving powers directly to large authorities within the country.
There are many large cities and counties in England which have created a strategic authority with a directly elected mayor over a number of Unitary Authorities. The larger strategic unit is referred to as a Combined Authority. London, Birmingham, Greater Manchester, Cornwall, South Yorkshire, and Cambridge and Peterborough are just some of the Combined Authorities which have a mayor and strategic authority, under which there are divisions that are Unitary Authorities with all the powers of the former district and county councils. Devolved powers from the Government include powers like control over local transport, devolved investment funds to boost growth in the area, and devolved housing and infrastructure funds.
What is the government Devolution priority programme? The priority programme is a programme in which counties judged ready for both restructuring into Unitary Authorities and creating a Combined Authority with a Mayor receiving devolved powers are given a rigorous and short timeline to complete the reorganisation and receive funds to help them do so.
Is Surrey part of the Devolution Priority Programme? No! Because we have a thorny debt problem to solve, MHCLG has determined that we are not yet ready for Devolution – for devolved powers and a Combined Authority with mayor. But we have been told we must solve the Surrey debt problem and reorganise into Unitary Authorities on just as tight a time limit, but with no devolution of powers and no funds to help us. The intention as that at some later point we will address devolution.
What’s the debt problem in Surrey? After being close to bankruptcy in early 2021, Tandridge District Council cut costs and is now in a healthy position. Citizens in Tandridge have lived with less to ensure we have healthy finances. The County and some of the other Districts and Borough in Surrey have not managed their finances well and if their debt is reorganised across all of us, we will pay the price and suffer the pain that funded their gain.
What’s the timeline for Surrey? Surrey, despite its current lack of consensus, must solve its huge debt problem and agree its Unitary Authority Structures with a first draft submitted to the government by the 21st of March and its final proposal by the 9th of May. The Government will review our proposal or proposals (if there are multiple proposals due to lack of consensus) and determine how we will be structured going forward, with a view to holding elections in May 2026 for our new Unitary Authorities.
Why should I care that local government is restructuring? How does it affect me? As citizens, we need a tier of local government that knows and understands our areas. For example, we need Councillors we can reach when there is a social housing, road or planning issue. And we need enough Councillors so that they have the time to work with us. Usually, such momentous changes are democratically consulted. These changes are being done so quickly that effective consultation is impracticable. One must question why the rush. Most restructured Unitary Authorities and Combined Mayoral Authorities took 3+ years to organise and roll out. Local government does not and cannot restructure lightly. We have been working in this structure for over 50 years. Our next iteration must last the next 50 or more. So, we need time to get it right. Many Councils have raised concern about the breakneck speed of the reorganisation.
This question of what is right for Surrey rests on getting the size of the new authorities right so they are effective and thus the right size for the people. Today Surrey is comprised of 1 County Council and 11 District and Borough Councils. Should Surrey be split into 2 or 3 or 4 authorities?
It is also particularly thorny because our County and some District and Borough governments have such huge debt, amounting to billions and billions of pounds of debt across all of us. To date, the Treasury is unwilling to forgive any debt, although our County Council leader Tim Oliver requested debt forgiveness from the Government, as it lent to these Councils. Therefore, all of this debt must somehow be sorted and may be carried within Surrey. Across Surrey, we may then have to fund billions of pounds of debt, which could mean large tax increases for everyone, including those that never benefited from the overspend.
Are we going too fast? Is it unfair to reorganise before other Districts and Boroughs have worked down their debt? Let your Surrey County Council leader Tim Oliver know what you think at tim.oliver@surreycc.gov.uk. And be sure to let your Minister for Local Government and Devolution Jim McMahon know what you think at: jim.mcmahon.mp@parliament.uk.
As ever, if you have questions or would like more detail, please be in touch at cllr.deborah.sherry@tandridge.gov.uk or 07779134797.
Deborah Sherry, Tandridge District Councillor for Woldingham Ward