Community Governance Review Explainer

Published on: 8 Aug, 2025
Updated on: 11 Aug, 2025

Guildford High Street buildings, town centre Emily Dalton

By Emily Dalton

local democracy reporter

You may have heard of LGR – Local Government Reorganisation – how Surrey will be split into two or three mega councils covering local services like bin collections, fixing potholes and providing adult social care.

But what about CGR? Community Governance Review might be just a sequence of words bandied around your timeline or on the council’s website. But CGRs are actually kind of a big deal.

Some councillors have called CGR their attempt to give the people of Surrey a choice and to actually have their say in local representation, when this was denied to them in the speed of devolution. CGRs can create, merge or redesign new council boundaries.

Several Surrey councils – Epsom & Ewell, Guildford, Mole Valley, Reigate & Banstead, Runnymede, Surrey Heath, Tandridge, Waverley and Woking – have launched CGRs to give residents a say in how their communities should be represented locally.

What are community governance reviews?

Community governance reviews are processes carried out by local authorities to consider whether existing parish council arrangements should be changed, merged or newly created.

It allows councils to review whether existing arrangements are working or need to be changed to better reflect the identity and interests of local communities. Local authorities have to consult the public and make recommendations based on community feedback.

Why are councils having them?

Each council has its own reasons, but many are referencing local government reorganisation as a good opportunity to assess parish council boundaries to reflect changing populations. But other authorities like Guildford Borough Council and Epsom & Ewell Borough Council have also cited the opportunity to provide residents a voice in how they want to be represented, rather than imposing devolution on them.

Why does it matter?

While parish (or town) councils may seem the smallest rung of local government, they play a key role in representing neighbourhoods and managing local communities.

It is important that recommendations made through a CGR consultation should:

• Give growing communities their own voice
• Reflect changing populations
• Ensure fairer electoral representation
• Improve local accountability.

In practical terms, this could mean rapidly changing areas like town centres could get its own parish council (like Guildford) or that outdated boundaries are adjusted to better reflect changing community identities.

Rather than a bureaucratic reshuffling or a meaningless jargon-filled survey, CGRs are about making people feel fairly represented and local democracy evolves alongside changing communities.

But doesn’t local government reorganisation mean to stop two-tier councils?

The driving force behind LGR is to get rid of confusing two-tier authorities of county, district and borough councils. Streamlining councils will help simplify services and create a cost-effective structure of two or three unitary authorities looking after Surrey. But ironically this has led to borough councils pushing for more local governance through parish councils to ensure local voices are not lost in the shake-up.

What is a parish council?

A parish (or Community, Neighbourhood, Town or Village – if an alternative name is chosen) council is made up of members who are elected every four years. It will have regular meetings to discuss issues which affect the area which members of the public can attend. The parish council will have a chair and a clerk, who implement decisions, provide independent advice and administrative support.

What do parish councils actually do?

Parish councils represent the interests of their community by providing services to meet local needs and improving the quality of life and community well-being. Through an extensive range of discretionary powers, which they can choose to exercise, parish and community councils can provide, maintain and support a variety of important and visible services.

An example of those services include:

• allotments, parks and open spaces

• bus shelters and community transport schemes

• community centres and leisure facilities

• crime reduction and community safety measures

• festivals, celebrations and tourism activities

• litter bins, street lighting and street cleaning

See also: The Enduring Role of Parish and Town Councils

Will this affect my council tax?

In a word: yes. Parish councils are funded by a precept, a small charge added to your council tax. The amount depends on the services provided and how many properties in the area can share the cost.

Local authorities conducting the CGRs have resisted predicting future costs for parish councils as it will depend on the services they will offer. Parish councillors do not get an allowance (unlike borough councillors) but may be able to be reimbursed for expenses.

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