Council Agrees to Take Next Step Towards Formation of a Town Council for Guildford

Published on: 12 Dec, 2025
Updated on: 13 Dec, 2025

By Martin Giles

Guildford Borough Council decided unanimously this week to move ahead with the next stage of its Community Governance Review and consult on proposals to create a new parish council for the ‘unparished’ area of Guildford.

Unlike other areas in Guildford Borough, ten wards currently don’t have a parish or town council representing residents at a very local level.

If created, the new parish council would, at its first meeting, be able to change its name to “Guildford Town Council” and, it is claimed, provide a strong connection to local communities, bridging the gap between residents and the new larger West Surrey Unitary Council being set up as part of Local Government Reorganisation.

Residents in the ten affected wards would elect parish councillors to provide local representation for their community.

What the council’s draft recommendations propose:

• Create one parish area called ‘Guildford’ to cover the ten wards that are currently unparished.
• Form ‘Guildford Parish Council’ to serve the parish area.
• Name the ten parish wards the same as the existing ten borough wards.
• Elect 24 councillors to represent the ten wards that make up the parish area.
• Charge a precept (a new increase to the amount of council tax paid by each household) to pay for the running of the parish council and the services it may provide.

To begin with, a new parish council would have responsibilities for things like allotments and representing the community on planning matters. At a later date it could collaborate with the new unitary authority and other partners to take on more responsibilities. Examples of what other parish councils look after include playgrounds and open spaces and the running of the mayor’s office.

Parish councils set their own precept, which pays for the running of the parish council and the services it provides. This means that the parish council would have the ability to increase its precept each year to fund more services, as well as to lower it if providing less services. There is no cap on the minimum or maximum precept.

The precept for a new Guildford Parish Council is currently unknown but is estimated to be between £60 and £100 per year for a Band D property in the first year. That’s about £5 to £8.34 a month.

Cllr Julia McShane, Leader of the Council,  said: “With Local Government Reorganisation underway the time available for us to complete this community governance review has changed. We’re moving swiftly to give residents living in the ten wards of Guildford Town the opportunity to have their say on creating a Parish Council for the town.

“In this round of consultation people can tell us if they want local representation at the heart of the community for Guildford Town in the form of a parish council.”

Conservative group leader Philip Brooker

Conservative group leader Philip Brooker (Con, Worplesdon) wanted to point out how late the officers’ report had come to members, something for which the council leader had already apologised. Cllr Brooker said: “It was only last night that it came through and I’ve only been able to just skim read it.”

He hoped that the proposed timeline “allows us all to draw our breath a little and have sufficient time to come up with a comprehensive report in mid-March. But I sincerely hope that it will be made available to members in plenty of time before that meeting, so it can be fully studied.”

The leader of the R4GV group, Cllr Joss Bigmore (Merrow), wanted the council to get on with the consultation while it was still under GBC control.

Cllr Vanessa King

Cllr Vanessa King (Lib Dem, Stoke) thought that the opportunity to establishing a parish for the town centre of Guildford was “incredibly important”, in particular to give residents an opportunity to respond to planning applications as it is not yet clear how planning will work in the new new unitary authority.

She also hoped that a future town council would allow Guildford’s centuries old mayoralty to continue.

Cllr George Potter

Cllr George Potter (Lib Dem, Burpham) believed that many would question if a new town council would represent value for money?  “But,” he said, “I think it’s also worth noting that [an estimated precept of] £8.34 a month, whilst it’s not nothing, particularly if you are on a tight budget, is less than a Netflix subscription, or similar.”

Cllr Catherine Houston

Cllr Houston (Lib Dem, Shalford) hoped that future public consultations would be less confusing. “Could I ask that we are very careful about making very clear communication with residents and being doing, doing community, doing comms, decent comms, around this really special engagement around this and getting out there and speaking to the public.”

The next phase of consultation will run for eight weeks from the beginning of January 2026. An extraordinary full council meeting in mid-March will consider the consultation responses and decide next steps.

If approved, the earliest possible date for elections to any new parish council would be May 2027.

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