County Council Leader Says There Will Be a Mayor of Surrey

Published on: 18 Dec, 2025
Updated on: 18 Dec, 2025

Tim Oliver – Leader of Surrey County Council

By Emily Dalton

local democracy reporter

Surrey will get a mayor despite months of uncertainty and a lack of solid confirmation from the government, the county council leader has insisted.

Tim Oliver said he is “confident” a mayor of Surrey would go ahead, even though the central government has yet to formally sign off and has delayed mayoral elections in other parts of the country.

“I can assure you, it will happen,” Cllr Oliver said, speaking to the local democracy reporting service (LDRS).

Surrey was placed on the government’s first wave of local government reorganisation specifically to unlock devolution and create a mayor. The leader added that ministers were fully aware of the county’s position.

The delay, he suggested, was more about shifting national priorities and new ministers rather than any change of heart over Surrey itself.

“It’s slightly frustrating,” he said. “We didn’t get a confirmation date of the mayoral election when we thought we would.”

Since reorganisation was announced last year, there has been a change of Secretary of State and a rethink over how quickly devolution should roll out. Mayoral elections have already been pushed back to 2028, something Cllr Oliver believes Surrey is now being caught up in.

“They haven’t said no,” he said. “But equally they didn’t say yes at the same time as the announcement, which is what we had expected.”

The county leader said he has already met with the minister responsible and is due to have another meeting in early January, saying discussions with the government were “active”.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding a mayor, Cllr Oliver said Surrey’s positioning has remained strong and that the county would likely follow whatever timetable the government agrees with other mayoral areas: potentially bringing elections forward to 2027 rather than waiting until 2028.

While residents may find the process confusing, he said the end goal was clearer leadership and more powers devolved from Westminster.

The LDRS reported in October there was “no promise” that Surrey could have a directly-elected mayor as part of the government’s devolution despite this being described locally by councillors as the entire main purpose of reorganisation.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has previously said that the references to Surrey getting a directly elected mayor were “not quite accurate” as the decision “has not been confirmed” and that they were only “committed to working with partners to establish a strategic authority for the area”.

Responses to County Council Leader Says There Will Be a Mayor of Surrey

Jim Allen Reply

December 18, 2025 at 1:07 pm

I remain extremely concerned that this process is removing democracy from Guildford, by taking away the borough’s statutory powers and replacing them with a disassociated cabal of debt raisers trying to pay off previous debt raisers’ unwise spending.

It is said it is devolving power from the Central Government? How? By removing the power from the borough and town to somewhere else.

Why is the council leader so convinced this is the right way forward? For I see no financial or democratic benefits. I guess in four years’ time he will be saying (yet again) we should have let it be, it was a wrong move. Four years was the time it took for the cycle lanes fiasco to to be admitted as a wrong move.

I guess us engineers and technicians see the world from a different place than politicians.
Frank Emery Reply

December 18, 2025 at 2:18 pm

It would be beneficial to all Surrey residents to know exactly what the benefits of a mayor will be for the county, as well as any associated costs?

At least this way it will be more open and transparent as opposed to another ego trip by the county council.
RWL Davies Reply

December 19, 2025 at 2:46 pm

“While residents may find the process confusing…”

Typical patronising nonsense from an archetypical local authority type.

If the process is “confusing” for residents then it should be articulated in language that isn’t “confusing”.

It’s not difficult; perhaps he could have a go himself.
Roger Main Reply

December 26, 2025 at 11:44 am

I believe the county council leader thinks it is the right way forward as he wants the job of mayor.
Anthony Mallard Reply

December 27, 2025 at 5:20 pm

Of course there will be a mayor: those in office or with ambition to be in office, won’t have anything otherwise in order to make themselves feel important – however inappropriate.