Cross-party Support for Government To Give Assurance on Surrey Councils’ Legacy Debts

Published on: 11 Dec, 2025
Updated on: 12 Dec, 2025

By Martin Giles

The thorny issue of legacy debt from Surrey County Council and various boroughs and districts in Surrey has come to the surface again.

Under agreed plans for local government reorganisation all existing councils will be reformed into two unitary authorities responsible for all council services in their West and East Surrey areas.

But some councils owe large amounts of money, for example, SCC itself, Woking and Spelthorne. The total has been reported to be in the region of £5 billion but it is still unclear what the government intends to do about it.

There is concern that if they are passed on to the new authorities they will make them unviable from the outset or, at least, constrain their ability to provide good service.

The debts of Surrey councils have been known for some years as this chart from 2023 shows. Woking, had more debt than any other local authority in the country, Spelthorne was second and Runnymede council also featured in the BBC’s “top ten” chart.

With cross-party support, a Surrey county councillor managed to get a motion passed on Tuesday (December 9) seeking government assurance on the debts.

Cllr Catherine Powell

Cllr Catherine Powell (Farnham North), the Residents’ Association and Independents group leader’s motion seeks to ensure that Surrey County Council will seek agreement from the Government to provide further financial support, and to ring-fence the significant debts held by Woking Borough Council and Spelthorne Borough Council.

The motion also seeks to ensure the newly formed West Surrey Unitary Council will not be expected to sell off council assets outside of Woking and Spelthorne to reduce their debts, and to get clarity from the Government before the summer recess in 2026.

In a press release, the Residents and Independents Group said: “The new West Surrey Unitary Authority will have a host of challenges to face associated with on-going budget pressures, particularly in Adult Social Care, Children’s Social Care, SEND, ageing highway infrastructure, housing and temporary accommodation and changes to local government funding. Providing clarity on the path forward on dealing with the debt will support the budget setting process for 2027/2028.

“The Surrey County Council submission stated that 35 per cent of the net revenue budget of the new West Surrey council would need to be spent on capital financing costs, and therefore it is likely that Exceptional Financial Support will be required.

“There are already major capital projects in West Surrey that have been identified as necessary after Local Government Reorganisation, including children’s homes, highway schemes and the upgrade of the Slyfield Waste Transfer Station. More than 50 per cent will need capital borrowing post vesting day.”

Cllr Powell stated: “I am delighted that this motion has passed with cross party support. The new West Surrey unitary must be enabled to begin on a sound financial footing and we must all work together to ensure this happens.”

A spokesperson for Guildford Labour said: “Clearly the Labour Government is listening because it has already agreed to cover £500 million worth of debt.

“The new council will need full authority to run the county in a way that is best for residents which may mean selling of assets in any of its regions.

“The important thing to remember is that Woking and Spelthorne were not the only areas to have financial difficulties due to mismanagement and we need to make sure that we all work together on these issues and potentially seek further help from the government if necessary.”

In a joint statement, the leaders of the Waverley and Guildford Conservative groups, Cllr Jane Austin (Waverley) and Cllr Philip Brooker (Guildford), speaking on behalf of their groups, said:“We fully support the actions of Surrey County Council to protect the interests of its residents.

“While the Government’s initial commitment of £500 million is welcome, it is essential that the asset position Surrey-wide is fully assessed and quantified. The next step must be to secure clear timings for further support – which the Government has already indicated may be required.

“Most importantly, there must be no fire sale of much-needed – and in many cases income-producing – local assets simply to service debt created elsewhere. That would be entirely unacceptable and would damage our communities for generations to come.”

Cllr Joss Bigmore

And the leader of R4GV at GBC, Joss Bigmore, was clear where he felt responsibility lies: “Since the majority of loans were made by Central Government to the districts and boroughs I think the new authority should default on the debt as the new unitary clearly can’t service the repayments without assistance.

“Westminster didn’t carry out proper due diligence before lending the money so they bear the ultimate responsibility for the poorly performing debts, not the residents of West Surrey.”