Letter: The Devolution White Paper is Good News for Surrey

Published on: 21 Dec, 2024
Updated on: 21 Dec, 2024

From Brian Creese

Labour Party activist

In response to: Two Unitary Authorities, One Elected Mayor – Most Likely Devolution Outcome for Surrey

For the last three county council elections Guildford Labour has supported the formation of a unitary authority to replace the current chaotic and wasteful two-tier system.

We are therefore absolutely delighted that the government has announced a comprehensive reform of local government, a topic deemed by most commentators as “too difficult”.

At the last elections we supported splitting Surrey into three unitaries. This would have two major advantages for residents. Firstly a massive saving of money – think about the cost of 11 borough council offices, 11 CEOs, over 600 councillors paid allowances, etc.

More importantly, however, it will simply the chain of responsibility. Anyone who has campaigned during an election knows that absolutely nobody knows which bit of the council is responsible for what.

And huge amounts of time is wasted by wrangling between councils – county, borough and even parish – trying to decide who is responsible for what. So while the devil is in the detail, this announcement is great news for everyone in Surrey.