Letter: Town Council? Beware What You Wish For

Published on: 1 Feb, 2025
Updated on: 1 Feb, 2025

The GVG mailshot

From Bernard Quoroll

I recently received a mailshot from the Guildford Vision Group. after informing me about its view on planning issues it concluded

“The Case For A Town Council

“…The momentum behind some form of unitary organisation is likely to grow. With the likely disbandment of GBC, some revised form of local representation becomes essential.

“Across the borough many villages and communities are represented by parish councils.

“We must look at establishing a Guildford Town Council to better represent the residents. Our town provides the motive power for the area, yet residents will have no local representation such as that enjoyed by parish councils.”

I would say to GVG, beware what you wish for.

Town and parish councils can serve a useful purpose in responding to very local needs. But a town council for Guildford would be expensive. For example, Chippenham, which is comparable, in unitary Wiltshire, costs around £5 million gross a year to run, can generate very little income and sets a precept of well over £300 per year per household for a Band D property.

A town council based on Guildford would be one of the largest in the country but its powers would still be very modest – no greater than any other rural parish, ie only to comment on planning applications and look after a few very local services like parks, village halls and recreation grounds. On any rational cost-benefit analysis, you get very little bang for your buck and a very visible increase in council tax.

Bidding for a town council now could distract from the debate about where and what new unitary councils geographically should be created throughout the County and damage the prospect of Guildford becoming the seat of a new unitary council. (A unitary council which included Guildford but with its seat elsewhere, would mean Guildford could have much less local influence on future investment and service decisions affecting the town, when made by a future unitary council whose seat might be miles away).

Creating a town council is a separate statutory process and does not need to be part of unitary reorganisation, so can run on a different timeline. Better in my view to wait until you know which way the wind is blowing rather than creating a distraction which might also support a unitary county council case. (It would be naive to assume that Surrey County has given up on its ambitions to become a unitary council, claiming that any loss of more local representation could be made up for by carpeting the county with town and parish councils).

The real issue about influencing planning outcomes is the degree to which central government has constrained local discretion when determining planning applications and adopting local plans. It is only a small exaggeration to say that a local planning authority’s powers now amount to little more than local administration.