Letter: Unitary Authorities? Not At The Expense Of Strong Voice For Residents

Published on: 18 Mar, 2025
Updated on: 18 Mar, 2025

From Guildford Residents Association

Surrey is on a uniquely fast track towards the new system of unitary local government, with Surrey County Council required to submit an interim plan by the 21st March and its final proposal by the 9th May.

In a recent meeting to discuss this, Guildford Residents Association highlighted three crucial matters that should be reflected in the interim plan.

A LOCAL VOICE:

– Any benefits from the move to unitary authorities must not come at the expense of a strong voice for local residents on matters that concern them such as planning and council services.

– We ask Guildford Borough Council to press ahead immediately with a Community Governance Review to enable the creation of a Town Council for Guildford Town Centre and Parish Councils for the surrounding residential areas that currently lack this tier of democratic representation..

– Residents have been used to local councillors looking after their interests, but these will be abolished. In many of the rural areas and villages within Guildford, parish councils have continued, but they are absent in the town centre and in the ring of housing around the town centre, forming the rest of the town of Guildford. Those living here in particular risk losing any local voice. We would expect current Guildford Borough Councillors to broadly support this idea.

– We suggest that the option of a Parish Council for East and for West Guildford is considered reflecting areas of focus that emerged naturally among residents’ groups.

FAIRNESS:

– Transitional arrangements must be equitable, such as relating to inherited debt, and not burden one district with the debt incurred by another. For example, expecting Guildford and Waverley residents to take on the debt of Woking, Spelthorne or Runnymede as part of a new West Surrey Unitary Authority would be a disproportionate burden and unfair.

CONSULTATION:

– We seek an assurance that, before decisions are taken, there will be meaningful consultation on whether there will be two or three unitary authorities in Surrey with the merits of each option set out.

– The way the county is divided up will determine the character of the new local government body, e.g. and simplistically more rural or more urban in nature. It will determine how residents receive and experience crucial services including education, social care, waste & recycling, public transport and road maintenance.

– In principle, there would be closer community ties and more effective local representation with three unitary authorities, but service efficiencies might be greater with two. We seek more information to reach a fully informed view. An undertaking to this effect needs to be in the interim plan which needs to be submitted in about a weeks time.

– We support the new unitary authority being located in Guildford