West Surrey Urged To Listen to Residents Over Creation of New Guildford Council

Published on: 15 Sep, 2026
Updated on: 26 Sep, 2026

Should Guildford have a new parish council? Opinion is divided

By Chris Caulfield

local democracy reporter

Moves to create a new parish council for Guildford should be re-examined with due weight given to the residents who voiced their opposition to the plans, say some West Surrey councillors.

In March, Guildford Borough Council – which will cease to exist next year as part of local government reorganisation – recommended a new lower tier parish for Guildford town. It argued the new council would give residents a stronger voice.

In April next year, Surrey’s 12 top councils, including Guildford, will be merged into two mega authorities, East and West Surrey.

The borough council went to the public to test support for the creation of a new parish for the area but found support was not forthcoming – with more people (47 per cent) voting against the idea, than in favour (46 per cent).

Even the borough council leader, Cllr Julia McShane, voiced concerns about the impact more tax would have on residents, with the parish expected to charge between £60 to £100 more for Band D homes. Undeterred, the borough council voted to recommend the idea.

That decision, as well as the £300,000 needed to cover start-up costs, has now been called into question by the new West Surrey overview and scrutiny committee.

West Surrey Council’s executive will have the ultimate say on whether to create a new Guildford parish council.

Cllr Chris Howorth

Speaking at September’s meeting of the overview and scrutiny committee, Cllr Chris Howorth (Conservative, Englefield Green & Virginia Water), said: “The borough council has decided to impose a parish on an area where narrowly…the public voted against. Now someone will probably say to me only six per cent of people voted but if you have a consultation and you don’t vote on it you must expect the people who do vote in it to make the decision on your behalf.

“I find it strange that we are asked to endorse the Guildford case where 47 per cent of the people voted no and 46 voted yes. And yet we are being asked to endorse this.”

He added: “We have always asked for there to be consultation, we spent an hour in the last full council arguing for consultation on the name of this council, yet here we have consultations taking place and yet being ignored, and I find myself uncomfortable with that.

“I wonder what my colleagues on this committee think and how much comfort they have with us endorsing a decision to go forward with something which the general public told us they don’t want to do?”

Cllr Jonathan Lord

Cllr Jonathan Lord (Conservative, Worplesdon) said: “ Six per cent turnout is a pretty serious turnout in direct marketing terms, and for 47 per cent versus 46 to say that they were against having a parish council, I think is very, very powerful.

“What we are saying is that the West Surrey Authority is ultimately in charge of this decision.

“I really think the executive should be urged to take a good close look at this, when it does appear that the borough council has gone against what the people of Guildford who were consulted wanted.”

A spokesperson for Guildford Borough Council said: “The purpose of the consultation was to gather views, evidence, and local insight to help inform councillors’ decision-making. It was a consultation rather than a referendum.

“Councillors carefully considered the overall response rate and the narrow margin between those for and against the proposal. Councillors needed to weigh up not only the number of people who responded, but also the strength of the arguments on each side and a range of other considerations set out in the report.

“These points were fully debated before a decision was made. Full Council agreed to recommend to the West Surrey Shadow Authority that it create a parish council for the urban area of Guildford.”

The spokesperson added:

“Residents can read the minutes of the discussion on our website. ”

Responses to West Surrey Urged To Listen to Residents Over Creation of New Guildford Council

Nigel Fielding Reply

September 15, 2026 at 5:00 pm

Much is made by opponents of having a Guildford parish council that there was a majority of a single percentage point against having such a council.

A one percent difference in for/against is insignificant, so rationale becomes more important than poll.

Given that central government has now singled Surrey out as the only county to have a mayoral system imposed on it [This is still to be confirmed. Ed], a system that will take local affairs further away from those who live in the locale, it seems misjudged to argue against at least having a parish council for what remains Surrey’s County Town.

We are being goaded into a system that the public did not ask for or vote on. Having dumped this on us the government has laid down no working rules for the new system.

In the absence of guidelines it surely makes sense for Guildfordians to have some form of council so we can influence matters as the new arrangements come into being.
George Potter Reply

September 15, 2026 at 8:01 pm

Isn’t it fascinating that not a single politician quoted in this article by the Local Democracy Reporter, all of them Conservative by the way, actually represents anywhere within the town of Guildford?

Worplesdon, which already has a parish council, is not within the town, and Englefield Green definitely isn’t.

So why is it that the Local Democracy Reporter has written an article (which I don’t fault The Dragon for publishing) that only gives publicity to opponents of a town council, and in which he hasn’t bothered to seek a quote from anyone actually living within the town where the parish council will be created?

George Potter is a borough, county and West Surrey Shadow Authority councillor.