Currently the delivery of local council services in Surrey is split between Surrey County Council (SCC) and 11 Borough and District Councils and is known as a two-tier model.
Borough and District councils organise your refuse collection, planning, meals at home, social hous-ing, parks and open spaces, environmental health and licensing, whilst SCC provide adults and chil-dren’s services, highway maintenance, education, libraries and the community recycling centre.
76% of your council tax payment goes to SCC, only 10% goes to local authorities with 14% fund-ing Surrey Police.
In the autumn, Central Government is expected to publish a White Paper which will set out plans for devolving more responsibilities to local govern-ment, creating unitary authorities and ending the two-tier system. Surrey County Council has al-ready confirmed that, ahead of the Government’s White Paper, it has been developing plans to abol-ish Surrey’s Borough and District councils and develop the County Council as a single Unitary Council managing all services for Surrey’s 1.2 million residents. Private conversations had been held with Government Ministers and Surrey’s 11 MPs, but no Borough or District Councils were advised of SCC’s plans to see their abolition.
The Case for Change
SCC’s leaders believe that creation of a single uni-tary authority can create economies of scale as well as cost savings in the region of £135 million (though this figure has not been tested). It also argues that a unitary council will be financially more resilient, provide improved joined up services as well as strong, accountable leadership. The Gov-ernment has also hinted that new Unitary Councils may be given new freedoms and responsibilities.
A Local and Democratic Response
It would be strange if the Government’s plans to devolve power ended up by taking it further away from residents. We must not let that happen.
The worry is that a single Surrey Unitary Authority could see:
• All Boroughs in Surrey swallowed up into a one large, unitary council
• A council where a Cabinet of 12 elected repre-sentatives or a single Mayor make decisions for 1.2 million people
• Decision makers with scant knowledge of the area, let alone any real concerns or interests in the impact of their decision making. For example, in Planning, where applications would be considered by a group of councillors who in all likelihood do not live locally and possibly have never visited the site.
The response of your Borough Council to the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted how critical it is to have in place a local authority which has a strong relationship with both the community it serves and the local voluntary groups that support them.
What Next?
SCC is continuing to develop its case for a single Unitary for Surrey. It has already spent £71,000 on initial research and financial analysis and has agreed a sum of £97,500 to support a business case to be submitted to the Government. It is also spending £5,000 per month up to the end of Sep-tember for Public Affairs support during this peri-od.
The 11 Boroughs and Districts in Surrey, none of which support a single Unitary Authority , are looking at other options for local Government in Surrey based on:
• Devolving decision making to the lowest level commensurate with effective delivery
• Efficient and cost-effective service delivery
• Local authority’s knowledge of people and place
• Councils that are closer to, and not further from, our residents
Residents will want to have their say too. It is believed that the Government White Paper will require any local authority seeking unitary status to show that it has local support. We are sure that residents will be concerned by what is being pro-posed by and there has been a campaign set up to fight this proposal, #Residents Against Surrey Single Unitary. We urge you to take an active part in the and you can find out more at www.RASSU.org.uk.
#RASSU has also set up a petition which we would encourage you to sign: https://petitions.surreycc.gov.uk/unitary/
Please share the details of the petition and #RASSU campaign with your family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues. Make your voice heard!