The government has announced a major restructuring of local government in Surrey. By April 2027, all twelve existing councils—including Elmbridge Borough Council and Surrey County Council—will be replaced by two new unitary authorities + East Surrey and West Surrey.
Despite the scale of this change, Surrey residents were not consulted. Surrey County Council’s Conservative leadership chose to pursue the bid regardless, resulting in the undemocratic cancellation of the Surrey County Council elections that were due in May 2025.
Under this model, Elmbridge—and therefore Weybridge—will join a new East Surrey authority alongside Epsom & Ewell, Mole Valley, Reigate & Banstead and Tandridge. One council will manage all services, from planning and waste to highways, education and social care. The aim is to simplify delivery, cut duplication and put services on a more sustainable financial footing.
Independent analysis suggests the two-unitary structure offers stronger financial resilience, especially given the £5.7 billion combined debt across Surrey’s councils. The government has already agreed to write off £500m of Woking’s debt. Larger authorities will also face continued housing pressures, but the wider East Surrey area should offer more flexibility to meet targets while protecting the character of towns like Weybridge and safeguarding the green belt.
Elections for the new councils will take place next May, with the new authorities taking over in April 2027. Elected councillors will serve the first year of their four-year term setting up the interim authority before East Surrey becomes fully operational in April 2027. East Surrey will have 36 wards, each electing two councillors.
Until then, Elmbridge Borough Council and Surrey County Council will continue delivering services.
Throughout the transition, your Lib Dem team will work to protect local services, uphold Elmbridge’s identity and ensure Weybridge’s voice is heard.
In December 2024, central government published a paper to set out its approach on devolution – transferring more powers from government to local or regional authorities. They proposed that each area should elect regional Mayors where they don’t currently have them. This approach means that additional power is given to the Mayor, giving them more control over strategic decision making for their area.
To unlock the devolution of further local powers and elect a Mayor, some areas need to reorganise first. This means creating unitary authorities to simplify and streamline local government. Unitary councils are responsible for the services currently delivered by both the county council and local councils. In Surrey, there are eleven district or borough councils, responsible for waste collection, planning, cemeteries, parks and recreation grounds, and Surrey County Council responsible for Children’s Services, Adult Social Care and highways. LGR would mean dissolving all of the existing councils and combining services into unitary authorities. Having fewer councils creates efficiency, clarifies service delivery and saves money. It is, though, debatable whether this is ‘devolution’, which surely entails giving responsibility for democratic decision-making to the most appropriate local level.
The effect of being in the first wave
The Tory-led SCC administration volunteered to be in the first wave of devolution knowing that this would mean the cancellation of the county elections due to be held in May 2025 and extending the term of office of current councillors by two years without a further election. It has also meant that there has been very little time to thoroughly explore all the options for the configuration of the new unitaries, how the debt of councils will be managed and the complexities and costs of organising new teams to handle the key areas of Children’s and Adult Social Services.
Final plans submitted to government
A six week public consultation finished on the 5th August. Congratulations if you waded through the dense, opaque language in the numerous questions better suited to officers working in local government rather than members of the public.
Three unitary proposals
Nine of the eleven local councils are promoting a grouping of current councils into three new unitary authorities. They argue:
Our proposal offers local government that is built around Surrey’s distinct and recognised functional human and economic geographies. By aligning local government with well-defined and understood places, we can create a system that is more responsive, effective and attuned to the diverse needs of the people, communities and businesses that call Surrey home.
Put simply, we believe that local authorities with administrative boundaries that reflect functional and locally recognised areas are better equipped to meet the needs of these areas. They will also improve the potential for partnership working across the system and with community partners.
Two unitary proposals
Surrey County Council, Elmbridge and Mole Valley have promoted a final plan to government splitting Surrey into two councils, East and West. They say:
We’ve analysed a wide range of data on how the two councils would operate and our approach is supported by many of Surrey’s key public sector organisations including health, police, fire, business and community leaders. Existing county council services across Surrey are proven by independent inspectors to be strong, with successful outcomes for residents, and Surrey County Council and many of the district and borough councils have stable finances. This puts us in a good position to see Surrey through reorganisation smoothly.
What next?
The government is now considering the proposals and will make their decision know by the end of September or October. It is rather worrying that in the rush to provide lengthy proposals, key aspects such as how many councillors will represent each ‘division’ (‘wards’ will disappear) have not yet been put forward.
On Friday 27 June, Weybridge businesses voted to back a business improvement district (BID). We are very much in favour of this and Elmbridge Borough Council has facilitated the production of the Business Case, the engagement with businesses and the vote. See previous information here: http://weybridgelibdems.org.uk/2024/11/wey-bid/
The Weybridge BID will deliver a five-year plan backed by over £800,000 in investment. The BID will cover 13 streets and represent more than 220 businesses, all working together to enhance the local trading environment and secure a thriving future for Weybridge.
The business plan was supported by a majority of those voting by number and rateable value with:
A year ago we posted our support for the petition started by our St George’s councillor colleagues to introduce a weight limit on HGVs coming through the town via Heath Road and Brooklands Road: http://weybridgelibdems.org.uk/2023/11/hgv-petition/.
After a lengthy consultation period, this has now come into effect. Apparently it won’t be possible to issue fines on drivers contravening the restrictions for the first six months as it is a trial ban. Anyone seeing vehicles flouting the order should report the incident, preferably with photos, via:
The former cinema, which opened in 1920 and was acquired by Elmbridge Borough Council in 1956, operated as a public hall until its closure in 2014. Since then, the building’s condition has worsened. Swift Entertainment Venues (SEV) had an 18-month option to buy the building, but this expired in April 2024. The building has been actively marketed for sale since then.
Sale
Several offers were received for the building, with most proposals including residential upper parts and various ground floor uses like gyms, restaurants and churches. The offers were evaluated based on conditionality, such as a requirement to convert and sell upper floor flats, proposed use, ability to transact and price.
At the Elmbridge Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 20 November, councillors agreed to sell the Hall to Equippers Church. This is seen as the best option for community and leisure use. It is the least risky choice and ensures the building’s future use better than the other offers received.
Equippers Church
Equippers Church plans to refurbish the building, featuring a two-tiered auditorium seating 300 to 400 people. The upper parts will be converted into studios for midweek meetings and workshops on mental health, wellbeing, counselling and youth gatherings. The building will also host weddings, birthday parties, exercise classes, art exhibitions and will be available to schools and other community groups for concerts, plays, speech days and other events. Additionally, the church is expected to bring significant added value to local businesses in Weybridge.
The transfer will be subject to a restrictive covenant that the ground floor of the building can only be used for leisure/community use that provides an active frontage onto Church Street. Equippers Church have agreed to this term and are keen to purchase the building. Completion of the sale is subject to contract.
St Charles Borromeo church, Heath Road
It is understood that Equippers Church will be using the old Catholic Church and Rectory as their College for training in leadership roles. The church has already undergone long-needed refurbishment and restoration to bring it back into use after many years of decay and neglect.
With the demise of the Weybridge Town Business Group, Elmbridge Borough Council is helping Weybridge businesses to facilitate the formation of a Weybridge Business Improvement District (BID). BIDs have been running successfully in Walton and Cobham and they enable a BID Board of business representatives to support local retailers and businesses and to fund improvements to the town, co-ordinated by a part-time manager. These may range from attractive planters to sign posts – you may have noticed both these measures on the streets around Walton town centre.
A feasibility study has already taken place through engagement with local businesses, a task group formed and work is underway on a Business Plan. Businesses will be balloted in February/March on whether they wish to support the scheme.
At Elmbridge Borough Council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday 5th December the application to redevelop the Brooklands College site was approved.
The application involves providing a total of 320 new homes in blocks of flats, town houses and the refurbishment of the listed Brooklands mansion into luxury apartments. The College put forward a development of such a significant scale on Greenbelt land largely to pay off £20m of a £25m debt it had incurred when contracting apprentice training to a company that subsequently went bust. The money is owed to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), an agency of the DofE.
The debate in the Planning Committee meeting involved discussions on whether paying off the debt was a legitimate use of the planning process and constituted the Very Special Circumstances (VSC) necessary for building houses and flats on Greenbelt land, whether the design, mass, bulk and height of the proposed buildings were acceptable and whether there would be undue additional pressure on our roads. Despite being advised that paying off the debt did not constitute VSC, and with a number of councillors expressing concern about the scale of the proposed buildings and the effect on our already congested roads, the application was approved by a majority.
Clearly there are advantages to the proposals, including:
Upgrading the College’s teaching facilities;
Increasing the provision on site for local students requiring a high level of Special Education Needs, supported with funds from Surrey County Council;
Delivering a new sports centre and community space for the use of the College and the wider local community;
Refurbishing the site’s listed mansion, returning it to its historic residential use and restoring its terraced gardens;
40% of properties will be affordable homes providing a mix of rented housing, shared ownership and discounted first homes;
Opening up 12 hectares of woodland for newly accessible public use;
Reopening pedestrian and cycling access across the railway bridge giving residents living south of the railway better access to Brooklands College, Heathside School and into Weybridge;
Remediating and building on areas that were former landfill sites.
In March this year, Runnymede Borough Council rejected plans for a 20,000 square metre warehouse on the now derelict site of Weybridge Business Park because it would be overbearing and have a damaging environmental impact.
The developers returned with revised plans for a number of smaller industrial units rather than the one large warehouse and this came before the RBC Planning Committee at the end of October. The council seemed to consider that the was an improved design due to its reduction in size and some additional landscaping. Along with the Weybridge Society, local councillors asked EBC to comment on the adverse effect the development would have on traffic through Weybridge, but unfortunately there was no objection raised from either the Local Highway Authority (SCC) or National Highways. Indeed, RBC determined that a reason for refusal on highway grounds could not be substantiated.
But conditions were imposed to restrict the hours of operations from 7am to 9pm and to limit the amount of floor space that could be occupied by one occupier so that units couldn’t be joined together to effectively provide one large warehouse.
However, the developers, Bridge Industrial, are appealing the decision to refuse their first application in March. The Weybridge Society is working hard, along with members of the Poets Corner Residents Group (PCRG) who live near the site, to prevent the appeal being heard in February from overturning the decision.
With Brooklands becoming a distribution centre for more and more companies, including Amazon, there are now more HGVs travelling through Weybridge and using the Balfour Road mini roundabout to turn into and out of Church Street. This is causing traffic jams, damage to barriers and pavements, and is dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians when the lorries mount the pavements to turn.
Neither Church Street nor the mini roundabout have been designed for this type of traffic and there have been 2 incidents with fatalities in the last 5 years on Balfour Road.
A petition to Surrey County Council was submitted in autumn 2022 to try to stop HGVs coming through Weybridge on the A317, received 270 signatures but was rejected on the grounds that it is a Surrey Priority One network with the comment that there “are no plans at this time to introduce a weight restriction.”
However, undeterred and seeing the escalation of the problem, we have joined with our St George’s ward councillor colleagues to promote a petition to introduce an 18 ton HGV weight limit on Brooklands Road. This is a B road and, if implemented, would achieve the aim of banning HGVs over 18 tonnes from using Heath Road to and from the town centre. There is still time to support the petition through this link or use the QR code below: https://mycouncil.surreycc.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=541
The petition is due to close on the 29th December.
2023 was the year of our new King and for Weybridge, a new festival. The week long programme started with a dinner catered and served by Brooklands College students and finished with the Community Fair on the 24th June. An exhibition by local artists, photographers and sculptors spanned the halls and walls of the library and Oatlands Park Hotel; concerts and plays, restaurant and cafe lunches and dinners, literary and art talks and a quiz, were enjoyed by many all over the town.
Over one hundred stalls, two stages hosting local choirs and soloists, a beer tent run by Weybridge Vandals and the best cream teas hosted by the Soroptimists and the local Ukrainian population in the Community Centre, all came together at the Community Fair based on Churchfields Recreation ground.
Councillor Judy Sarsby, who worked with the Weybridge Society to organise the Festival, said “an estimated 8000 attended these events and to see churches, schools, sports clubs and local organisations supporting each other was truly inspiring. We are very lucky to live in such a giving community.”
