Residents and businesses in Surrey are currently served by a 2-tier system of local government made up of a County Council and eleven Districts and Borough Councils.

In February 2025, the Secretary of State invited councils to submit a proposal for unitary local government across Surrey to replace the existing 2-tier system. In response to this invitation, a number of proposals were submitted. MHCLG has launched a consultation on some of these proposals and I thought the organisation you represent might want to respond. Please feel free to share this email and details of the consultation with anyone else who might be interested.

The consultation document is available online at Local government reorganisation in Surrey and responses may be made on the online platform ‘Citizen Space,’ by email to lgreorganisation@communities.gov.uk, or in writing to LGR Consultation, Fry Building 2NE, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF. The consultation will run for seven weeks to 5th August. 

The consultation will inform an assessment of the merits of the proposals. This will be carried out by the Minister of State to decide which proposal, if any, to implement. Should it be agreed to proceed with the implementation of a proposal it is anticipated that elections for Councillors to the new unitary authorities would be in May 2026. This would enable new authorities to go live in April 2027.