21/06/2025
✅ Why We’re Backing Three Unitaries for Surrey Residents
📍 Runnymede | Spelthorne | Elmbridge
We’ve been clear from the start: the three-unitary model is the right choice for our residents. That would mean one local council covering Runnymede, Spelthorne and Elmbridge – delivering all services, clearly and locally.
💡 Why does this matter?
🛣️ Split responsibilities don’t work
As someone who serves on both Runnymede Borough and Surrey County Councils, I see first-hand how difficult it is to align priorities and get things done efficiently when two different councils are responsible for services that are closely connected.
There is limited coordination – and that leads to problems.
What residents care about is simple: getting the job done right. But under the current system, this is what happens:
• Planning: Runnymede handles planning, but Surrey handles highways. Highways officers are statutory consultees, but the relationship isn’t close – meaning missed opportunities for better, safer infrastructure when developments happen.
• Street Cleaning: Surrey unblocks drains and sprays weeds. Runnymede sweeps the roads and footpaths. But without joined-up schedules, rubbish ends up swept back into freshly cleared drains. It’s inefficient and frustrating.
• Egham Bypass Verge Cutting: Surrey cut the grass but didn’t clear the litter first. The result? Strimmed rubbish blown across the road and shredded into smaller bits – harder to clean and bad for the environment.
• Infrastructure (CIL) Funding: Runnymede collects the money from developers, but Surrey has to bid for it to deliver infrastructure works. It’s bureaucratic and unnecessary.
🏛️ Three Unitaries = Single-Tier Councils with Aligned Sets of Priorities
This model would bring all local government services under one roof – meaning:
• More joined-up decision-making
• Fewer delays
• Better use of public money
• A simpler experience for residents
It would also reduce the number of senior officers and management layers, freeing up funds to invest in frontline teams – from planners and social workers to enforcement officers and engineers.
📉 In Runnymede, we’re already turning things around
Since May 2024, we’ve:
• Had the Best Value Notice removed
• Reduced our 3-year deficit from £5.2m to £3.9m
• Started tackling the debt legacy from past investment decisions
But we can only go so far without structural change. A three-unitary council would let us go further – and deliver services properly, efficiently, and locally.
❌ Why Not Two Unitaries? Here’s the Clear Problem
Under the two-unitary proposal backed by Surrey Conservatives, Runnymede would be merged into a vast new council alongside Woking, Surrey Heath, Guildford, Waverley and Spelthorne – a huge and diverse area with very different priorities.
This model would:
• Weaken local identity and connection
• Push decision-making further from residents
• Risk Runnymede’s needs being sidelined by larger towns
Frankly, it’s not a local government solution – it’s a regional one, and it doesn’t reflect how residents live, work or travel. By contrast, the three-unitary model recognises the real social and economic links between Runnymede, Spelthorne and Elmbridge – including transport networks, employment patterns and shared services.
🗣️ Residents don’t want to hear about who’s responsible – they just want the job done. The three-unitary model makes that possible.
📝 Please respond to the consultation to help me and my colleagues make the case to government for three local councils, not two distant ones that will shape services for decades to come.
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