Why devolution and local government reform is happening

The government published a white paper on English Devolution and reform to local government on 16 December 2024.  

The government’s vision is for larger, simpler, and more streamlined authorities, to make it easier for residents to know who is responsible for local services, and allow efficiencies of scale. The aim is for these new authorities to be able to make more strategic decisions to boost growth and deliver better services for communities.  

On 5 February 2025 the government announced that the Surrey County Council elections scheduled for May 2025 had been postponed 'given the urgency of creating sustainable unitary local government for Surrey ... helping to speed up reorganisation and deliver the local ambitions for devolution with the benefits it will bring." 

This section provides information on what devolution and local government reorganisation means for Surrey Heath and Surrey as a whole.

On 9 May 2025 councils across Surrey submitted their proposals for a new local authority structure for the county. 

9 of the 12 Surrey councils, including Surrey Heath supported a three unitary model.  

Surrey County Council plus two of the other district and borough councils backed a two unitary model. 

View the final proposals on the Surrey LGR Hub (external link).

To find out what has happened so far, view our updates summary.