Agenda item

Decision:

(1)   That, in the event of councils in Surrey being invited to make submissions to the Secretary of State in respect of any future local government reorganisation, the three unitary council model set out under Option 3(c) of the KPMG report, be agreed as the Council’s preferred council structure in Surrey.

(2)   That the eight priority areas for closer collaboration identified in the KPMG report be agreed in principle.

(3)   That the range of options for discussion with Waverley Borough Council on greater partnership working be explored.

(4)   That the Council engages with the LGA to undertake an initial scoping study to determine a rough order of magnitude around the potential savings for the various options for collaboration with Waverley Borough Council.

Reason:

To help inform future discussions about local government structures and greater collaboration between councils in Surrey. 

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

None.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the lead or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

In response to the Surrey County Council (SCC) announcement that it intended to submit a case for change to Government for a single unitary council the leaders of the eleven district and borough councils each expressed views that a single unitary model was not supported.  It was agreed that the districts and boroughs would collectively explore other options for local government in Surrey and KPMG was appointed to produce a report setting out various models for discussion. The KPMG report had two parts, options for unitary councils and options for closer collaboration between councils.

Since Government had not opted to take forward the SCC proposal in its White Paper it was suggested that it would be advantageous to seek closer collaborative working with Waverley Borough Council (WBC). Continued reduced funding from central government had been compounded by the Covid pandemic to present both councils with a critical medium-term financial challenge. In addition to similar budgetary challenges there were at least eight service areas where closer collaborative working could be considered for potential savings. The WBC Executive had considered a similar report on collaboration.

The Joint Executive Advisory Board (JEAB) had considered the recommendations of the KPMG report at its meeting on 15 February 2021 and comments arising from that meeting were set out for the Executive on the Supplementary information Sheet. The Chairman of the JEAB addressed the meeting and summarised the debate from the meeting. The JEAB was in favour of a local government reorganisation of three unitary authorities overall for the County; collaboration with WBC with the assistance of the Local Government Association (LGA) to explore the details, concerns and potential financial savings and an option of possibly including Woking Borough Council in a collaborative partnership in the future.

The Executive received the comments from the JEAB favourably. Merged teams of officers supporting two sets of councillors was a model that had been adopted successfully elsewhere in the country delivering increased resilience and cost savings. Whilst it was noted that the Council had made over £8 million in savings through the Future Guildford transformation project, £6 million was still required in savings over the coming four years in order to maintain current service levels. It was noted that the Council retained just 9% of Council Tax and 5% of Business Rates whilst options to compete commercially were restricted by Government. Closer partnership working could bring substantial financial benefits, whilst protecting public services and keeping them local.

Having considered the report and the comments from the JEAB, the Executive

RESOLVED

(1)   That, in the event of councils in Surrey being invited to make submissions to the Secretary of State in respect of any future local government reorganisation, the three unitary council model set out under Option 3(c) of the KPMG report, be agreed as the Council’s preferred council structure in Surrey.

(2)   That the eight priority areas for closer collaboration identified in the KPMG report be agreed in principle.

(3)   That the range of options for discussion with Waverley Borough Council on greater partnership working be explored.

(4)   That the Council engages with the LGA to undertake an initial scoping study to determine a rough order of magnitude around the potential savings for the various options for collaboration with Waverley Borough Council

Reason:

To help inform future discussions about local government structures and greater collaboration between councils in Surrey.