Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Berardi, Cressey, Davies, Furey, Rowsell and Singh.

If Members have an interest in an item, please complete a member interest form and email it to Democratic.Services@runnymede.gov.uk by 5pm on the day of the meeting. Members are advised to contact the Corporate Head of Law and Governance prior to the meeting if they wish to seek advice on a potential interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Council received updates from the Chief Executive and Councillor Linda Gillham (as a Co-Leader), both of whom had been representing Runnymede Borough Council in discussions between the chief executives and leaders of councils across Surrey.  The need to work collaboratively, in order to meet the government’s timeline was emphasised, as was the significant body of urgent work that had been generated for officers.

Members debated the proposals within the reports prepared by Surrey County Council and collaboratively by Surrey’s district and borough councils.  During the debate, a number of views were expressed, including:

·         The need to balance the size of authorities and the desire for continued local decision making was important.

·         The need to ensure that there was an appropriate ratio for the number of elected representatives per member of the electorate.

·         The need to ensure that the successor unitary authorities were financially viable, with due consideration given to the government’s view on the likely average size of unitary authorities arising from this round of local government reorganisation.

·         The differing levels of prospective savings for a model of two and three Surrey unitary authorities.

·         Consideration needed to be given to the economic, geographical, social and transport characteristics of the areas forming each unitary authority.

·         The location of key public services, such regional hospitals, should be a consideration.

·         Projected population growth should be considered when creating new unitary authority areas.

·         Certainty was needed over the future arrangements for each district and borough’s financial liabilities, as well as the County Council’s own liabilities.

·         The location of offices and other local services needed to be accessible to the entirety of each new unitary authority’s population.

·         Residents’ views needed to be sought, with due consideration given to whether this was the responsibility of each local authority or the Ministry.

·         Residents would not experience any significant change arising from this round of local government reorganisation, and that their primary concern was the continuity of services.

·         The creation of local parish or town councils would potentially erode some of the financial benefits of local government reorganisation.

·         The new unitary authorities should be encouraged to share services where this was practical and financially advantageous.

·         Runnymede should share its experience of drawing together individuals from different political perspectives with local authority partners across Surrey.

·         That the government’s timeline was unnecessarily demanding.

·         The role of a strategic mayor, as and when appointed, needed clarity, along with whether the role of a strategic mayor represented true devolution or a centralisation of functions.

·         The creation of unitary authorities addressed the existing uncertainty for residents over which organisation was responsible for services.

·         This round of local government reorganisation represented a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to reshape services for residents.

At the conclusion of the debate, thanks were shared among members for a constructive and respectful discussion.  The Council also acknowledged that this was an unsettling time for staff.

It was proposed (by Councillor R King), seconded (by Councillor Gillham) and resolved that:

1)    The initial submission to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on behalf of the 12 local authorities of Surrey be noted.

2)    Runnymede Borough Council’s initial preference for the structure of local government in the boundary of Surrey County Council be for three unitary councils.

To consider any items so resolved at the meeting.

There was no exempt business.