Surrey County Council | |
---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Leigh Whitehouse (interim) [1] since March 2024 | |
Structure | |
Seats | 81 councillors |
Political groups |
|
Length of term | 4 years |
Elections | |
First past the post [2] | |
Last election | 6 May 2021 [2] |
Next election | 1 May 2025 |
Meeting place | |
Woodhatch Place, 11 Cockshot Hill, Reigate, RH2 8EF [3] [4] | |
Website | |
www |
Surrey County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Surrey, England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1974 the Conservative Party has held the majority. [5] The leader of the council is Tim Oliver. [6]
Elected county councils were created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions which had been performed by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions. In Surrey's case, most such functions in the north-east of the county had already passed to the Metropolitan Board of Works, which had been established in 1856 to administer the urban area of London. [7] Under the 1888 Act, the Metropolitan Board of Works' area became the new County of London. The then borough of Croydon lay outside the County of London, but was considered large enough to run county-level services and so it was made a county borough. Surrey County Council was elected by and provided services to the rest of the county, which area was termed the administrative county. [8] [9]
The first elections to the county council were held in January 1889 and it formally came into being on 1 April 1889. On that day it held its first official meeting at the Sessions House in Newington, which had been the meeting place of the Surrey Quarter Sessions since 1791. Co-incidentally, it was also near Waterloo station, a major hub for the railways serving Surrey. Sessions House was in the area that had transferred from Surrey to the new county of London. The first chairman was Edward Leycester-Penrhyn, who had been chairman of the quarter sessions since 1861. [10] [11]
In 1965, the London Government Act 1963 abolished the existing county of London and replaced it with the larger Greater London, which took over more territory in the north-east of Surrey, including Richmond, Kingston-upon-Thames, Wimbledon and Sutton. At the same time, Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames were transferred to Surrey from Middlesex. In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 designated Surrey a non-metropolitan county. [12] Prior to the 1974 reforms the lower tier of local government had comprised numerous municipal boroughs, urban districts and rural districts; these were reorganised into eleven non-metropolitan districts. [13]
Surrey County Council provides county-level services. District-level services are provided by the eleven district councils:
Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government. [14] [12]
The county council has been under Conservative majority control since 1997.
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows: [15] [16]
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
Conservative | 1974–1993 | |
No overall control | 1993–1997 | |
Conservative | 1997–present |
The leaders of the council since 1997 have been: [17]
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nick Skellett [18] | Conservative | 1997 | 23 Jun 2009 | |
Andrew Povey | Conservative | 23 Jun 2009 | 11 Oct 2011 | |
David Hodge | Conservative | 11 Oct 2011 | 11 Dec 2018 | |
Tim Oliver | Conservative | 11 Dec 2018 |
Following the 2021 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to January 2024, the composition of the council was:
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Conservative | 44 | |
Liberal Democrats | 16 | |
Independent | 4 | |
Residents Associations of Epsom and Ewell | 4 | |
Residents' association | 4 | |
Farnham Residents | 3 | |
Green | 2 | |
Labour | 2 | |
Residents for Guildford and Villages | 2 | |
Total | 81 |
The various residents' associations and three of the four independent councillors sit together as a group. [19] The next election is due in 2025.
Since the last boundary changes in 2013 the county has been divided into 81 electoral divisions, each of which elects one councillor. Elections are held every four years. [20]
The council is based at Woodhatch Place in Reigate. The main building there was built in 1999 as the headquarters of Canon (UK) Limited; the complex also includes a large Georgian house. Woodhatch Place was bought by the council in 2020 and converted to become its headquarters including council chamber and committee rooms. [21] The venue's first full council meeting took place in May 2021. [22]
The council was first headquartered in Newington where the Surrey Quarter Sessions court had been held since 1791. [23] The council moved to a purpose-built headquarters at County Hall, Kingston upon Thames in 1893. [24]
Kingston became part of Greater London in 1965. Despite it no longer being in their administrative area, the council continued to be based at County Hall for another 56 years. In November 2019 Surrey County Council planned it would relocate to Woking. [25] The move to Woking was scrapped in 2020; [26] a move to Reigate was announced instead. [27]
The escutcheon is described as 'Per pale Azure and Sable two Keys in bend wards upwards and outwards bows interlaced Or between in dexter base a Woolpack and in sinister chief a Sprig of Oak fructed Argent', with the badge 'On a Roundel per pale Azure and Sable in chief a Sprig of Oak fructed Argent and in base two Keys [in saltire] wards upwards and outwards Or'. These arms were granted in 1974. [28]
The Borough of Runnymede is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Addlestone and the borough also includes the towns of Chertsey and Egham. The borough is named after Runnymede, a water meadow on the banks of the River Thames near Egham, which is connected with the sealing of Magna Carta by King John in 1215.
Reigate and Banstead is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Reigate and the borough also includes the towns of Banstead, Horley and Redhill. Parts of the borough are within the Surrey Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Northern parts of the borough, including Banstead, lie inside the M25 motorway which encircles London.
The counties of England are divisions of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are two main legal definitions of the counties in modern usage: the 84 counties for the purposes of local government, and the 48 counties for the purposes of lieutenancy, also termed the ceremonial counties.
Surrey Heath is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt.
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Epsom and Ewell is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England, covering the towns of Epsom and Ewell. The borough lies just outside the administrative boundary of Greater London, but it is entirely within the M25 motorway which encircles London. Many of the borough's urban areas form part of the wider Greater London Built-up Area.
Tandridge is a local government district in east Surrey, England. Its council is based in Oxted, although the largest settlement is Caterham; other notable settlements include Warlingham, Godstone and Lingfield. In mid-2019, the district had an estimated population of 88,129.
The Borough of Guildford is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. With around half of the borough's population, Guildford is its largest settlement and only town, and is where the council is based.
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Newcastle City Council is the local authority for Newcastle upon Tyne, a metropolitan borough with city status in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the 26 wards in the city. It has been under Labour majority control since 2011. The council is a member of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.
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One third of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council in Surrey, England is elected each year, followed by one year without election. Since the boundary changes in 2019, 45 councillors have been elected from 15 wards.
Durham County Council is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of County Durham in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a unitary authority, having taken over district-level functions when the county's districts were abolished. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county of County Durham, which additionally includes Darlington, Hartlepool and the parts of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees. The county council has its headquarters at County Hall in Durham.
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Woodhatch Place is a large office building on Cockshot Hill, Reigate, Surrey, England, which serves as the headquarters of Surrey County Council. The main building was built in 1998–1999 as the head office of Canon (UK) Limited, in the grounds of a Georgian house, previously called Woodhatch Lodge, with the original house being retained and restored as part of the development. The complex was bought by Surrey County Council in 2020 and converted to become the council's main offices and meeting place.