Tories Plans to Scrap Runnymede Borough Council

Surreys Conservative administration have announced their plans to scrap all 11 local borough councils in Surrey and instead administer everything through a single Surrey wide administration. This means that all the services provided by Runnymede Borough Council such as bin collection and planning will be controlled by one Kingston based administration, which is not even in Surrey.

The plan is in the early stages so information is limited but what is clear is that local accessible borough councils will cease to exist.

We understand the economies of scale with controlling the whole of Surrey from one building and possibly having just one chief executive salary (be it likely to be extortionate!) but, and this is a big but, who will understand our local issues? Who will be able to understand issues with a local planning application? Who will understand where there are areas who need extra support with paying council tax or emergency housing? Who will understand where extra measures need to be put in place to stop fly-tipping?

Whilst there could be financial benefits in neighbouring boroughs working together, this needs serious debate and resident consultation. Unfortunately, it is being driven by Conservative panic in Surrey where they no longer have overall control of 7 of the 11 boroughs.