On 28 October 2025, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government wrote to the chief executives of Surrey’s councils setting out the secondary legislation that will implement two unitary authorities. The correspondence sits alongside the Secretary of State’s decision to proceed with East Surrey and West Surrey, subject to Parliamentary approval.
Officials will circulate a draft Structural Changes Order for factual checks by 7 November, followed by informal scrutiny from the clerks to the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. Ministers intend to lay the instrument in early January for scrutiny in both Houses. The department’s published timetable indicates the Order being made in March, enabling all-out elections in May 2026 and vesting on 1 April 2027.
The draft Order will establish East Surrey Council and West Surrey Council and abolish Surrey County Council and the eleven district and borough councils on 1 April 2027. It creates shadow authorities after the May 2026 elections with preparatory functions, including setting budgets and plans, adopting a Leader and Cabinet model, appointing statutory officers and approving members’ allowances and codes of conduct.
Transitional governance is to be shared. Joint Committees will have equal membership from the county and the districts/boroughs, with chairs chosen locally. An Implementation Team will draw officers from all existing councils, led by Surrey County Council’s chief executive and supported by deputies from a district or borough in each future unitary area. MHCLG also encourages the use of sector adviser John Metcalfe as an independent critical friend.
Electoral provisions replace scheduled county and district polls in May 2026 with elections to the new councils. Wards will mirror the county divisions set by the Surrey (Electoral Changes) Order 2024 but will return two members per ward for the unitaries. Returning officers will be the heads of paid service at Reigate and Banstead (East Surrey) and Runnymede (West Surrey). The first term runs to 2031 before moving to four-year cycles; parish elections in 2027 are unchanged with potential alignment in 2031.
The draft gives shadow authorities an express power in their preparatory year to submit a devolution proposal or consent to a government proposal to progress a Surrey Strategic Authority. This sits alongside the separate Level 2 devolution framework previously agreed in principle between government and Surrey County Council, which remains contingent on secondary legislation.
MHCLG is minded to issue a section 24 direction under the 2007 Act so predecessor councils must obtain the new councils’ consent for specified contracts and asset disposals. An effective date of 30 June is under consideration, reflecting precedent where wholly new unitary councils are created; Spelthorne and Woking are proposed to be excluded given existing statutory directions and commissioners. Similar section 24 controls were applied during the Cumbria, Somerset and North Yorkshire reorganisations.
The draft further requires the West Surrey Joint Committee and shadow authority to have regard to Best Value interventions in Spelthorne and Woking when preparing their implementation plan. Woking has operated under Directions since 25 May 2023, while Spelthorne received Commissioners and Directions on 8 May 2025. Referencing these interventions ensures the reorganisation reflects current statutory improvement programmes.
For council leaders and chief executives, the immediate operational steps are clear: return factual comments on the draft Order by 7 November; provide views on the proposed section 24 direction by 21 November; and, on a voluntary basis ahead of the Order being made, constitute the Joint Committees and the Implementation Team to sustain progress towards May 2026 elections and 1 April 2027 vesting.