The 2026 Surrey Elections: Local Government Reorganisation and the Future of Planning
The upcoming local elections are highly anticipated, with significant changes in political control expected across the country. However, in Surrey they have an additional layer of intrigue as they represent a significant step in the Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) process, marking the start of the transition towards the new East and West Surrey unitary authorities. While much attention will be paid to the political control of these authorities, the elections also raise a practical question, what will LGR mean for Planning in Surrey?
Surrey currently operates two-tier system of local government with strategic services including Highways delivered by Surrey County Council, and Planning and other local functions delivered by the county’s eleven district councils. LGR seeks to replace this structure with East and West Surrey, each responsible for both county and district functions.
At present, Planning in Surrey is delivered at a local scale. District Councils prepare Local Plans, setting out where development should be and under what conditions. Planning applications are determined by their planning committees, made up of councillors typically determining applications in their immediate area. This system has created a sense of local control where decisions are shaped by the District Council’s Planning policy, neighbourhood concerns and localised priorities.
Reorganisation does not change the purpose of the Planning system, but it does change the scale at which it operates. Planning responsibility will move to East and West Surrey, each covering a wider geography than existing councils. This will bring together areas with distinct identities and varying development pressures and this shift in scale has several implications.
Local Plans will be merged to cover the wider unitary areas over time. It remains to be seen what the Unitary authorities will do with the Local Plans they inherit from the Districts although the recent precedent of Buckinghamshire suggests Local Plans could be potentially adopted or withdrawn. Housing need, infrastructure and land supply will be considered at a larger scale, potentially allowing more coordinated planning of growth and infrastructure. Decision-making structures will evolve, planning committees will operate over larger areas, with councillors considering applications beyond their immediate communities, hopefully resulting in planning decisions becoming less parochial and more strategic. This represents a shift away from the existing local structure and towards one that will need to balance local priorities with wider area considerations. For some local residents, this may feel like planning decisions are being taken further from the communities they affect, even if the aim is to support a more strategic and coordinated outcome.
To maintain an element of a local focus in planning, most of the existing District Councils, excluding Epsom & Ewell and Runnymede, may have parish or town council equivalents established once the new unitary authorities are in place. It is expected that these councils will play a role in ensuring local voices are heard at the new unitary level. They are likely to advocate for their local communities on issues such as development design, heritage protection, and landscape character. Which many residents will feel is of greater importance in protecting the character of their distinct local areas as planning decisions begin to be made further away.
It remains to be seen how East and West Surrey will form their new planning committees; however, it is likely they will operate with a single strategic committee alongside area-based committees similar to other recently created unitaries like Buckinghamshire Council.
Despite the scale of change, the immediate impact will be limited. Councillors elected on 7 May will form shadow authorities, ahead of the formal transition on vesting day in April 2027. In the meantime, existing District Councils and Surrey County Council will continue to operate as normal. Local Plans will remain in place and planning applications will continue to be determined under current arrangements. While these existing structures will continue to operate and the need for housing, infrastructure and sustainable growth remain, over time, decisions will be made at a different scale, and under different authorities in the restructured Surrey.
The 2026 elections in Surrey mark the beginning of that change with the immediate aftermath seeing the creation of two new unitary authorities which will have considerable influence over the long-term Planning landscape across the county.
If you would like to speak to Cratus about a Planning project in Surrey or if you would welcome a CPD session to explore how these changes may affect your business, please do get in touch.
