Borough of Guildford

Borough councillors and officers work on devolved issues such as parks, leisure, older residents' services, youth services, streetscene, refuse collection, planning and aspects of business and tourism;[1] Surrey County Council deal with transport, publicly owned infrastructure planning and maintenance, education, social services and overall waste management. The Borough owns significant heritage assets that include monuments such as Guildford Castle, as well museums, art collections and civic regalia.[2]

Guildford has the second largest population of Surrey's eleven districts (based on census statistics, only 600 residents behind Reigate and Banstead).[3] Approximately half of the Borough’s population live in the town of Guildford.

To the year ending 31 March 2012, £106.629m was received by Guildford Borough Council, plus £7.43m from its financing/investment arm, plus £17.571m in other taxation and non-specific grants.[2]

A large wholly exceptional overspend resulted from Guildford acquiring from central UK government all self-financing rights over housing for £192.435m, otherwise spending amounted to £136.778m. Of this spending the largest item was non-Local Authority housing benefits and services amounting to £33.93m however accounting for £32.74m of income. The largest item producing a net cost was Environmental and Regulatory Services costing £16.643m while contributing £6.861m. Spending on this item fell by 2.63% compared to the 2010-2011 period.[2]

Housing stock owned by Guildford Borough Council is valued, as securely tenanted at £359.316m as at 1 April 2012.

If all of the housing stock were sold untenanted, or to present occupants at full value, then the correct value at that date was £995 million.[2]

Of the eleven Surrey districts, Guildford has the third-lowest Band-D council tax for 2012-13 and fourth-lowest average overall council tax (the level of difference is a reflection on an area's skew as to higher band properties).[4]

Guildford Borough Council
Type
Type	Borough and Non-metropolitan district council
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Leader of the Council	Cllr Caroline Reeves, Liberal Democrats
Mayor	Cllr Richard Billington
Structure
Seats	48 councillors
Political groups	Administration (32)      Liberal Democrats (17)      Residents for Guildford and Villages (15) Opposition (16)      Conservative (8)      Guildford Greenbelt Group (4)      Labour (2)      Green (1)      Independent (1)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Last election	2 May 2019
Website
https://www.guildford.gov.uk/

Borough elections take place for the whole council on a four-year basis.

2 May 2019 saw the most recent cross-borough election that produced 17 Liberal Democrat seats, 15 Residents for Guildford and Villages (R4GV) seats, 9 Conservative seats, 4 Guildford Greenbelt Group (GGG) seats, 2 Labour seats and 1 Green seat on the borough council. Following the election the Green councillor chose to sit on the council as part of the R4GV group.

On 15 May 2019 councillors voted by 23 to 19 to elect the Liberal Democrat group leader, Caroline Reeves, as Leader of Guildford Borough Council over the leader of the R4GV group, Joss Bigmore. On 20 May 2019 Caroline Reeves announced that (including herself) the council's Cabinet would consist of 8 Liberal Democrats, 1 R4GV and 1 GGG councillor with an additional R4GV councillor attending cabinet as a non-voting deputy.[5] However, on 27 August 2019 the GGG member of the Cabinet resigned and was subsequently replaced by an additional R4GV councillor (the formerly non-voting deputy member of the Cabinet).[6][7]

Additionally, the political make-up of the council was altered in September 2019 when a Conservative councillor quit his party to sit as an Independent councillor.[8]

The central 'Guildford Town' area of the borough comprises the town centre and immediately surrounding areas, including: Bellfields, Boxgrove, Onslow Village, Park Barn, Stoughton, Westborough, and the (former) villages of Burpham, and Merrow.

Third tier of local government

Apart from the town of Guildford which has no third (or most local) tier, the rest of the borough has civil parishes of unpaid councillors who are entitled to charge a small extra precept for services they pay out for:[9]

• Albury
• Artington
• Ash
• Ash Vale
• Compton
• East Clandon
• East Horsley
• Effingham
• Normandy
• Ockham
• Pirbright
• Puttenham
• Ripley
• Seale and Sands
• Send
• Shackleford
• Shalford
• Shere
• St Martha
• Tongham
• Wanborough
• West Clandon
• West Horsley
• Wisley
• Worplesdon

Map of Guildford Borough showing its parts: Guildford town and civil parishes which provide an additional layer of government for nearby villages

Notes

References