NALC warns Surrey devolution plans risk leaving communities without a voice

We have raised concerns about proposed governance arrangements for the new Surrey Combined Foundation Strategic Authority, arguing that parish and town councils must have a formal role in the governance and decision-making structures of devolved authorities.

In our response to the consultation on establishing a combined foundation strategic authority for Surrey, we stated we do not support the proposed governance arrangements because they do not guarantee representation for parish and town councils or the Surrey Association of Local Councils within the new authority.

We argued that parish and town councils should be recognised as strategic partners in the devolution agenda, reflecting their role as the tier of local government closest to communities. We believe that parish and town councils should have formal representation across governance, stakeholder engagement, oversight and scrutiny arrangements to ensure that local knowledge and community priorities are properly reflected in decision-making.

Our response also calls for stronger requirements around engagement with parish and town councils. The proposed power for strategic authorities to convene local partners should be strengthened into a mandatory duty to convene. This duty should explicitly require engagement with parish and town councils through their county association, helping to ensure meaningful and consistent involvement in devolved decision-making.

We highlighted the importance of creating what it describes as a "golden thread" of devolution, ensuring that powers and resources flow beyond strategic and principal authorities to the community level. To achieve this, we are calling for strategic authorities to be given a clear statutory power to provide grant funding directly to parish and town councils.

Our response also states that direct access to funding would enable parish and town councils to deliver community priorities, support local services and invest in projects that respond to the specific needs of their residents. We believe that empowering parish and town councils in this way would strengthen the effectiveness of devolution and improve outcomes for local communities.

We concluded that successful devolution depends on strong connections between strategic authorities and the communities they serve. We are urging the government to ensure parish and town councils have a formal voice, meaningful representation and access to resources within Surrey's future devolved governance arrangements.