Taxpayers in prudent councils must not be forced to bear the crushing burden of their debt-laden neighbours when the biggest shake up of local government for 50 years merges authorities in Surrey, say leaders across the political divide.

On February 5, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner confirmed that county elections due to take place in May will be delayed for a year to give staff time to focus plans to streamline local government

It is understood that elections for the newly created super authorities will take place in May 2026 after which all existing councils will run parallel until May 2027 when they will be dissolved and the new super councils taking over.

Plans to be considered will all feature a directly elected mayor to oversee things such as policing, fire and rescue, as well as health and education.

What is to be decided is what sits underneath, either a single mega council broadly mirroring Surrey, or have it divided into two or three smaller unitaries. Also under consideration is the potential to expand beyond the historic country borders.

The Government wants the new super councils to have a minimum of 500,000 people. Surrey has a population of about 1.2million so any moves to devolve beyond two super councils would need to break from this.

The current system features Surrey County Council with 11 boroughs and districts underneath it. Health is separated and split along geographical rather than political boundaries while policing is overseen by a crime commissioner.

Woking Borough Council, Spelthorne Borough Council and Runnymede Borough Council have amassed debts of more than £3 billion.

Woking is bankrupt and the government has been keeping close watch on Spelthorne and Runnymede.

The fear is that any newly created councils could start life in special measures and punish other councils that were able to provide services while balancing their books.

Councillor Richard Biggs, leader of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, said in a statement agreed with the other group leaders: “The ambitions for devolution and reorganisation set out in the Government’s White Paper will see the biggest shake up of local government for fifty years.

“Decisions that are taken over the coming months will impact our long-term future and those of future generations.

“Whilst we accept that unitary and mayoral strategic authorities are the way local government will be organised, across the political spectrum we have concerns about the timeline in Surrey given the great deal of uncertainty about how local authority debt will be managed.

“With our residents’ support, we’ve worked incredibly hard to ensure Reigate and Banstead Borough Council has no debt and that we provide many services over and above statutory requirements, such as working with the NHS on preventative services, provision of community centres and building our own social housing.

“Our view remains that plans should not support any restructuring of local government boundaries based on ‘redistributing’ the debt of other authorities.

“However, in light of the minister’s decision, we will move together at pace to do this in a way that best serves our residents and encourages our local communities to continue to thrive.

“Our priority throughout this process will be to get the best possible outcome for residents and business in our borough.”

In December, 2024, the government published a white paper outlining changes to local government where it confirmed two-tier systems as used in Surrey will be replaced.

Councils have until March 21 to submit draft recommendations on how they see devolution working with final visions submitted by May 9.