Borough of Guildford

The Borough of Guildford is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. With around half of the borough's population, Guildford is its largest settlement and only town, and is the location of the council.

See Guildford for the town in Surrey, England

Guildford
Borough and Non-metropolitan district
Motto(s): 
Fortiter et Fideliter
(Latin: Bravely and faithfully)
Guildford shown within Surrey
Coordinates: 51°14′46″N 0°33′07″W
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
RegionSouth East England
Ceremonial county Surrey
Established1 April 1974
Administrative HQGuildford (Millmead House)
Government
 • TypeNon-metropolitan district
 • BodyGuildford Borough Council
 • LeadershipLeader and cabinet
 • ExecutiveLiberal Democrats - R4GV (council NOC)
 • LeaderTBC
 • MayorRichard Billington
 • MPsPaul Beresford (Mole Valley[n 1])
Michael Gove (Surrey Heath)
Jonathan Lord (Woking)
Angela Richardson (Guildford)
Area
 • Total104.6 sq mi (270.9 km2)
Area rank144th
Population
 (mid-2019 est.)
 • Total148,998
 • Rank141st
 • Density1,410/sq mi (546/km2)
 • Ethnicity
93.5% White
2.1% S.Asian
1.3% Black
1.3% Mixed Race
1.7% Chinese or Other
Time zoneUTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
ONS code43UD (ONS)
E07000209 (GSS)
OS grid referenceTQ0105550700
Websitewww.guildford.gov.uk

The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 by an amalgamation of the municipal borough of Guildford and Guildford Rural District.

Functions

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]

Population

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.

Budget

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 owned by the Borough

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]

Taxation

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]

Councillors
Guildford Borough Council
Type
Type
History
Founded1 April 1974
Leadership
Leader of the Council
Cllr Caroline Reeves, Liberal Democrats
Deputy Leader of the Council
Cllr Joss Bigmore, R4GV
Mayor
Cllr Richard Billington
Structure
Seats48 councillors
Political groups
Administration (33)
  Liberal Democrats (17)
  Residents (16)
Opposition (15)
  Conservative (4)
  Conservative Independent (4)
  Greenbelt Group (3)
  Labour (2)
  Independent (1)
  Vacancy (1)
Length of term
4 years
Elections
Last election
2 May 2019
Website
https://www.guildford.gov.uk/

Elections
Main article: Guildford Borough Council elections

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.

Administration

Following the May 2019 borough council elections Guildford Borough Council is in no overall control meaning that no single political party or group has a majority of council seats.

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]

In May 2020 it was announced that an agreement had been reached between the Liberal Democrats and R4GV to rotate the council leadership between them as part of a coalition arrangement which saw four Liberal Democrat councillors leave the council's Cabinet and be replaced by two R4GV councillors to create an evenly split cabinet of four Liberal Democrat and four R4GV councillors. As part of this arrangement the leader of R4GV, Joss Bigmore, was appointed as the Deputy Leader of Guildford Borough Council.[8]

Political Composition

Following the May 2019 election the Green councillor chose to sit on the council as part of the R4GV group. 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, and again in July 2020 when four councillors left the official Conservative group and formed a separate 'Conservative Independent' group on the council whilst retaining their party memberships. Therefore, there is a discrepancy between the official composition of the council, in terms of political groupings, and the political parties which individual councillors belong to.[9][10]

As of June 2020 there has been a vacancy on Guildford following the death of Patrick Sheard who was a GGG councillor for Send. A by-election could not immediately be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]

Council composition by political party allegiance as of September 2020[12]
Political party Council members
Liberal Democrats 17
17 / 48
R4GV 15
15 / 48
Conservative 8
8 / 48
GGG 3
3 / 48
Labour 2
2 / 48
Green 1
1 / 48
Independent 1
1 / 48

Note: Four Conservative party councillors sit in a separate 'Conservative Independent Group' but maintain their party membership.

Members of Parliament
See also: List of Parliamentary constituencies in Surrey
Constituency Member of Parliament Political party
Guildford Angela Richardson Conservative Party
Mole Valley Sir Paul Beresford
Surrey Heath Michael Gove
Woking Jonathan Lord

Composition

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, most of 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:[13]

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

Notes and references

Notes

  1. Mole Valley UK Parliament Constituency and two of the others include some peripheral wards.]

References

  1. "Guildford Borough Council". Archived from the original on 28 May 2003. Retrieved 2 March 2004.
  2. "Guildford Borough Council Statement of Accounts 2011-12, pp 4, 12 and 79". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  3. List of English districts by population
  4. 2012-13 Council tax (average Band D and average per dwelling) and % change: individual local authorities
  5. "Lib Dem Leader Appoints Her New Team For Guildford Borough Council". Guildford Dragon. 20 May 2019.
  6. "GBC Executive Shock as GGG's Susan Parker Resigns Over 'Conduct' Claim". Guildford Dragon. 27 August 2019.
  7. "New Executive Member for Guildford Borough Council". Guildford Borough Council. 26 September 2019.
  8. "Guildford Borough Council leadership to 'rotate' between Lib Dems and R4GV following 'new agreement'". Get Surrey. 7 May 2020.
  9. "Guildford councillor Gordon Jackson quits Conservatives over Brexit". Get Surrey. 16 September 2019.
  10. "Leadership Issue Forces Break Up of Guildford Borough Tories". Guildford Dragon. 2 July 2020.
  11. "Councillors Shocked By Unexpected Death of Patrick Sheard, Member for Send". Guildford Dragon. 5 June 2020.
  12. "Your Councillors". Guildford Borough Council. Guildford Borough Council. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  13. Surrey County Council Archived 26 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
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