Application for Parish Council Status

The Forum applied to form a Parish Council last year, and we can now report that Runnymede Borough Council's (RBC) Full Council meeting on 23rd October approved proceeding to the second stage of public consultation.

The second stage of public consultation ran (via a survey) from 3 November to 15 December (thank you to all who completed the second survey). The outcome of the second stage of public consultation, of which there were 523 responses, was 428 in favour and 95 against.

The Final Recommendations are that:

• the parish of Englefield Green should be created.

• the parish will not be warded

• the name of the parish council should be Englefield Green Parish Council.

• the parish council for Englefield Green shall consist of 14 councillors.

These Final Recommendations were approved, unanimously, by the Corporate Management Committee on 12 February and again, unanimously, by Full Council at Runnymede Borough Council on 26 February.

The Corporate Management Committee recommended and Full Council approved the following actions:

• To request officers to formulate an appropriate budget for the proposed Parish Council for the financial year 2027-2028.

• To request officers to clarify the position as to which allotments situated in the area falling within the area of the proposed Parish Council would transfer to the proposed Parish Council and under what legal provisions.

• To report back to Full Council at a future date to seek authority to make recommendations to the proposed West Surrey Shadow Authority in respect of making an Order under the provisions of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 for the creation of the new Parish Council.
  

It is proposed that the new Parish Council will operate from the financial year 2027/28 which will commence on 1 April 2027. Elections for councillors on the new Parish Council will not take place until May 2027. An Implementation Steering Group is to be formed to take forward the above recommendations. Further updates will follow.

The proposed Parish Council will be practical, not political and will exist to care, serve and do its best for residents as well as securing funding for projects.

As you will no doubt have read in the press and via social media, Surrey is to have two new unitary authorities replacing both Surrey County Council and the twelve existing councils (in our case Runnymede Borough Council) in April 2027. It would appear that the new West Surrey Council in which we will fall, will inherit a significant debt in the order of £4.5 billion! This process will lead to there being a lower number of local Council Representatives serving larger areas with considerably further distance between local needs and administering body and greater competition between resources and their allocation. This reinforces the initiative to establish a Parish Council in Englefield Green so that local people can have their say and be able to protect their local environment.