Surrey County Council


Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected Councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has held the majority.
The leader of the council is Tim Oliver.

History

Formation

Surrey County Council was created in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888, which established the county council local government system in England and Wales. The council was originally headquartered in Newington; however it moved to County Hall, Kingston upon Thames in 1893 as Newington had become part of the County of London in 1889 instead of Surrey. Kingston upon Thames became part of Greater London in 1965, but the headquarters remain there.

Post-1974

The Local Government Act 1972 led to Surrey becoming a non-metropolitan county.

Responsibilities

The council is responsible for a number of local public services in Surrey. These include the standard responsibilities of county councils in England and Wales such as transport and highway management, waste disposal and education.
Parents are taking Surrey County Council to court because they claim their disabled children's needs are not met due to cuts. Debbie Butler with an autistic son and daughter stated, "The support that these children get could enable them to be independent. Without that support, they're always going to need help from society, so in the long term it's actually cheaper to put the provision in now."

District and borough councils

There are 11 borough or district councils that govern at a more local level than Surrey County Council.
The public have elected a majority of Conservative councillors to its political body since 1965, with one exception — from 1993 to 1997 a status of no overall control in the declared affiliations of councillors prevailed.
The most recent 2017 election altered the composition of the council chamber and committees to a total of: 61 Conservatives, 9 Liberal Democrats, 8 residents association councillors, 1 independent councillor, and 1 councillor each from Labour and the Green Party.
The next elections will take place in May 2021.

Coat of Arms

The escutcheon is described as 'Per pale Azure and Sable two Keys in bend wards upwards and outwards bows interlaced Or between in dexter base a Woolpack and in sinister chief a Sprig of Oak fructed Argent', with the badge 'On a Roundel per pale Azure and Sable in chief a Sprig of Oak fructed Argent and in base two Keys wards upwards and outwards Or'. These arms were granted in 1974