About the community governance review
Pages in About the community governance review
- 1. About the community governance review
- 2. You are here: The review process
- 3. Implementing changes to parish councils
2. The review process
A Community Governance Review (CGR) is a legal process that gives residents and organisations an opportunity to share their views on the most suitable ways of representing the people at a community level.
What a CGR can and cannot consider
A CGR can lead to changes to the way local councils are governed when there is clear evidence these changes would be an improvement, including:
- creating, merging, altering or abolishing parishes
- the naming of parishes and the style of new parishes including the potential creation of town and parish councils
- the electoral arrangements for parishes (for instance, the ordinary year of elections; council size; the number of councillors to be elected to the council, and parish warding)
- grouping parishes under a common parish council or de-grouping parishes
- other types of local arrangements, including parish meetings
A CGR cannot:
- change the number of councillors on the county or borough councils.
- change the style (e.g. town, parish, neighbourhood, community or village council) of existing councils.
- influence or change the amount of money that an existing parish or town council raises through council tax (known as ‘precept’).
The community governance review timetable
Our CGR took place between 19 June 2025 and 26 March 2026.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 19 June to 17 July 2025 | Evidence gathering and public meetings to inform stakeholders of the process |
| 24 July to 18 September 2025 | Stage one consultation inviting initial submissions |
| 19 September to 7 November 2025 | Consideration of submissions and preparation of draft recommendations |
| 6 November 2025 | Draft recommendations to be considered by Full Council |
| 7 November to 16 January 2026 | Stage two consultation on draft recommendations |
| 19 January to 16 March 2026 | Consideration of submissions and preparation of final recommendations |
| 26 March 2026 | Full Council decision on the final recommendations |
Local involvement
Through two rounds of public consultation local people were invited to consider whether current parish and town councils remained fit for purpose and whether people living elsewhere in the borough might be better represented in the future with similar arrangements.
Suggestions received during the first stage consultation helped to inform the draft recommendations that were the subject of the second stage.
The agreed recommendations include several changes made following the second round of consultation, for example:
- no expansion of Salfords & Sidlow Parish Council, following strong community opposition
- revision of ward names and councillor numbers for the new Banstead & The Villages Council
- two separate town councils for Redhill and Reigate after consultation showed strong support for town councils but mixed views on combining them.
The cross-party councillor working group
Our CGR was overseen by a cross-party borough councillor working group, which took final recommendations to the Full Council in March 2026.
When assessing any suggestions from interested parties, it was required to take into account both the:
- impact of the community governance arrangements on community cohesion
- size, population and boundaries of a local community or parish suggestion
Final recommendations were also required to ensure that community governance within the area under review would be:
- reflective of the identities and interests of the community in that area; and
- effective and convenient