Overview

The creation of East Surrey Council gives us a unique opportunity for a fresh start, with new ways of working and delivering services that better meet the needs of local communities.

Our vision is for East Surrey to be an inclusive place where people are heard and supported, communities are strong, people are proud of where they live and growth is sustainable.

From April 2027, East Surrey Council will begin putting its five year Council Strategy into action.

Your views will help us focus on what matters most to local communities and inform East Surrey Council's delivery plan for 2027-2032, which will include the actions the council will take and how progress will be measured.

The East Surrey Council Strategy is focused around three areas:

• People: helping people get the support, education, housing and opportunities they need, as early as possible.

• Place: Improving local places, helping provide the homes people need, strengthening the local economy and minimising the impacts of climate change.

• Council: Making services easy to use, managing money responsibly and reporting progress openly.

Financial Challenges

The 2027/28 budget will be set against a challenging financial position. Changes to government funding arrangements via the Fair Funding Review mean East Surrey Council is expected to receive a significant reduction in Government funding over the next two years, in excess of £55m. This is on top of approximately £54m of reductions experienced by Surrey County Council this financial year.

Surrey is one of the areas most negatively impacted by the government's national funding changes. This ultimately means East Surrey’s overall funding will stay frozen at the same amount each year, even when council tax is raised by the maximum allowed (which is around 5%).

On top of this, demand and inflationary cost pressures are forecast to continue increasing, particularly in adult and children's social care and homelessness services. This all means there is currently a significant £35m budget gap ahead of next year, even with careful financial planning. This budget gap has already been reduced from £41m to £35m through initial budget planning work.

Local Government Reorganisation is expected to deliver efficiencies in the longer term once the transition is fully implemented, but initially it is costing money to deliver. £37 million will have been spent this year and there are further amounts to follow in subsequent years. In the short and medium-term, the council will likely need to continue to increase council tax by the maximum 5% permitted and use reserves before longer-term service transformation is implemented to achieve efficiencies and savings, and a balanced budget.

Accessibility

You can find our accessibility statement here.

Easy Read, Large Print and hard copies of the survey and requests of alternative formats can be made via:

• Telephone: 03456 009 009
• Textphone (via Relay UK): 18001 03456 009 009
• Text SMS: 07860 053 465
• British Sign Language: www.surreycc.gov.uk/bsl

Hard copy printed surveys can be picked up and dropped back at all Surrey libraries find your nearest libary here:- Libraries in Surrey - Surrey County Council . Or mailed directly back to:

FAO East Surrey Survey
c/o Strategy and Policy Team
Woodhatch Place
11 Cockshot Hill
Woodhatch
Reigate
RH2 8EF.

Privacy statement

Any personal information you choose to provide will be kept confidential and used in accordance with our privacy notice.

Have your say

Please give us your feedback using the link below. Your feedback will help us to shape services that are fair, and better in line with current and future needs, whilst also remaining affordable and delivering good value for money with the available budget.

This survey is open from Monday 19 October 2026 and will close on Sunday 15 November 2026 at 11:59pm.