Article 13 Implementation Plan and further provisions relevant to the discharge of functions by West Surrey Joint Committee

(1)

The West Surrey Joint Committee must prepare, keep under review, and revise as necessary, an Implementation Plan which must include—

(a)

such plans and timetables as are, in the opinion of the Joint Committee, necessary to secure the economic, effective, efficient and timely discharge of the article 6 and article 11 functions; and

(b)

such budgets and plans as it considers necessary or desirable to facilitate the economic, effective, efficient and timely discharge, on and after 1st April 2027, of the functions that, before that date, are functions of the county council or the West Surrey councils.

(2)

For the purposes of—

(a)

preparing, reviewing and revising the Implementation Plan,

(b)

discharging the article 6 and article 11 functions, and

(c)

discharging such other functions as may be conferred on it,

the West Surrey Joint Committee must have regard to the information supplied to the Secretary of State in support of the proposal for single tier local government in Surrey.

(3)

For the same purposes as in paragraph (2), the West Surrey Joint Committee must also have regard to—

(a)

the Spelthorne Borough Council Best Value Inspection report dated 17th March 2025^f1;

(b)

the Direction dated 8th May 2025 issued by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to Spelthorne Borough Council under section 15(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1999^f2;

(c)

the report dated May 2023 following an external assurance review of Woking Borough Council commissioned by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities^f3^f4;

(d)

the Direction dated 25th May 2023 issued by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to Woking Borough Council under section 15(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1999^f5;

(e)

the Woking Borough Council Commissioners’ reports dated 31st August 2023^f6, 7th December 2023^f7, 29th May 2024^f8 and 16th December 2024^f9;

(f)

any other Directions issued to Spelthorne Borough Council or Woking Borough Council by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government under section 15(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1999 on or after the date on which this Order comes into force;

(g)

any other reports published by Spelthorne Borough Council Commissioners or Woking Borough Council Commissioners, whether before the date on which this Order comes into force or on or after that date.

(4)

The West Surrey Joint Committee may, by written notice to—

(a)

the proper officer of the county council, or

(b)

the proper officer of any of the West Surrey councils,

require the council referred to in the notice to take such action relevant to any of the article 6 or article 11 functions as may be specified in the notice.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: In May 2024, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government appointed Lesley Seary, Mervyn Greer, Deborah McLaughlin and Peter Robinson to undertake an inspection of the compliance of Spelthorne Borough Council with the requirement of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1999 (c. 27) (as amended) in relation to the specified functions of the Authority, namely: governance; section 151 requirements and the strength of associated audit, scrutiny and risk arrangements; the capacity and capability across the organisation, and whether it was sufficient to meet the Best Value Duty; the adequacy of the Authority’s plans and capacity to address the recommendations made by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) to control its debt levels and reduce them over time; what an appropriate level of capital risk would be for the Authority; the Authority’s capacity to implement the new housing strategy; the impact the investment portfolio and its management had had on service delivery; and the prudence of financial decision making. The document is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spelthorne-borough-council-best-value-inspection-report or in hard copy from the Secretary of State on request to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.
f2: The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government issued a Direction to Spelthorne Borough Council on 8th May 2025 under sections 15(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1999 following an inspection and subsequent Best Value Inspection Report published on 17th March 2025. A copy of the Direction is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/681b78b9275cb67b18d87041/Spelthorne_Final_Directions.pdf or in hard copy from the Secretary of State on request.
f3: Functions of the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities were transferred to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government by the Transfer of Functions (Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government) Order 2024 (S.I. 2024/991), article 4.
f4: In January 2023 the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities commissioned a non-statutory review of governance, finance and commercial aspects of the council’s business and appointed a review team of Jim Taylor, Carol Culley and Mervyn Greer. The review team was asked to provide an external assessment of the council’s governance arrangements, financial situation, commercial investments and capacity and capability to manage these in the immediate and longer term. A copy of the report is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/646f17077dd6e7000ca9b348/Woking_Borough_Council_-_External_Assurance_Review.pdf or in hard copy from the Secretary of State on request.
f5: The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government issued a Direction to Woking Borough Council on 25th May 2025 under sections 15(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1999 following an external assurance review. A copy of the Direction is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/646f3b077dd6e7000ca9b389/Woking_Borough_Council_-_Directions.pdf or in hard copy from the Secretary of State on request.
f6: In May 2023 the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities issued Directions to Woking Borough Council, including for specified functions of the council to be exercised by Commissioners nominated by the Secretary of State. The Directions were issued under sections 15(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1999 following an external assurance review. A copy of the first Commissioners’ report is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65313f370b5392000da92a1b/Woking_commissioners_first_report.pdf or in hard copy from the Secretary of State on request.
f7: A copy of the Commissioners’ second report is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65798630254aaa0010050bdb/Cmmrs_Second_Report_to_SoS.pdf or in hard copy from the Secretary of State on request.
f8: A copy of the Commissioners’ third report is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/673c9c347e8a3c98a090fe54/Woking_Borough_Council_Commissioners__third_report.pdf or in hard copy from the Secretary of State on request.
f9: A copy of the Commissioners’ fourth report is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67c961e0d0fba2f1334cf2de/Woking_Borough_Council_Commissioners__fourth_report.pdf or in hard copy from the Secretary of State on request.