The East Surrey shadow authority is established to prepare for the new East Surrey Council, which will take on responsibility for all local council services from Vesting Day (1 April 2027).
The new council will replace the current arrangements across Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead and Tandridge, as well as the services currently provided by Surrey County Council, bringing everything together under a single organisation.
During the shadow period, the authority is focused on putting the new council in place so that services can transfer smoothly and continue without disruption. You can use this page to find information about meetings, leadership, councillors and the latest updates.
The existing county, borough and district councils will operate as normal until 1 April 2027, and the existing county, borough and district councillors will continue in their roles until then.
Meet your East Surrey shadow councillors
See who is representing East Surrey and get in contact with your local shadow councillor to ask questions.
Contacting councillors
If your enquiry is about a council service or you need help with an issue, you should continue to contact your existing county, district or borough council, or your local councillor.
If your question is about local government reorganisation or the new East Surrey Council, you can contact your East Surrey shadow councillor.
Shadow councillors can answer questions about the new council but cannot deal with service enquiries or individual casework.
Shadow authority leadership
East Surrey Council has appointed councillors to key roles, including a Leader, Deputy Leader, Chair and Vice Chair. These roles help guide the work of the shadow authority during the transition period.
Appointments of Shadow Authority leadership roles:
- Chair, Cllr Nick Dodds
- Vice Chair, Cllr Neil Houston
- Shadow Authority Leader, Cllr Steve Wotton
- Shadow Authority Deputy Leader, Cllr Kirsty Hewens
Shadow Cabinet Executive Members have also been appointed to support specific areas of work during the transition.
Meet the Cabinet Executive Members
East Surrey Committees and meetings
Meetings and events take place throughout the shadow period. These provide an opportunity to follow discussions and see how plans are developing. You can find the papers (published at least 1 week before the meeting) and webcasts on the links. Webcasts are available for these meetings and will be available to view online for six months afterwards.
Meetings in July
- Shadow Authority Audit and Governance Committee on 6 July at 2pm
- Shadow Standards Committee on 7 July 2026 at 2pm
- Shadow Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 8 July at 2pm
- Shadow Authority Consistution Committee on 13 July at 2pm
- Shadow Authority Employment Committee on 15 July at 10am
- Shadow Cabinet Executive on 20 July at 2pm
- Shadow Authority meeting on 29 July at 2pm
Browse the Standards Committee meetings
Future meetings
- 7 July 2026 at 2pm
- 3 September 2026 at 2pm
- 3 November 2026 at 2pm
- 19 January 2027 at 2pm
- 11 March 2027 at 2pm
Constitution
East Surrey Shadow Authority Constitution - adopted on Wednesday 20 May
Notice of decisions to be taken and forward plans
By law, the East Surrey shadow authority must publish information about the key decisions it plans to make, including any decisions that are due to be discussed in private, at least 28 days before they take place.
East Surrey executive forward plan - July 2026
Asking questions at meetings
Members of the public are welcome to submit questions to a meeting of the Shadow Authority, Executive, Overview and Scrutiny Committee, or Audit and Governance Committee of East Surrey Council.
Questions should be addressed to a member, as follows:
- Meetings of the Shadow Authority - to the Chair of the Shadow Authority, the Leader, any member of the Shadow Executive, or any Committee Chair.
- Meetings of the Shadow Executive - any member of the Shadow Executive.
- Meetings of the Audit and Governance Committee or Overview and Scrutiny Committee - the Chair of the Committee
Questions must be no more than 150 words. You can ask up to 3 questions at a meeting, provided they are on materially different subjects.
If you wish to submit a question to a meeting, please do so by midday, seven clear working days before the meeting. This means that if the meeting is on a Thursday, questions must be received by midday on the Monday of the preceding week. Please send your question to monitoring.officer@eastsurrey.gov.uk
You are welcome to attend the meeting where you will have up to one minute to ask a supplementary question.
Further detailed guidance on questions from Members of the Public is set out in the East Surrey Shadow Authority Constitution.
Latest news and updates
You can stay up to date with the latest news from East Surrey, including announcements, progress updates and key decisions as planning continues.