The West Surrey shadow authority is established to prepare for the new West 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 Guildford, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Waverley and Woking, 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 West Surrey shadow councillors
See who is representing West 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 West Surrey Council, you can contact your West Surrey shadow councillor.
Shadow councillors can answer questions about the new council but cannot deal with service enquiries or individual casework.
Shadow authority leadership
West 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 Penny Rivers
- Vice Chair: Cllr Masuk Miah
- Shadow Authority Leader: Cllr Paul Follows
- Shadow Authority Deputy Leader: Cllr Shaun Macdonald
Shadow Cabinet Executive Members will also be appointed to support specific areas of work during the transition.
West 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
Browse the Shadow Authority Constitution Sub Committee meetings
Future meetings
Links will be available soon.
Past meetings
Constitution
West Surrey Shadow Authority Constitution - adopted on Thursday 21 May
Notice of decisions to be taken and forward plans
By law, the West 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.
West 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 West 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, two working days before the meeting. This means that if the meeting is on a Thursday, questions must be received by midday on the Monday. Please send your question to monitoring.officer@westsurrey.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 West Surrey Shadow Authority Constitution.
Latest news and updates
You can stay up to date with the latest news from West Surrey, including announcements, progress updates and key decisions as planning continues.