You may have seen in the news that there is a proposal by some councillors for the new West Surrey Council to be renamed West Surrey and South Middlesex.
Parliament has approved the Surrey (Structural Changes) Order 2026 (SCO), which means the current two‑tier system will be replaced by two new unitary councils on 1 April 2027. The SCO says that these new authorities will be called East Surrey Council and West Surrey Council.
At the full Surrey County Council meeting on 17 March, a motion was passed asking the government to rename the western unitary authority “West Surrey and South Middlesex.” However, this is not a decision for Surrey County Council and the motion has no legal basis to change the West Surrey name.
Any formal name change would need to be taken forward by the new council itself and approved by the Secretary of State.