This site was produced by: LOCAL AUTHORITY PUBLISHING
Publishers for local authorities throughout Great Britain. View more Official Guides at www.officialguides.co.uk

Runnymede Services

‘A track record of delivering quality services’

Responsibility for Local Government services in Runnymede is shared between Runnymede Borough Council and Surrey County Council.

The Borough Council came into being in 1974 upon the amalgamation of the Urban District Councils of Chertsey and Egham. Based at the Runnymede Civic Centre in Station Road, Addlestone, it is one of eleven District/Borough Councils in Surrey. The Council provides a wide range of services, amongst them housing, leisure and recreation facilities such as sports centres, parks and open spaces, town planning and environmental health, including refuse collection.

The Council has won plaudits for its ground breaking community safety project, ‘Safer Runnymede’. An extensive network of high quality CCTV cameras, monitored 24 hours a day from a purpose built centre at the Civic Offices, has not only contributed greatly to a reduction in the local crime rate, but also helped to alleviate the fear of crime. Wrong doers can be tracked outside the Borough too as the cameras also monitor Staines, Ashford and Shepperton town centres on behalf of Spelthorne Borough Council. The initiative is, though, about more than just CCTV. Working in partnership with the Police and the County Council, it has brought about the introduction of community constables in local neighbourhoods, a programme to reduce vehicle speed on the Borough’s roads and action to tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour, vehicle crime, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence and race crime.

Generous provision is made for older people. There are various sheltered housing units around the Borough and a number of mostly modern and well equipped Day Centres. The latter offer meals, social activities and outings, advice on benefits entitlement and even hair dressing and chiropody services to those who choose to drop in. The Careline Community Alarm System provides over 1,500 vulnerable residents with a potentially life saving means of communication and support, a dial-a-ride transport service offers door to door transport for people with mobility difficulties and hot meals are delivered direct to the homes of the frail and elderly each day.

Residents elect Councillors to serve on the Borough Council for a period of four years. For this purpose the Borough is divided into 14 wards, each returning three Councillors, giving a total of 42 elected representatives responsible for the overall policy direction of the Council. In three years out of every four one third of the Councillors, one in each ward, stand for re-election. Councillors undertake official duties in their own time, receiving a small allowance to cover out of pocket expenses. The day to day management of the Council is the responsibility of paid employees who carry out the policies previously approved by Councillors.

An independent assessment by the Audit Commission, published in 2004, gave the Borough Council the top rating of ‘Excellent’, ranking it amongst the ten best performing district authorities in England. The Audit Commission found that the Council "has a track record of delivering a wide range of quality services". Plans are firmly in place to improve these still further in the years to come. Runnymede also consistently enjoys one of the highest public satisfaction ratings of all English District Councils.

The County Council, meanwhile, provides services such as education, libraries, highway/road maintenance and safety, Social Services and Trading Standards for all Surrey residents, including those in Runnymede. The Borough is represented on the County Council by six Councillors who are elected once every four years (in the year when there are no Borough Council elections). The County Council is based in Kingston Upon Thames but also has an area office at the Runnymede Centre in Chertsey.

LINKS

Runnymede Borough Council
www.runnymede.gov.uk
Telephone: 01932 838383
E-mail: generalenquiries@runnymede.gov.uk

Surrey County Council
www.surreycc.gov.uk
Telephone: 08456 009009