Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 4 September 2026, to Question 20241, on West Surrey Council, what is the timetable for the consideration of the request to name the council as West Surrey and South Middlesex, and whether the council requires the permission of the Secretary of State to rename itself once it is vested.

I wrote to the Leader of West Surrey Council on 30 October setting out that amending a Structural Changes Order was not an appropriate route for changing a council’s name, and that West Surrey Council may wish to take legal advice on the scope of any power under the Local Government Act 1972 to change its name of its own accord.

More broadly, section 74 of the Local Government Act 1972 does not require the permission of the Secretary of State in providing that a council may change its name with the support of not less than two-thirds of members voting at a meeting convened specifically for the purpose. The Act also sets out that notice of any change of name must be sent to the relevant Minister and other bodies specified in the legislation.