Neighbourhood Area Committees

Neighbourhood Area Committees aim to bring people together and create real opportunities for local collaboration and insight gathering in towns and villages. The purpose and focus of the NACs is to:

• Understand key local issues​
• Agree priorities and champion collaborative action ​
• Promote preventative activity ​
• Support thriving communities​
• Act as advisory bodies (not constituted)​
• Supported by a range of engagement tools

We started with a pilot phase in four local areas in summer 2025 and reviewed the learnings in December 2025. It was endorsed at a Surrey County Council  Cabinet meeting in January 2026 to continue with the initial four pilot NACs until the March pre-election period. Elections for the shadow authority will take place in May 2026.  A press release with details of the proposals can be found here Neighbourhood Area Committees pilots seen as a success in turbo charging meaningful local engagement | Surrey News

The initial four pilot areas are:

• East Elmbridge
• Dorking and the villages
• North Tandridge
• Farnham

The latest Boundary Commission electoral divisions were used as the building blocks for each area. Boundaries have been adjusted to create a manageable number of potential NAC areas across new unitaries including taking into account:

• Total number of committees;
• Average population per area (c.50,000), while accommodating Surrey’s urban-rural diversity;
• A mix of parished and unparished areas

Learnings and insights gathered from the initial four pilot areas, have been used to shape how Neighbourhood Area Committees will be rolled out further across the county in 2026. This pilot phase in four areas has been  a “Test, Learn and Grow” process which has informed the design of future community engagement structures under a unitary authority model.

The potential to expand the pilot to one or two additional areas will be considered as part of this from May 2026 onwards and through engagement with the new Shadow Authorities once established.

Membership of the Neighbourhood Area Committees aims to comprise:

• Elected representatives: Elected members from Surrey County Council, District and Borough Councillors and Town and Parish Councillors
• Partner representatives: Key partners including representatives from Health, Police, Fire and Rescue, Education and Business.
• Community representatives: Voluntary Community Faith Social Enterprise (VCFSE) partners and nominated individuals from a range of relevant community groups to ensure diverse input
• Officer support: Surrey County Council Community Partnership Officers, plus additional officer support covering communications and engagement, research and policy, and subject matter expertise to be made available as resources allow.

We recognise that no single partner, member, VCFSE representatives or individual can speak for all organisations or communities in an area. Our approach aims to ensure broad and inclusive representation while remaining practical and focused. Each representative will bring their ownmviews while the structure of the NACs will encourage collaboration, shared learning, and agreement on local priorities.

In addition to the NAC meeting membership, we will look to create a network of stakeholders and seek relevant expertise depending on the topics discussed.

The NACs are not constituted so they do not have direct decision making powers. They will act as advisory bodies sharing local intelligence and insight with decision making organisations. Existing local authorities and partners do have a duty to implement any recommendation from the NAC.

We are very much in the design phase of shaping the committees. Partners will be coming together in each of the pilot areas, to work together to establish:

• Agreed terms of reference
• Membership representation and chairs
• Action plans and priorities for their NAC
• Meetings and engagement cycle
• Outputs and mechanisms for feedback and resident engagement

During the pilot phase, until end of March 2026, meetings with the pilot NAC working groups will be held privately. This is to give the groups time to build relationships and decide and shape together how future committee meetings should be run. Meeting formats will be reviewed as part of the overall pilot evaluation, considering format, outputs, venues, timings etc to ensure that members of the public will be able to engage with this work.

Meeting notes can be found on the engagement portal for each individual NAC.

East Elmbridge NAC engagement hub eastelmbridgenac.commonplace.is

Dorking and the villages NAC engagement hub dorkingandvillagesnac.commonplace.is

Farnham NAC engagement hub farnhamnac.commonplace.is

North Tandridge NAC engagement hub northtandridgenac.commonplace.is

Town and parish councils are key partners in this work. Their work is essential to ensuring that NACs are locally grounded and representative. We are actively engaging town and parish councils in the pilot areas and will work together with their representatives to determine their role.

Town and parish councils, where they are established in Surrey are vital partners in these pilots. However we recognise it is not feasible to accommodate representatives from all parish councils on the various NAC pilots. To ensure effective representation for the pilots we have asked each parish within the North Tandridge and Dorking and the villages pilot areas to nominate a contact to participate in discussions and agree on the representative(s) who will attend NAC meetings on behalf of all parishes in that area.

NACs will seek to complement the role of Town and Parish councils acting as an enabler and convener of local partners and not replacing Town and Parish Councils.  NACs operate at a broader geographic footprint than individual parishes. Their focus is on strategic alignment, prevention, shared priorities, partnership problem-solving and wider-systemic issues.

Town and Parish Councils remain the hyper-local experts and NACs depend on their insights. Town and Parish Councils have statutory powers and autonomy that NACs intend to complement. Planning issues among other statutory duties carried out by Town and Parish Councils will remain.

Each Neighbourhood Area Committee will have a unique context that will need to be considered. It’s important that membership reflects that context and partners involved will vary by area. Surrey County Council will work together with partners to ensure that the local geography and demography is reflected in the pilot membership.

Our modelling currently anticipates up to 24 Neighbourhood Area Committees could exist in Surrey. This will be reviewed following the pilot process, resourcing requirements, and partner availability.

Various options have been considered including an expression of interest process. However, due to time constraints, an alternative process has been proposed.

Stakeholders invited to participate in the initial planning workshops for the pilots NACs recommended that a pragmatic approach to appointing Chairs and Vice Chairs for the duration of the pilot period should be taken. Individuals who are well known in the local area and have support from identified partners would be approached and invited to become either the Chair or Vice-Chair.

Additionally, at least one of the positions would be held by an elected member from Surrey County Council or the relevant district and borough council. This approach would enable engagement with the Chair and Vice-Chair to start more quickly ahead of the first meetings and ensure they understand the concept and objectives of the pilots. This process has been coordinated by Surrey County Council officers in agreement with members of the NACs.

A fuller process of nominations/expressions of interest will be scoped to take place in the longer-term running of the NACs following evaluation and the potential future scaling up of the model.

Resident Associations (RAs) are locally formed voluntary groups representing specific neighbourhoods or estates. They are often non-political community bodies (although can be political) and are usually focused on hyper-local issues.

Neighbourhood Area Committees (NACs) are formal, structured partnerships created to embed place-based governance and strengthen engagement at a wider geographic scale. NACs have a broader remit than RAs as they bring together a range of local partners to align their priorities and determine actions and/or recommendations to achieve them.

Surrey County Council cabinet recommended on 27 January that RAs should be represented in the NACs going forward. This will help RAs work more closely with NACs and share local insights on hyperlocal issues that support the work of the NACs.

Neighbourhood Area Committees (NACs)  work within a network of partners and funding opportunities will be explored across this network and wider.

There is no confirmed devolved budget for NACs currently, but options are being explored in the context of LGR and transition to unitary authorities.

A Community Governance Review (CGR)  is a local review looking at of how local communities are represented and whether changes are needed. This is in regard to town and parish councils who are independent organisations. The review can include:

• Creating, merging or changing parish boundaries
• Naming new parishes or changing their style
• Reviewing the number of parish councillors or warding arrangements

When considering other local governance options. The NACs provide a robust and inclusive community engagement structure as part of Local Government Re-organisation and seek to have representatives from health sector, Surrey police, education and business sector, Voluntary Community Social Enterprise groups, local councillors, town and parish councils and community and resident groups.

CGR outcomes are local decisions for communities, districts and boroughs. Whatever the results, new parish councils being created, boundary changes, or existing arrangements staying the same, NACs will adapt to reflect the local landscape.

NACs are not designed to replace or supplant Town and Parish Councils and the role they play (and vice-versa).