It is fair to say that Guildford Borough Council has been through the wringer in recent years, having come close to having to declare itself as bankrupt in 2023. Since then, though, the path to recovery has been a well-trodden one, with many involved with the council doing what was necessary in order to get back on the straight and narrow.
The Local Government Chronicle Awards for 2026 have recognised the steps taken over the past few years, shortlisting them for the ‘Most Improved Council’ award. There is a hope within the council itself that they can win the award, which would prove how well everyone has done recently.
What Happened
For a time, Guildford Borough Council boasted an environment in which the budgets ‘skyrocketed’, which eventually led to the commissioning of a report in 2024 that looked into how millions of pounds had gone missing from the housing department. The fear at the time was that it had been a case of fraud, with two staff members at the council being arrested and five agency workers having their contracts terminated. An investigation into possible fraud ended up being escalated, whilst the report was also critical of the way in which Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council worked alongside each other.
In 2025, the government confirmed that Surrey County Council, as well as the 11 borough and district councils in the area, would be replaced with unitary authorities. Those plans included the merging of Guildford with Woking, Spelthorne, Runnymede, Surrey Heath and Waverley into the West Surrey Council, which would have then been saddled with a combined debt figure of around £4.5 billion. For its part, Guildford Town Council did what it could in order to get itself in order, following the threat of bankruptcy that had been hanging over it since the middle of 2023, when services had to be ‘cut back to the bone’.
Where the Council Is Now
A big part of the reason why the Guildford Borough Council thinks it deserves to win the ‘Most Improved Council’ award comes from just how much progress has been made in such a short period of time. Three years after those bankruptcy threats, the council has managed to get its finances level once again in a move that was described as an ‘extraordinary achievement’. Not that the return to normalcy came without a price, with measures including an increase to the price of parking charges, a 2.99% increase in council tax and rate rises for tenants living in the town. Those pains were unquestionably for the greater good, however.
They meant that the council is now in a situation where it is able to fund all of its services across the final year without the need to rely on reserves. That is the perfect situation to be in ahead of the move next year to merge it with neighbouring authorities in the formation of the West Surrey Council. The turnaround has been able to happen because of ‘direct intervention’, putting the council into a ‘robust position’ whilst also boasting ‘good levels of reserves’. The council is now able to continue offering people the services that residents of Guildford rely on, including waste, recycling and environmental services.
An Award-Winning Council?
What Guildford Borough Council has achieved shouldn’t be sniffed at. In the same period that cuts were being made and work was being done to get the council back onto an even keel financially, Woking, a neighbouring council, had to effectively declare itself bankrupt. Both transparency and the strengthening of financial controls helped to move the council in the right direction, which many are hoping will lead to the council being given the award. The Chief Executive of Guildford Borough Council, Pedro Wrobel, referred to what it has been through as ‘quite a journey’, which definitely feels like a touch of understatement.
Wrobel continued, “I cannot be prouder of the progress that we have made together. To be shortlisted as one of the most improved councils in the country is an encouraging signal that we are moving in the right direction.” The leader of the council, Julia McShane, said, “Being shortlisted in the LGC Awards is a real credit to the hard work of our staff, councillors, residents and partners, who have all helped to drive our Improvement Plan forward with energy and commitment. We know there’s more to do, but being recognised shows that the changes we’re making are real, measurable, and already making a difference for our communities.”
When the Result Will Be Confirmed
Having done the incredibly hard work of getting the council back on track as far as its finances are concerned, everyone associated with Guildford Borough Council now faces an anxious wait to find out whether or not the Local Government Chronicle Awards will reward them with the award for ‘Most Improved Council’. The award itself is one that is designed to recognise the senior management teams in local authorities that have been able to organise a successful change or reform, which has then resulted in a genuine improvement, regardless of the position that the council was starting from originally.
There is little doubt that that is a box that Guildford Borough Council has been able to tick, given the fact that more than £18 million had to be carved out of the annual budget a little under three years ago so as to avoid a Section 114 notice being issued. The Local Government Chronicle Awards are scheduled to take place in June, meaning that there are still a few months before we will know if the award is heading Guildford’s way. That will allow for some arguments to be made on the council’s behalf so as to ensure that the work that everyone concerned has done will be rewarded appropriately.