Today, the villages of Bagshot, Lightwater and Windlesham are represented by a single 'Windlesham Parish Council', with a group of 18 councillors representing a Parish of over 17,000 people. To put this in context, 80% of parishes in England have populations of less that 2,500 and the average number of councillors is between 5 and 7.
The current arrangement is even an anomaly within Surrey Heath - the neighbouring Parish Councils of Bisley, Chobham and West End are all 'village-specific' and have much smaller groups of local councillors (see image to the left).
Over 700 Windlesham residents signed a petition in early 2019 requesting a review of these arrangements. They indicated that they want a smaller, standalone Parish Council with Parish Councillors representing all of the village of Windlesham.
The situation now is that 'North Windlesham' is no longer treated as a 'suburb' of Bagshot. Since May 2023, a new electoral ward has been created that means Windlesham voters can elect Windlesham councillors. We also managed to achieve a more autonomous operating model, with the intention that each of the three villages should be largely responsible for its own budget, decision-making and funding of projects. Through these changes, we believe there will be three big improvements:
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