Highways Magazine – Surrey Sources from Districts and Boroughs

Surrey County Council is taking over responsibility for managing shoulders and on-street parking from local councils to ‘ensure a consistent approach’.

The higher authority currently has agreements in place with eight district and borough councils to manage the verges on its behalf, while all on-street parking measures are managed by the districts and boroughs.

From April 2025, the county council said it would run these two services internally.

Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Transportation, Infrastructure and the Economy, said: “We appreciate the hard work our district and borough teams have undertaken on our behalf. However, as we continue our mission for a greener future, now is the time to take back yard cutting and weed control in-house to allow us to focus our efforts on the continued improvement of biodiversity throughout the county. We will continue to regularly cut intersections and sightlines to keep residents safe.

“We also know how important parking is to residents and by managing on-street parking across the county, we can ensure it is fair and consistent. We will also be looking at options to improve our systems and make processes as easy as possible for all Surrey residents.

The county council said it aims to “promote biodiversity by promoting the flowering of wildflowers on suitable motorway edges and will continue to test more sustainable approaches”.