Surrey

Ceremonial County in England

Region: South East

§ This page provides an overview of an England's ceremonial county. Our website has 48 such county pages.

Overview ⁞ Surrey borders London and is a wealthy and densely populated county with a mix of commuter towns, leafy suburbs, and countryside. It has no cities, but towns like Guildford, Woking, and Epsom are major centres. The Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) covers a large part of the county. It is governed by Surrey County Council and eleven borough and district councils.

Is Surrey a historic county? Yes—Surrey is a historic county. Administratively, it is a shire county with a county council and several district and borough councils.

Surrey has 11 Local Authority Districts. The chart below shows how this compares with other counties in England.

Number of local authority districts in Surrey and other counties — Number of local authority districts in Surrey, compared with other counties

This county page, Surrey, is a sub-page this region page: South East. It zooms in to local authorities, administrative districts, and parliamentary constituencies in this county. We have this list page for easy browsing of all historic counties, ceremonial counties, and administrative counties: List of all counties in the UK.

Local Authorities in Surrey

Surrey County Council (County Council) 🔗 surreycc.gov.uk
Elmbridge Borough Council (District Council) 🔗 elmbridge.gov.uk
Epsom & Ewell Borough Council (District Council) 🔗 epsom-ewell.gov.uk
Guildford Borough Council (District Council) 🔗 guildford.gov.uk
Mole Valley District Council (District Council) 🔗 molevalley.gov.uk
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council (District Council) 🔗 reigate-banstead.gov.uk
Runnymede Borough Council (District Council) 🔗 runnymede.gov.uk
Spelthorne Borough Council (District Council) 🔗 spelthorne.gov.uk
Surrey Heath Borough Council (District Council) 🔗 surreyheath.gov.uk
Tandridge District Council (District Council) 🔗 tandridge.gov.uk
Waverley Borough Council (District Council) 🔗 waverley.gov.uk
Woking Borough Council (District Council) 🔗 woking.gov.uk

Surrey, in England’s South East region, has a two-tier system of local government with Surrey County Council overseeing county-wide services such as education, transport, and social care, alongside 11 borough and district councils that manage local responsibilities including planning, housing, and waste collection. These are Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Guildford, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Tandridge, Waverley, and Woking. Together, the county and district councils govern a diverse area that includes historic towns like Guildford, market centres such as Dorking and Farnham, commuter hubs like Woking and Epsom, and extensive countryside within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, balancing county-wide provision with locally focused services.

Districts in Surrey

In the International Territorial Levels (ITLs) hierarchy, Surrey is within one of ITLs Level 2 area, Surrey, East and West Sussex, that contains the following 6 ITLs Level 3 areas:

(ITL 1) South East
(ITL 2) ⇒ Surrey, East and West Sussex
(ITL 3) ⇒⇒ Brighton and Hove ⁞ East Sussex CC ⁞ West Surrey ⁞ East Surrey ⁞ West Sussex (South West) ⁞ West Sussex (North East)

Constituencies in Surrey

A constituency is a specific geographical area that elects one Member of Parliament (MP) to represent them in the House of Commons. The United Kingdom is divided into 650 parliamentary constituencies, 13 of them are in Surrey.

Local Authorities in Surrey

Districts in Surrey

Constituencies in Surrey

Counties in South East