New fees to be introduced in Surrey due to council's budget hole
Increased fees for bowls clubs, allotments and new parking charges are set to be put in place by Runnymede Borough Council
Last updated 10th Oct 2025
Fees and charges for a whole host of services are going up across a Surrey borough as it looks to deal with a £3.9million hole in its finances.
Runnymede Borough Council is introducing charges at some of its recreational car parks for the first time, slapping £5,000 fees on its bowls clubs, and adding to the costs of its garden waste service among a host of new costs being passed on to residents.
Among the charges are increases to allotment holders, as agreed originally in April of 29.5 per cent while the 11,692 subscribers to the council’s green waste’s collection scheme will also see increases depending on their bin sizes. Grieving families haven’t been let off either with cemetery fees increasing by 10per cent – the same hike facing cricket clubs.
The council has said it needs to make its discretionary services do more to pay for themselves as it approved the new increases at its Wednesday October 8 meeting of its environment and sustainability committee.
Critics said the increased fees, in particular bringing in charges at the previously free car parks, would have a damaging impact on the clubs that rely on them, and clog nearby streets.
Officers told the meeting: “Runnymede has offered historically low cost discretionary services but unfortunately financial risk restraints are now requiring us to adjust our charges were possible to reflect the true cost of service delivery.”
Chairing the committee was Councillor Dom Whyte (Liberal Democrat and co-leader of the council. He said: “As of the last medium term financial statement Runnymede has a £3.9m budget challenge to address.
“If circumstances were different we would like to be keeping a lot more of the charges where they are currently but we don’t have that luxury given where the finances of Runnymede stand.”
Officers said it expected the majority of services to increase by at least the rate of inflation and that the new parking charges at Heathervale, Englefield Green, Abbeyfield, Frank Muir Memorial Field, Ottershaw Memorial Field, and Hythe Park would create a fair and consistent playing field.
Opposing the parking charges was Cllr Scott Lewis (Conservative: Woodham and Rowtown) who said the issue had become toxic. He told the meeting: “Sport, recreation areas, it will affect the young, the elderly and the disabled.
“As a council we should be looking at making sure these parks are used, by everybody, as much as possible. Wellness is so important these days he said “and we’ve just shot it in the foot”
The council will charge £2.80 for stays over three hours which officers described as very reasonable and low-cost option for anyone needing to park for a longer duration.
Cllr Whyte added: “While you may consider it blah blah blah, it’s important to say that we as a council have a current budget challenge of £3.9m and we need to address that.
He added: “It’s not like we are charging exorbitant prices, we are charging reasonable moderate prices that we need to reinvest back into our estate of car parks.”