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Upcoming elections

Get ready to vote on 7 May 2026 for who will represent you on West Surrey Council. This will replace Surrey County Council and 11 borough and district councils (including Guildford) from 1 April 2027.

Find out more information about the upcoming election.

The Design Review Panel

What is the Design Review Panel?

If you propose to make large scale new developments in Guildford, you can get advice from the Design Review panel. Design South East (opens new window) organise the panel. It's made up of professionals who have expertise in:

  • architecture
  • urban design
  • landscape planning
  • building conservation
  • transport planning
  • sustainability

The panel's recommendations help improve the design quality of new developments. We strongly encourage developers to use the panel before applying for planning permission. The panel can continue offering design advice after an application too.

We recommend design reviews for any significant schemes in the area. These include:

  • developments which incorporate 100 or more new homes
  • developments which exceed 10,000 square metres of development floor space
  • developments which are in important locations or are very complex

The review process does not replace our pre-application advice service. It's usually only appropriate if your proposal also requires a pre-application enquiry.