Would a move to Woking be crazy with the councils massive debt?

[movingtotheburbs]

We are/were planning to move from North London to Woking this spring/summer. We need more space, 2 kids in a 2 bed flat is getting tricky. Woking makes sense as we have family there, but we are worried about the council debt. Would you still move there? Or do you currently live there and have any insights? Any thoughts very welcome, thank you!

Most councils are in the shit at the moment!

True! But Woking is the worst by far 😬

tbh it would put me off

I wouldn't let the council's situation stop you from moving to a particular place.

Councils provide critical public services. Those services will always have to be provided. If the council is unable to balance their books ultimately the government will have to step in.

doesn’t stop services going to shit though

@movingtotheburbs how old are your dc? are they neuro diverse in any way? I would look at school rolls as. Tbh I would try & stay in London, have you looked at outer areas? better public transport

My son lives in Woking in the Holdsworth park side he has a mutch better quality of life with his 3 under 6 year old kids than he would in my area... Hillingdon....lovely schools, nice parks, fresh air on his doorstep, the library is still open and the pool but if it shuts others are not far away....his house was also cheaper than buying in my area.

It would really depend on the services you may need now and in the future.

The statutory services would likely be ok, but cut to the bone, but it's the knock on effects of run down park areas, poor car parks, closed public libraries, shoddy council leisure facilities like swimming - and the impact on those who are less well off and rely on these services more, rather than being able to source privately on your own resources.

If I had a disabled child for example, I'd be taking a really hard look at whether a move made sense.

Woking is a very varied area. Regardless of council debt, it's unlikely to collapse socially. It has super nice areas, and some considerably less so. Contrast Hook Heath and the Hockerings, with Sheerwater and Maybury Road.

Personally I wouldn't live there, but only because it's very built up, and I don't like the city feel. Goldsworth Park and Horsell basically nice and middle of the road.

We used to live in Goldsworth Park, but did all our shopping, socializing etc in Guildford.

If you can afford the risk of having to bail out the council via increased council tax then it shouldn't worry you.

@bessytedsy That's what I'm worried about. My DC are 7 and 18 months so we will need the library, pool, playgrounds for years for the little one.

@jannier Nice to hear about Holdsworth park, we don't know areas that well so will definitely have a look at that if we decide to move to Woking

@Timeforabiscuit Yes that's what I'm worried about, we won't have loads of spare money for private pools etc and would much rather use the public services.

@KnittedCardi That's good to know you used Guildford a lot, we are considering moving there instead as it's not too far for family

Councils cannot increase council tax by more than 4.99% without holding a referendum. No such referendum would ever pass because people don't like paying more tax.

The government determines the threshold each year. I wouldn't assume that the threshold will remain constant.

We live here and while we are gritting our teeth for council tax rises, and using the local pool as much as we can, I think it will be ok. The library is big and popular, I love pool in the park but there are other public pools nearby too, if need be. There are loads of green spaces - Horsell common, loads of places to walk, lots of different playground options. New cinema doing well, Guildford is better for shopping but you can still get plenty locally. Horsell is v nice.

Basically, if you think you will particularly need council services more than most, I’d look elsewhere. If you have a bit of wiggle room it’s a great place still.

I thought that the limit was 9.99% pa?

They are my council and we are budgeting for this increase each year for the foreseeable.

At least one of the three pools will close but honestly, they built two new ones in the last five years so I think there’s still plenty of cover.

Building schemes in sheerwater will probably not be fully finished but hopefully the nearly done ones will be done.

They are spectacularly bankrupt, it’s true, but I’m not sure how close to the edge surrounding councils are. Runnymede borders WCC and obviously others do too - could you look in one of those and still be close to family?

…nope, 4.99% is right. That’s good (for our budgeting!)

Worth remembering that Woking is just the district council whereas Surrey County Council deliver a lot of the critical (and expensive) statutory services like adult social care; children’s services and things like libraries, trading standard etc. the bulk of the council tax a resident in Woking pays goes to the County Council. Band D in 23/24 was around £1450 for the Surrey County Council element and just under £235 for the Woking Borough Council bit. So a 10% increase for the Woking element works out to an extra £23.50 for the year, or about 45p a week.

the Government have already given Woking dispensation to raise Council Tax above the usual referendum threshold.

it’s probably all the discretionary stuff they are proposing stopping that will be more noticeable than an extra 45p each week on council tax.

Woking, Slough and Thurrock councils have been allowed to raise their council tax above 4.99% without a referendum.
Thurrock Council told it can increase tax by 8% - BBC News

If you can afford Guildford, I think it's a better bet. I used to work in both Woking and did really like it there, but Guildford has a lot more to it I think. It's expensive though

I wouldn’t regard Goldsworth Park as one of the nicer areas either. Some of the villages on the outskirts are more pleasant, but public transport is poor.

I live in Woking.
It will be ok if you can afford council tax increases which seem to be 10% this year alone from what I heard.
Schools, libraries, social care etc are all run by Surrey, not Woking council.
I have disabled child myself. Social setvices breaks/special schools services are non existent after Surrey cut the budgets massively past 4 years.

We live in Goldsworth Park. It's nice and green, I live 7 min to Wairose and 7 min to Horsell. We are two bus stops to station.

Croydon also got dispensation to raise it above 4.99%, it suits central government not to have to bail out individual councils if they can raise the funds directly 🤷🏻‍♀️

Croydon has been bankrupt twice since we lived here. We still have the services we would want to access, but I would say that we don't have SEN children.

I moved to Woking in 2016 from SW London. I like it here. The town centre isn't the most exciting but the theatre is very good (all the big name comedians perform here) and it's close to Guildford and Kingston if you want a bigger shopping/nightlife experience. Great for nights out in London as lots of trains and quick late at night. And v easy for nice walks, RHS Wisley and Surrey has loads of national trusts etc.

I'm not overly concerned about the bankruptcy. As pp say a lot of services come under Surrey Council. I lived on Sheerwater for many years so I hope the regeneration is resolved (I think the government are putting up the cash so it isn't left as a derelict building site). It is a deprived area but it isn't an inner city ghetto, I liked living there. That said, I wouldn't consider the new builds on Sheerwater, they are right in the centre of what historically was the rougher part of the estate and school catchments for primary is v iffy. They are also hugely overpriced.

Woking council did a questionnaire a few months ago, which I wasn't very impressed with, asking residents to choose the services they wished to keep. I have young dcs but I'm not choosing an old leisure centre and playground maintenance over services for vulnerable adults and children 🙄. I'm in West Byfleet now which comes under Woking council but I'm on the borders with Runnymede and Elmbridge so there are plenty of playgrounds near me which Woking don't have responsibility for and I can use. New Haw and Byfleet are worth considering too (and not Woking council).

Also it's Goldsworth Park not Holdsworth(!)

If you do move here look very carefully in Surrey Council website at distance from schools stats. There are some blackspots for primary schools.

Thanks everyone it's really great to hear peoples opinions.

@Emollienttub Thanks for your detailed reply, great to hear from someone who currently lives there. Do you know where the primary school black spots are? Any you'd particularly recommend? It's quite hard to judge them without looking round but looking round is very tricky when you don't live in the place! Also there are so many...