Edward Hawkins is the Surrey County Councillor for Heatherside and Parkside. Previously, Edward served as Borough Councillor for Parkside Ward at Surrey Heath for over 20 years, with his wife Josephine serving alongside for most of that time as a fellow Ward Councillor.
Whilst at Surrey Heath he held a number of roles including Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder Finance as well as chairing various Select Committees, mostly dealing with the built environment and finance.
In his last role at Surrey Heath, which he has held from 2011 to 2023, Edward was Chairman of the Planning Applications Committee. As a Chartered Surveyor with a background in property, whether for occupational purposes or development / investment, he was ideally suited for this role.
In addition to chairing PAC, he is a member of the Local Plan Working Group and the Property Investment Working Group. These roles also call on his property background and experience. The Local Plan Working Group is a joint member and officer group charged with delivering the Local Plan for Surrey Heath, a statutory development framework against which economic development and planning applications and will be judged for the next 15 to 20 years. The Property Investment Working Group reviews all the major investment items in Surrey Heath with the aim of building on and increasing the vitality of the Borough.
In 2017, Edward was elected as Surrey County Councillor for Heatherside and Parkside.
With the cohort of new Councillors, work began on turning round the budget deficit that existed. Many hard decisions were taken to reshape the finances and the way that the work of the County was carried out. This also included a new Leadership team who have taken Surrey forward and as a result the County is now able to deliver both a balanced budget and increased investment in the County’s front line spending.
Not only did the services need to be reshaped but there was also the costly and inefficient County Hall in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, and the County’s occupational and property investment portfolio. Edward was part of a small team that produced a strategy for the better use of the occupational estate and disposal of redundant property to both reduce costs and generate capital. This strategy was adopted by the Council in 2019 with the result that County Hall was sold and a new Headquarters building established in Reigate.
Now in his second term at County, Edward has carried out a number of roles again drawing on his property and financial governance background including as a Director of Halsey Garton Property – the property investment company for SCC. When he joined the portfolio was heavily weighted towards retail, however it has gradually becoming more balanced.
Edward has also served as Vice Chairman of the Planning & Regulatory Committee, a member of the Audit & Governance Committee and Vice Chairman of the Local Area Committee and most recently Deputy Cabinet for property where he continued to expand the earlier property strategy. Edward now sits on the Resources & Performance Select Committee.
Away from County Hall, he is a SCC appointed Stakeholder Governor at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and the County’s representative on the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership.
