FOI release

Executive Correspondence and Appraisals on Ash / Aldershot Cross-Border Governance

This request was refused in part, so we didn't provide some of the information the requester asked for. This may include information where we can neither confirm nor deny that we hold it.

Case reference FOI2026/01819

Received 24 August 2026

Published 23 September 2026

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am requesting access to recorded information held at the executive level regarding cross-border governance, infrastructure strain, and boundary reviews affecting the Ash wards and Aldershot town boundary.

Please provide all recorded data, internal briefings, and correspondence regarding the following four points:

  1.  Chief Executive Correspondence: All emails, letters, and meeting minutes sent or received by the Office of the Chief Executive over the last 3 years containing the keywords "boundary review", "LGBCE", "Principal Area Boundary Review", or "border realignment" specifically regarding the Ash parish or Ash wards footprint.

  2.  Cross-Border Infrastructure Impact Studies: Any joint impact assessments, briefings, or shared reports held between Rushmoor Borough Council and Guildford Borough Council regarding the strain of Ash residential developments on Aldershot’s infrastructure (including roads, highways, and public services).

  3.  Monitoring Officer Legal Briefings: Any recorded legal advice, options papers, or constitutional briefings held by the Council’s Monitoring Officer regarding boundary anomalies or the statutory test of "Community Identity" for the border areas between Surrey and Hampshire.

  4.  Member of Parliament Escalation Logs: Any recorded correspondence between the Office of the Chief Executive and the local Member of Parliament (MP) regarding constituent complaints or queries about the Ash/Aldershot boundary line over the last 24 months.

 

Response

Thank you for your recent request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Please find the answers to your queries below:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am requesting access to recorded information held at the executive level regarding cross-border governance, infrastructure strain, and boundary reviews affecting the Ash wards and Aldershot town boundary.

Please provide all recorded data, internal briefings, and correspondence regarding the following four points:

  1.  Chief Executive Correspondence: All emails, letters, and meeting minutes sent or received by the Office of the Chief Executive over the last 3 years containing the keywords "boundary review", "LGBCE", "Principal Area Boundary Review", or "border realignment" specifically regarding the Ash parish or Ash wards footprint.

Search terms used for this section:

‘Boundary review Ash Aldershot’

‘LGBCE Ash Aldershot’

‘Principal Area Boundary Review Ash Aldershot’

‘Border realignment Ash Aldershot’

‘Ash Aldershot PABR’

Search covers period of 1st January 2023 to 23rd September 2026 inclusive and is based on a search of the Chief Executive’s inbox.

Please find attached all of the correspondence we have found.

 

  2.  Cross-Border Infrastructure Impact Studies: Any joint impact assessments, briefings, or shared reports held between Rushmoor Borough Council and Guildford Borough Council regarding the strain of Ash residential developments on Aldershot’s infrastructure (including roads, highways, and public services).

We have no records of any joint impact assessments, briefings or shared reports held specifically between Rushmoor Borough Council and Guildford Borough Council regarding the strain of Ash residential developments on Aldershot’s infrastructure.

However, there is information regarding various infrastructure schemes in Ash which is publicly available on our website via the following links:

https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/26920/What-you-need-to-know-about-Ash-Road-Bridge

https://democracy.guildford.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=17435

https://democracy.guildford.gov.uk/documents/s2465/14p01870%20-%20land%20south%20of%20guildford%20road%20ash%20aldershot%20gu12%206bs.pdf

https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/27109/Neighbourhood-planning-in-Ash

I have also attached various publicly available reports about Ash neighbourhood plans etc.

As such, the information you require can be found from publicly available sources and consequentially under Section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible.

 

  3.  Monitoring Officer Legal Briefings: Any recorded legal advice, options papers, or constitutional briefings held by the Council’s Monitoring Officer regarding boundary anomalies or the statutory test of "Community Identity" for the border areas between Surrey and Hampshire.

A search of the Monitoring Officer’s inbox for the period 1st January 2023 to 23rd September 2026 using the key terms ‘Ash Aldershot boundary’, ‘Ash Aldershot PABR’, ‘LGBCE Ash Aldershot’, ‘Boundary review Ash Aldershot’, ‘Principal Area Boundary Review Ash Aldershot’ and ‘Border realignment Ash Aldershot’ has found zero results. Therefore, we do not hold any information related to this point.

  4.  Member of Parliament Escalation Logs: Any recorded correspondence between the Office of the Chief Executive and the local Member of Parliament (MP) regarding constituent complaints or queries about the Ash/Aldershot boundary line over the last 24 months.

The Council has conducted reasonable and proportionate searches and has not identified any recorded information falling within the scope of this part of the request

 

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team

Guildford Borough Council

Documents

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