“Poorly thought through rogue” moves to further centralise all of West Surrey’s major meetings have been put on hold in order to weigh up the benefits of keeping things spread across the newly formed authority.

In April next year, the council is set to fully take over all from Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Waverley, Woking, and Guildford, as well as the county, as part of local government reorganisation plans.

Currently it shares its shadow meetings, which are held to ensure it is ready next year, across its constituent councils. The rationale has been that it gives as many residents as possible the opportunity to take part – while also not creating a feeling of one borough being favoured over the others as it works out future staffing and technology logistics.

This week, at its November 2 shadow standards committee, officers recommended moving all the key meetings to the Guildford civic centre in Millmead, despite it being one of the more difficult to access locations.

Currently civic centre hosts the West Surrey full council – as it is one of the few sites large enough to host the 90 plus councillors as well as all the requisite staff.

This would have seen all meetings of the council, its executive, and standing committees such as licensing and planning, moved across as well – something the deputy leader slammed as “poorly thought out” and “random”. Cllr Shaun Macdonald said: “I know it’s a late modification, which I think just demonstrates how poorly thought through this random recommendation is.

“It is particularly important during major transformation for senior leaders to nurture the bond on trust with staff through transparent consultation to ensure they buy into change and secure its success. Poorly thought through proposals such as this rogue recommendation undermines the organisation’s ability to change going forwards.”

He said any changes must be underpinned by residents’ benefit and be thoroughly weighed up first and that the new committees should be shared across the authority rather than centralised in Guildford.

Cllr Leslie Rice (Liberal Democrat:Woking South West ) was surprised how the matter went from being undecided at the council’s last executive meeting to the recommendation.

He said: “I think there are a lot of questions that need to be asked about integrity, objectivity, openness, and accountability? And I’m not sure where the answers lie, but essentially we need to make sure that whatever we do, we do the right things, the right way.

“Im sorry, public confidence depends not only on the decisions being made properly, but on there being a clear and compelling evidence that they have been made properly.” He said the Nolan Principle of public life, ethical standards set up in 1995 by Lord Nolan, needed to be followed and cautioned against rushing into a position that could soon be regretted.

He added: “No stakeholder, elected member, employee, or member of the public, should be left with any reasonable grounds to question the integrity, impartiality, or correctness of the process, or suspect the outcome may be influenced by considerations other than those if the best interest of the council and the communities it serves.”

The committee deferred the vote to allow officers to report on the impacts of keeping council meetings spread versus the impact of further centralisation.