East Surrey elections round-up

By David Grantham, 14 May 2026 (updated with a correction 15 May 2026)

The Liberal Democrats gained a majority on the future East Surrey Council at the elections held last Thursday (7 May).

Following the results, East Surrey’s 72 councillors comprise 40 Liberal Democrats, 10 Conservatives, 9 residents / independents, 8 Greens, and 5 Reform UK.

There are 36 wards in East Surrey, each with two councillors.

East Surrey will operate as a ‘shadow’ authority until stepping up to its full powers on 1 April 2027, when Surrey County Council and boroughs/districts such as Reigate & Banstead will be abolished.

The authority will meet for the first time next Wednesday (20 May) at Surrey County Council’s HQ in Woodhatch.

Among the items on East Surrey’s to-do list over the coming months will be whether to approve the setting up of parish and town councils as previously recommended by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council (article here (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)).

Results within Reigate & Banstead

Elections for the East Surrey wards falling within Reigate & Banstead yielded 20 councillors: eight Greens, five Liberal Democrats, four Conservatives, two Residents, and one Reform UK.

In the Reigate ward, Liberal Democrats Mark Johnston and Mike Robinson were the victors, with a small margin over the Conservatives. Unsuccessful candidates included current county and borough councillor Victor Lewanski (an independent since leaving the Conservatives in 2025).

In next-door Redhill West & Meadvale, the Greens’ Nick Abear and Elly Heaton narrowly pulled ahead of the Conservatives and Lib Dems, in a contest where all of them might have had hopes of success.*

In Redhill East & Earlswood North, the Greens won by a perhaps unsurprising landslide, given their strength in the ward at county and borough levels.

Other Green wins were a fairly tight victory over Reform UK in Merstham & Banstead South, and a more comfortable win over them in Earlswood & Reigate South.

As for the Conservatives, they achieved success in Tadworth, Walton and Kingston and in Banstead, Woodmansterne and Chipstead, in each case with Reform UK in second place.

In the north, the Residents in Nork & Tattenhams gained an unsurprising victory given their dominance in the area, while in the south the Lib Dems won a close victory over Reform UK in Horley West, Salfords & Sidlow.

Horley East proved the tightest battle and gave a split result: the Lib Dems and Reform UK each won a seat in a four-way melee with the Greens and the Conservatives.

*A previous version of this article had incorrect names for the winners in Redhill West & Meadvale - these are now correctly stated.

Results in detail (wards in alphabetical order)

The ten East Surrey wards that fall within the current Reigate & Banstead are listed below - all East (and West) Surrey results can be found on the Future Surrey website (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Earlswood & Whitebushes borough by-election

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council will disappear in less than a year, but last Thursday also saw a by-election in Earlswood & Whitebushes. This followed the decision by the Greens’ Ruth Ritter to stand down close to what should have been the end of her four year term. (Local government reform has extended the terms of borough councillors who were due for election this year.)

The Greens’ Robin Whitwell won the contest.

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