Tuesday 17 February, 2026

By David Grantham

Planning success for Reigate estate agent

Estate agent Robert Leech has finally won permission to build upwards at its premises at 1-3 High Street.

Two one-bedroom flats will be created: one in converted office space on the existing first floor, and one in a new “mansard” roof to go on top.

The locally listed building, which has Georgian elements, used to have four storeys, but in 1951 notable architect Brian Courtenay Sherren cut the building down to the present two.

Previous applications by Robert Leech, in 2019 (adding one storey plus habitable roofspace) and 2020 (just an extra storey), were refused by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council largely on the basis that the pre-1951 building had itself been too big.

Robert Leech also lost an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate on the second refusal.

Commenting on the latest (more modest) plans, the borough’s conservation officer, John McInally, said the building was significant not just for the remaining Georgian elements, but also because of Sherren’s “elegant” remodelling in 1951.

He added: “The building is interesting as an example that, because something was there in the 19th century, [this] does not necessarily mean it was good. The Georgian building was overlarge and ungainly, and its reduction in 1951 greatly improved the townscape.”

“The challenge therefore with the present application was to see if a roof extension could be achieved that was not out of scale with its neighbours and respect of the existing building.

“It is considered that the present proposal is passable as it is a careful and well detailed use of traditional Georgian mansard form and is in scale with the original buildings and neighbouring buildings, which are statutory and locally listed.”

Reigate & Banstead planning officers approved the plans (Opens in a new window), subject to conditions, on 12 January.

Reigate Priory Junior School move gets go-ahead

Surrey County Council’s cabinet has approved moving Reigate Priory Junior School from Priory Park to Woodhatch Place on Cockshot Hill, next to Surrey’s HQ, ending several years of uncertainty.

If construction starts this year, the new site could open in 2028.

The current Grade I listed Priory Park building is said by the council and the Department for Education (DfE) to no longer be suitable for delivering modern education, accessible to all, and proposals to upgrade the site are not feasible or economically viable.

Around £2.1 million has been spent on essential maintenance over the past decade — more than 1,300% higher than comparable schools.

A public right of way also runs through the school’s grounds, a safeguarding concern which Surrey says can’t be fixed.

The project is expected to receive £10.7 million from the DfE’s Priority Schools Building Programme, alongside School Basic Need capital funding. Surrey believes that further delays could jeopardise this money.

Highways measures for the new site include a 20mph limit on Cockshot Hill, upgraded crossings, traffic calming and a shuttle bus for families from the north of Reigate.

Headteacher Oliver Moses spoke at the cabinet meeting, supporting the move, saying “time is of the essence”, and that continuing delays had worsened issues on the current site such as safeguarding, health & safety, inclusion for pupils with special needs and staff wellbeing.

But the project continues to be controversial. County Cllr Victor Lewanski (Independent, Reigate) told the meeting that he had received more than 700 emails from residents, including concerns about traffic, walking routes and limited parking.

Planning permission for the new building was granted last July (the second attempt), but Surrey was waiting to hear the findings of an education working group looking at primary school places in Reigate.

The group’s consensus was that Reigate should move to all-through primary schools, rather than the current mix of infant schools and junior schools (such as Reigate Priory), but did not agree on how places would be arranged.

Surrey’s cabinet report concluded that even if all the relevant parties go on to approve an all-primary approach, and how places should be allocated across schools, the earliest that changes could be made is September 2030, and that there is a need to move Reigate Priory sooner than that.

Links:

• Article from Emily Dalton, Local Democracy Reporter (Opens in a new window)

• Meeting agenda, minutes and webast (Opens in a new window) including report (Opens in a new window)

Greens gain a councillor

Cllr Jenny Orchard, a Town & Village Independent at Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, has switched to the Greens.

The other Town & Village Independent, Cllr Mark Smith, also in the same Redhill West & Wray Common ward, has agreed to work closely with the Greens, while remaining an independent.

Cllrs Orchard and Smith were Labour councillors before becoming Town & Village Independents in 2025.

Cllr Orchard said she was delighted to join the Greens, and was looking forward to working with them to make residents’ lives better.

Green group leader Cllr Jonathan Essex said (Opens in a new window): “I’m very pleased to welcome Jenny to the Greens. We have been working closely with her and Mark over the months since they left the Labour Party, and their support and contributions will be invaluable.”

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council now has 17 Conservatives, 14 Greens, 6 Residents, 4 Lib Dems and 4 independents.

Belfry hosts new NHS test facility

A new Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC) in Redhill’s Belfry shopping centre welcomed its first patients on 26 January.

The centre will provide patients with faster access to tests such as CT scans, X-rays, ECGs, ultrasounds and respiratory tests.

The service is available by referral, with GPs able to directly request appointments.

The centre is expected to provide nearly 40,000 tests in its first year, as it progresses to a 12-hour seven-days-a week service, reducing waiting times and journeys to East Surrey Hospital.

SASH NHS Trust has thanked (Opens in a new window)Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board and the Belfry for working with it.

Frank and Rita come to Horley

Comedy Educating Rita opens tomorrow at the Archway theatre in Horley (Opens in a new window), running 18 - 28 February.

Willy Russell’s stage play (the original version, before the 1983 film came along) is a two-hander, featuring only Frank, a jaded middle-aged university lecturer, and Rita, a spirited working-class hairdresser from Liverpool.

“This play explores not only their own feelings, but also themes of class, educational potential, identity, and just what constitutes personal fulfilment”, says the Archway, adding “Touching, witty, warm and humorous, it promises to be a great night of theatre”.

It’s 40 years since the Archway last put on the play (1986).

Solar-powered bins bring efficiencies and award

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, together with supplier Future Street, has won a silver Green World Award (Opens in a new window) for its 120 solar-powered compacting “Big Belly” litter bins, installed in November 2024.

As well as holding more rubbish because of the compacting feature, the bins alert cleansing teams when they are 80% full.

This reduces trips, fuel costs and CO₂ emissions, and prevents overflow.

The council says (Opens in a new window) it now spends 50% less time emptying bins, freeing staff for other cleansing tasks, and that, for example, street litter at December’s Reigate Christmas Fayre was down by two-thirds.

Funding for the bins came from developers’ contributions to the Community Infrastructure Levy.

In brief

Borgo, the new Italian restaurant opening where Banana Tree and Cafe Rouge used to be, at 1 Church Street, will be run by the same company behind Cucina, a popular Italian in Oxted, they have confirmed to me. Opening is “tentatively around April”. And it is just the ground floor - they’re not involved with the new flats being marketed (Opens in a new window) on the upper floors.

Pub in the Park is not coming to Reigate this year, but its founders are putting on Sound Bites (Opens in a new window), Fri 10 - Sun 12 July, in Priory Park. “Across one flavour-packed weekend, expect live-fire cooking, chef demos, street-food heroes, craft drinks and tasting sessions that capture the county's creative spirit. As the sun sets, headline acts, bands and feel-good DJs take over — turning the park into one big open-air celebration.”

Expanded specialist SEND units at Dovers Green School, Reigate, and St Matthew’s School, Redhill, were among the 2024-25 projects (Opens in a new window) supported by Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money, collected from developers by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council. Smaller supported projects included all-weather footpaths connecting homes with Priory Park and Reigate town centre, and refurbishment of the ‘little libraries’ in Priory Park and elsewhere. A total of £2 million of CIL was spent across the borough during the year, with £22 million now gathered since CIL’s creation in 2016.

Source in Surrey is a Surrey Chambers of Commerce initiative, supported by Surrey County Council, to connect small and medium-sized businesses with larger organisations, for major contract opportunities. Free roadshows are taking place (Opens in a new window) - including one at Reigate Manor hotel on 24 March - which will include a keynote session from a business leader and an introduction to an AI procurement platform.

Moon Hall, an independent school off Flanchford Road that offers mainstream education for children with dyslexia, is to open a new satellite school (Opens in a new window) within the grounds of Copthorne Prep (near Crawley). The new school, Moon Hall Copthorne, will have its own base within the “extensive Copthorne campus” and will enable “much-needed provision” for families across a wider area.

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