Newsletter - Sunday 31 May, 2026

By David Grantham

News in brief

Surrey County Council has reminded (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)residents about what to expect from the county’s grass-cutting programme (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). Urban verges get six cuts in the February to November schedule, but high-speed roads (which need extra safety measures for the work) and rural areas are cut twice. Cuttings may temporarily be left on pavements because separate teams return shortly afterwards to blow cuttings back to verges. “Blue Heart” verges, managed for biodiversity, receive a single annual cut later in the year

A burglar who used the train to search for homes to target in Surrey and Sussex, including Reigate and Merstham, has been jailed for six years (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). For seven months in 2025 and 2026 his method seemed to be working, but he could not evade CCTV and doorbell footage, which Surrey Police obtained. He was arrested in Brighton after using the train to carry out burglaries there. “He would commute regularly by train, find a place to break into, and brazenly travel home with a bag of stolen goods as if nothing had happened”, PC Luke Lightburn said, adding: “I am pleased that following months of determination and teamwork, we were able to hunt him down and get him behind bars”.

Reigate Heath Golf Club has won planning permission from Reigate & Banstead Borough Council for new greenkeeping facilities, including a new barn-style maintenance building, a service yard and the conversion of the empty Golf Cottage into offices and facilities for greenkeeping staff. Some smaller sheds and storage areas will be removed. Planning officers said (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) that the plans (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) were acceptable under green belt and landscape rules, and gave approval subject to conditions including landscaping and ecology.

A man at the centre of an operation that laundered over £330,000 stolen from people across Surrey, Essex and London has been sentenced to more than 8 years in prison. Between February and September 2019 homeowners were conned by the fraudsters into paying for unnecessary or poor repairs, and deposits for equipment that never arrived. More from Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards here (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre), including advice on how to choose a trader and how to deal with uninvited doorstep callers.

Police are appealing for witnesses to an incident in Warwick Road, Redhill, on Thursday (28 May). Surrey Police said: “Officers were made aware of a report of an incident that took place between 5:30pm and 6:30pm, during which two men were involved in an altercation and racially abusive language was directed towards a woman and four men walking along the road. One man in his 40s has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences.” Police would like to hear (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)from anyone who saw the incident, has information that could help their enquiries, or who has video footage of the area at the time.

Douglas House flats plan refused, but will return

Plans to create flats at the former Kimberly-Clark offices in Reigate have been rejected by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, but revised proposals have already been resubmitted.

The application (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) from Watercastle Douglas Ltd wanted to turn the ground, first and second floors of Douglas House into 37 one-bedroom flats. The lower ground floor would remain offices.

However, Reigate & Banstead planning officers last week ruled that two of the one-bedroom flats, labelled for two people, did not have large enough bedrooms under national minimum space standards.

The agent on the application, Allen Planning, says it has since resubmitted the plans, fixing the problem.

Officers said in their report (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) that the plans had met the other criteria that can be looked at under the permitted development rules for office to residential conversions.

On parking, officers noted that the building has a total of 87 spaces, sufficient for both the flats and offices.

The building has been empty since former tenant Kimberly-Clark relocated to Tadworth in 2022.

In 2023 the borough’s planning committee approved plans by a different applicant to replace the existing building with a larger office development (article here (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)), but a necessary legal agreement between the council and that applicant was never completed.

More electric charging bays planned at Morrisons

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Plans have been submitted to create more electric vehicle charging bays in the Morrisons car park in Reigate.

Motor Fuel Group’s scheme would create six charging bays at the Bell Street end of the site (pretty much opposite Wagamama / Bancroft Road).

The six bays and the associated kit would take the place of 13 current parking spaces, so a net loss of seven spaces.

From the drawings, the plans don’t appear to affect the two charging bays already located nearby in the car park.

Reigate & Banstead is due to decide the application (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) by 8 July.

First meeting for East Surrey

“So this is a moment, isn’t it? A milestone.” Those were the words of returning officer Mari Roberts-Wood as she introduced the first meeting of the East Surrey Shadow Authority on Tuesday (26 May), following the elections earlier this month.

The session (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre), held at Surrey County Council’s HQ in Woodhatch Place, Reigate, was mostly procedural, approving governance arrangements such as the constitution and committee structure.

The Liberal Democrats have 40 of East Surrey’s 72 councillors, and so run the authority: Steve Wotton (also a Reigate & Banstead borough councillor) was formally elected East Surrey’s leader at the meeting, and Kirsty Hewens its deputy leader.

Cllr Wotton told the meeting that the Lib Dems wanted to work collaboratively with other parties, adding: “I do firmly believe that together we can build a new East Surrey with thriving towns and villages, joined-up infrastructure, greener communities, better housing, with children's and adults’ services we can be proud of.”

Similar themes were picked up earlier this month by local Lib Dems when they posted (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre): “This is an amazing opportunity to get the basics right on key issues like roads, social care, special educational needs and housing.” However, they also flagged a need to tackle, during the shadow authority year, “an up to £35 million shortfall awaiting the first budget”.

It’s not until 1 April 2027 that East Surrey will take over services currently run by Surrey County Council and the five borough/districts of Reigate & Banstead, Tandridge, Mole Valley, Epsom & Ewell and Elmbridge.

In the meantime East Surrey will continue to hold its full shadow authority meetings at Surrey’s offices in Woodhatch Place, and committee meetings in council offices across the boroughs and districts. Reigate & Banstead’s town hall has been picked for the overview & scrutiny committee.

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