Saturday 17 January, 2026

By David Grantham

In this issue: an entertaining June weekend in Reigate beckons at the Reigate Summer Festival; there’s been a discussion about how long residents have to wait for an allotment; work progresses on the new East Surrey and West Surrey unitaries with ‘voluntary’ committees formed; an office-to-flats plan has been approved (continuing a theme of 2025); plus more stories and news-in-brief.

Town arts festival to return this June

Now in its third year, Reigate Summer Festival will return to venues across the town over the midsummer weekend of Friday 19 - Sunday 21 June.

Volunteer organisers of the not-for-profit event say: “The festival brings together an abundance of local arts groups to deliver a weekend of wall-to-wall entertainment and give amazing performance opportunities to local talents, young and old. Come and enjoy live music, comedy, drama, dance, film, literature, art, fashion and cultural history.

“If you want to take part, there are creative workshops where you can develop your own talents, a fashion show and competition for local designers, and performance opportunities on the many stages around the town.”

More about what’s going on will appear on the festival website (Si apre in una nuova finestra), where there are also contact details, or you can follow @ReigateSummerFestival on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok, or sign up for emails here (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Fonteyn House flats plan approved

Planning officers at Reigate & Banstead Borough Council have now granted permission for office block Fonteyn House, near the level crossing, to become 23 flats (with 28 parking spaces).

Amanah Investments submitted the plans (Si apre in una nuova finestra) under national permitted development rules for office to residential conversions.

Reigate & Banstead refused a previous application in September because of the lack of a flood risk assessment, and some of the flats appearing to have insufficient natural light because of trees.

However, those things have been put right in the new application, according to planning officers (Si apre in una nuova finestra), with a satisfactory flood risk assessment now supplied, and a sunlight and daylight assessment provided showing adequate light.

The block joins other office block conversions approved along London Road in 2025: Castle Court (20 flats), Foundation House (21 flats) and Jellyfish House (20 flats) (different applicants in each case).

Planning permission doesn’t necessarily mean all those flats will actually be built; applications are sometimes made as a future safeguard.

Allotment waiting times under the spotlight

Reigate & Banstead residents are waiting on average between six months and two-and-a-half-years for an allotment, depending on which of the borough’s 24 allotment sites they’re interested in.

In total there are 1,210 plots, with 884 residents currently in the queue. Over the last three years, 437 plots have come up for grabs, working out as an annual turnover of 12%.

The figures were given to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) this week (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by Reigate & Banstead executive member Cllr Nadean Moses (Con).

Cllr Paul Chandler (Green) had earlier tried to find out the average waiting time, via a question submitted in advance of a 27 November borough council meeting. At that meeting Cllr Moses didn’t give the figure, but did provide other data (since slightly updated) which the Greens then used to arrive at an average figure of six years.

Cllr Chandler went on to call for more sites to be created, noting that the number of people on the waiting list is not so very different from the total number of plots.

Warning of “allotment deserts”, Chandler said that space could be provided at new housing developments, such as at Sandcross Lane.

But sites aren’t easy to come by, Cllr Moses told the LDRS, owing to limited land supply, competing pressures, and large parts of the borough being under protected designations.

And demand for allotments exceeding supply is a national problem, Moses said.

Where opportunities exist, the council will act, she added, with two new allotment sites at Westvale Park (Horley) opening shortly “reflecting our proactive approach to working with developers”.

Reigate & Banstead has more allotment plots than any other borough/district in Surrey, Moses also said.

But that last point may be of limited comfort: Reigate & Banstead is also the borough/district with the largest population.

New committees help prepare for local government shake-up

New “voluntary” committees met for the first time this week to prepare for the new East Surrey and West Surrey unitary authorities which will take over county and borough/district functions from 2027.

Each of the two committees has ten councillors (five county and five borough/district) and will start laying the groundwork for the new councils, including recommending temporary appointments.

Both committees will meet monthly until this May’s elections for East Surrey and West Surrey councils, which will operate as shadow authorities until ‘go live’ in April 2027.

More from Local Democracy Reporter Emily Dalton here (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

News in brief

A collision on Pebble Hill Road, Betchworth, happened last Saturday evening (10 Jan). Police were called shortly after 8.10pm to reports of a collision between a blue Ford Fiesta and a white Ford Transit van. A man in his 30s was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries; three others taken to hospital have since been discharged. Surrey Police want to hear from anyone who saw what happened or with information or video - details here (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

A gun wrapped in a scarf was found last year at a Redhill address linked to a Coulsdon man, who in December was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for drugs and firearm offences. He was “a key conductor in a county line that moved a significant quantity of drugs across East Surrey”, Surrey Police said (Si apre in una nuova finestra), adding that information from the public, however small, can help combat county lines (where drugs are moved between areas).

Barriers, signs, road surfaces and other Surrey County Council assets can of course get damaged. Instead of residents footing the bill, Surrey’s Damage to County Property Team was set up in October 2022, and since then has recovered £2m from responsible third parties, relating to 513 incidents. As a result, “more money is available to keep our roads safe and the network moving”, says Surrey (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Surrey Waste Tracker, a new report (Si apre in una nuova finestra) from the county council, sets out recycling and other data. In 2023-24 Surrey recycled 54.5% of its waste, putting it in second place compared to 28 other similar authorities. County Cllr Natalie Bramhall praised the figures and said: (Si apre in una nuova finestra) “I encourage residents to help keep Surrey at the top by checking what can be recycled and putting the right items in the right bins.”

Planning process continues in Lesbourne Road

Site owner Nordic Estates continues to try for planning approval at the former Utopia hairdressers at 35 Lesbourne Road.

Last year Nordic applied to convert “the vacant ground floor space” into “a 1 person / 1 bed studio flat”.

However, the pack also included a plan showing a basement bedroom. Because of that extra room and floor, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council refused permission (Si apre in una nuova finestra) this month, on the basis of national minimum space standards.

A new application (Si apre in una nuova finestra) from Nordic now clarifies (Si apre in una nuova finestra) that the application for the “1 person / 1 bed studio flat” relates “to the ground floor only and not the basement”, and does not include the basement drawing.

A decision is due by 20 February.

In September, the council refused (Si apre in una nuova finestra) Nordic’s plans to turn the shop into a takeaway, because of a lack of information on efforts to market the site for retail use, and missing detail on how the area, residents and road safety would be affected.

Burst main repaired

SES Water completed repairs and reopened London Road, Reigate, ahead of last Monday’s rush hour (12 Jan).

Both lanes were shut after a burst water main on Thursday 8 January, causing substantial disruption for those trying to use the one-way system, with lengthy official diversion routes - although many found other ways through back streets, at times causing congestion there.

Some local homes were without water for a period over the Thursday and Friday, with SES Water providing bottled water.

The company apologised to both customers and motorists, thanking them for their patience during the “complex repair”.

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