Reigate and Banstead

Reigate and Banstead is long, narrow borough, bordering on the London Borough of Sutton to the North and Gatwick to the South. It is split into 2 by the M25. To the North are a number of small settlements which rely on the main centre of Banstead for day to day services. To the South of the motorway are the main centres of Redhill and Reigate, the latter retaining much of its historic core. Further South, on the boundary with Sussex, is the expanding settlement of Horley.

There are pressures for infill development over the whole district and large houses on sizeable plots are being lost to either blocks of flats or small cul de sac of detached dwellings. As a result, there are concerns on the changing character of the residential areas, the loss of bio diversity and the inadequate infrastructure, particularly highway congestion and poor health services.

The Borough has the highest allocation for new housing in Surrey, as proposed in the Panel’s report into the South East Plan, and, as a result, there could be a loss of Green Belt land and increasing harm to the character of existing towns and villages.

Redhill, together with Reigate, is designated as a ‘hub’ where economic and residential growth is proposed. Despite the Council’s optimistic forecasts, CPRE Surrey has serious doubts as to whether it can ever seriously rival nearby Croydon and Crawley, and play a major role as a regional centre. Nevertheless, there are concerns that there will be losses of Green Belt land on its borders, particularly to the south-east of the town, to accommodate some of the required growth.

Major residential development is progressing on the northern side of Horley despite concerns by local residents and CPRE on the dangers of flooding and the adequacy of the highway infrastructure.

Even discounting the threat of a second runway at Gatwick, the number of flights is forecast to increase, aggravating the existing problems of noise, air pollution and traffic.

To the North of the M25, all the residents’ associations have complained to the Council at the scale of insensitive residential infill and lack of infrastructure to support the increasing number of households. Meetings are being held to work out priorities. A major concern is the lack of an overall planning framework and the delays in preparing the Core Strategy.

We welcome the Council’s strong policies on retaining the Green Belt, and support them at appeals, but are concerned that, with the high housing targets for this Borough, there will be ever increasing pressures for development. The Green Belt is at its narrowest in this part of Surrey and it is essential that it is retained in the most vulnerable areas around Banstead in the North, along the M23 corridor and to the S.E. of Redhill.

We welcome a report by Chris Burnett and Partners, which has been commissioned by Surrey County Council, the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and by district councils containing Areas of Great Landscape Value (AGLV), (including Reigate and Banstead) into whether AGLV lands should be re-designated. In our district the AONB is at its most narrow and we strongly support the report’s recommendation that large areas of countryside around Walton, Kingswood and Chipstead should be given the enhanced protection of AONB designation. The matter is currently with English Nature and we will continue to press for the recommendations to be implemented.

Some 13 local residents’ associations in the district are members of CPRE Surrey and a number are represented on our District Committee. We would like more volunteers to help with the work and are currently searching for a secretary to write up the minutes so please help if you are interested.
For more information, please contact our chairman, Gary Whitworth, on 01293 823921 if you live in the southern part of the Borough or Gillian Hein on 01737 355206 if you live North of the M25.