05/05/2023 - Voters in Reigate and Banstead have voted to continue Conservative control, uniquely in Surrey at Borough and District level.

It amounts to a vote of confidence in the hard work of local Conservative Councillors. It rewards two decades of sound local administration, providing value for money and making the Borough one we can be proud of.

Reigate and Banstead shares its success with Conservatives in Broxbourne, both having delivered on local housing need. This consistent delivery that has rightly won Reigate and Banstead more control over housing targets and the specific policy relating to delivery.

If Labour win in 2024, that local control will be abolished. Our community and it’s excellent quality of life is now peering over the brink of being sacrificed to meet the needs of others. This will be the effect of an imposed “duty to cooperate” and imposed national housing targets cascading down from the top, with developers’ plans being imposed by the Planning Inspectorate.

Our record of success will be turned as a weapon against us and our green areas and will start to disappear in short order. It would be better to take to the barricades now and help local Conservatives keep control local. By 2025 it might be too late!