As of the 20th April 2020 Reigate & Banstead Borough Council has already paid out 69% of its business grants to 1,205 out of 1,750 eligible businesses in the borough – over £16 million.

It is among one of the first local authorities to have started to make its grant payments. The Council has paid all businesses that have responded to our enquiry form so far, and is doing its best to contact the remaining businesses to complete the final payments. The total amount of business grants paid is expected to be around £24 million.

Click here to see the business grants news item in full

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council has repurposed its Harlequin Theatre in Redhill as a community support centre to co-ordinate essential assistance for its vulnerable residents.

The venue will be used to distribute food, medicines and essential supplies to high risk and vulnerable residents needing to stay at home, as well as to those in severe financial need.

The operation is being run by an army of Council staff redeployed from other roles and community volunteers. The theatre itself has been transformed with rows upon rows of shelving filled with food and essentials, ready to be sent out to those in need.

By Friday 17 April, the Community Support Centre at the Harlequin had sent out 622 food packages to vulnerable residents across the Borough

Click here to see the Harlequin news story in full

Don't forget the Horley Food Bank (run by Churches For Horley) is still operating and has various collection points across Horley for those wishing to donate. See their website for further details and for lists of what they need.

Reigate & Banstead are asking residents to be good neighbours by not having a bonfire at the moment.

Please hold on to your extra household waste until Community Recycling Centres reopen.

As most of you are now probably aware Reigate & Banstead had to suspend Garden Waste collections at the end of March in order to ensure there were enough staff to continue to collect general waste.

There has been an increase in household recycling of 34% compared to the normal amounts. To help make things as easy as possible for the refuse & recycling crews please see the video from them.

There has also been an enormous amount of praise for the crews through this difficult time, have a peek at this second video to see the thank yous they have received.

After much consideration and given the current situation in our country, we have sadly decided to cancel the Horley in Bloom Competitions for this year.

We may run some form of Photographic Competition later in the year, however this will be decided at a later date, so please keep photos of how your gardens, allotments etc are looking and also how you may be using outdoor spaces somewhat differently this year.

Reigate & Banstead are working with Millbrook Healthcare to administer their grant schemes and to provide Handy Person Services.

Handy Person Service
Millbrook Healthcare offers a subsidised handy person service for minor repairs, improvements and adaptations to the home and garden, for elderly (over 60 years) or disabled clients.

Safe and Secure Grants
This is a new grant offered by the Council, which provides up to £3,000 of handy person services free to the customer for eligible residents.

For more information on both of these click here to go to Reigate & Banstead's website

Policing as usual continues in Surrey, despite the extraordinary times we are living in. Every contact we receive is assessed and prioritised to ensure we are where we are most needed to keep the public safe.
 
Sarah Durston, Department Head of the Contact Centre said “We massively rely on the public’s help when it comes to being our eyes and ears in Surrey. We appreciate those of you who have been reporting those breaching the measures – these reports help us tackle issues that would otherwise spread Coronavirus further into our communities."
 
“Do contact us if you need us, but in this time of unprecedented demand, to help us manage and prioritise reports effectively we politely ask that you check the Government guidance before making a report. We are asking you to make the right call as to whether there has been a breach of the ‘stay at home’ measures so that we can respond effectively. This will help us to reduce demand so we can focus our resources on those who genuinely need our help. In an emergency, always call 999."
 
“Every report we get has to be individually assessed and we prioritise our response to the matters where there is most risk of harm or a crime is being committed at the time, so we may not always be able to respond immediately."
 
“If you are concerned that a neighbour is breaking the stay at home guidelines, do consider having a polite conversation with them in the first instance, while maintaining social distancing measures – there may be a legitimate reason they are going out, such as buying medical or food supplies for vulnerable members of the community."
 
“Please bear in mind we have different ways of responding to reports, not all of which will necessarily be visible to the public. We may contact individuals and businesses by phone rather than sending officers out to people’s houses."

Although the Town Council Offices are closed at the moment Horley Town Council staff and Councillors are still working (albeit from a variety of kitchen tables and spare bedrooms.)

We can be contacted on our individual email addresses or at town.clerk@horleytown.com

If you would prefer to speak to us by phone we can be contacted Mon-Fri 10.00am to 4.00pm on 07946 055897

Please pass the information contained in this newsletter to your friends and family and we hope you stay safe and well.