The Council produces an annual monitor of the amount of office space available in the Borough, the latest monitor has just been completed.   Headline figures show that between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016 the borough lost 9,623sqm of office accommodation, 75% of which is due to office to residential conversions. Over the same time period the amount of available office accommodation available on the open market fell from 33,633sqm to 26,144sqm (22%).

The Government has announced that permitted development rights for the conversion of offices to residential will be made permanent as of 6 April 2016.Employment & Retail Completions

Within the last twelve months 699sqm of gross employment and retail floorspace has been completed, down from 786sqm in the previous monitoring period. There has been a significant net loss of office (B1(A)) floorspace, 75% of which is due to office to residential permitted development rights.

• Extant Employment & Retail Permissions (Pipeline) – Extant and under construction schemes could create over 32,000sqm (gross) of new or expanded employment and retail accommodation. Once losses are factored in, the pipeline could however result in a net loss of over 32,500sqm of B1-B8 space, the majority of which would be offices (96%). Conversely, pipeline schemes could deliver a net gain of 12,378sqm of retail floorspace due to a number of large-scale regeneration developments in Redhill including the former Liquid & Envy nightclub, Redhill Railway and Sainsbury’s redevelopment.
• Development Characteristics & Location – 94% of retail and employment developments completed over the past year were on previously developed land (PDL). Based on completed and pipeline developments, just under 80% of potential new retail space would be located in town and local centres and over 85% of new industrial/distribution space would be located within designated industrial estates.
• Borough Commercial Property Market – Within the last twelve months the amount of available commercial property in the borough (i.e. on the market) has fallen by a third (from 63,924sqm to 42,646sqm). All four town centres have seen a fall in the amount of available floorspace – Horley has seen the greatest fall (81% - 2,572sqm to 481sqm) followed by Banstead (70% - 1,495sqm to 443sqm). Office floorspace accounts for over half of the available commercial space (61%, 26,144sqm): this has been the case for the past six years.

Read the full monitor on our website

We have set up some highly interactive workshops with Let's do business for those people who are thinking about, or are in the process of starting up their own business and want to know more. Attendees will also receive additional support to assist with the development of their business plan following completion of the workshops. 

Day 1 course content – Know your own business

• Are you ready? Why do you want to start and what it’s like to be self-employed
• What research have you done? Opinion or fact?
• Why do businesses succeed? Common reasons of success explored
• Basic marketing tools. What, why and how
• Pricing your product or service. What’s involved?
• Bringing it all together. An introduction to the business plan

Day 2 course content – Managing your business

• Making the sale. The seven steps of a successful sale
• Forecasting. Understanding the importance of your sales and cashflow forecasts
• Keeping the books? The basics of record keeping
• Operational consideration. Tax, insurance and HMRC

To book your place visit the Let's Do Business website.

The Mayor of Reigate and Banstead, Cllr David Powell welcomed over 70 attendees from local businesses to join him for ‘A Celebration of Success’. Five superb speakers showcased their thriving locally based businesses, all those who attended gleaned some practical knowledge. Many thanks to Cubic Transportation Systems, Just Retirement Partnership, RDO Kitchens, Chalk Hills Bakery and The Clink for their insightful presentations and speeches.

Roger Crow, Managing Director of Cubic Transportation Systems, who led us on a tour through Cubic’s history, with a history of more than 30 years in the UK, their European HQ Redhill, Cubic has established itself at the forefront of enterprise management systems and services for what is considered one of the largest and most complex, and arguably the world’s finest smart card ticketing system – the Oyster Card. We heard how the Oyster smart payment cards have recently been extended to Gatwick Airport.

From its modest beginnings, Cubic has embraced a philosophy of innovation which has kept the business ahead of the curve. The company now operates out of 60 countries, employing 8,000 (est.) worldwide and is recognised as a top class global business that is constantly moving and innovating to adapt to the changing market.

Collaboration triumphs

The next speaker, Jenny Burns, Director of Brand and Customer Experience at Reigate based Just Retirement Partnership Group, gave an inspired speech that emphasized the value of collaboration over competition.

Just Retirement was set up in 2004 to help people make the most of their retirement. Today they’ve helped an estimated 200,000 retirees to enjoy their retirement by securing a better income for them or releasing equity from their homes. Having recently gone through a merger process with Redhill and London based Partnership Assurance, Jenny’s call for businesses to pursue collaborative projects and partnerships to deliver best practice solutions.

When everything changes, change everything

John Aylott of RDO Kitchens, a Reigate based Kitchen and Appliances Studio that has been operating for over 60 years.For RDO, like many other high street businesses, the game changed with the growth of online shopping. The dynamic of the high street became less about weekly shopping and home essentials and became more of a shopping experience.

RDO realised the potential of the changing dynamics and made a dramatic change in their operation. They turned the business upside down metaphorically and physically. Today their Kitchen and Appliances studio has a luxurious quality to it that entices customers into the shop for a leisurely peruse around. A virtual tour around the store from the comfort of your own home. John’s recommendation to keep your business adaptable to the economic climate and business environment is certainly well-founded; RDO is a prime example of a business that has listened to the market and made it work for them.

Carpe diem!

Next was the charismatic Chris Robinson of Chalk Hills Bakery.

Chris explained how Chalk Hills has become a well-recognised and loved bakery. Modestly stating that ‘it’s just bread’, he went on to describe how Chalk Hills worked hard at producing a higher quality product offer to boost profit margins. Chris explained the importance of establishing a strong brand and developing key local relationships with customers, staff members and suppliers but that the real crux of a successful business is seizing opportunities when they present themselves.

One such opportunity for Chris was a Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s tweet for Coast to Capital growth funding applications a few nights before the deadline. His bid was successful and went towards the purchase of a new oven. Also, preparing the shop for a last minute shooting of the BBC programme ‘The Apprentice’, although it didn’t come to fruition.

Owners Chris and Rosie’s innovative, flexible and proactive business mind-set has generated some great business opportunities for them and it is something that should be held in high regard for any business planning for growth.

A second chance

Alberto Crisci MBE, founder of The Clink, described how as catering manager of HMP High Down, he set out to improve the life chances of offenders through rehabilitation and training, by developing their catering skills. Alberto was able to raise funds to establish a high quality restaurant facility at HMP High Down and the Clink Charity was formed.  They were then able to invite large catering employers to showcase the skills of the prisoners, leading to firm job offers on release. 

The national re-offending rate is typically around 60-70% depending on the crime. In stark contrast, at High Down the rate is closer to 10%. This astonishing improvement means that more people than ever before leaving High Down are able to find secure work, a place to stay and are enabled to positively contribute to society. This scheme has been rolled out to other prisons and expanded to include growing fresh produce and event catering. The Clink team provided and served a lovely selection of High Down created nibbles on the evening which were a big success.

Concluding the celebration

The event not only showcased some fantastic local businesses but gave others food for thought. So for those who attended, we hope that you enjoyed the event and gleaned some practical knowledge that can be applied to your business.

Of course this wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing speakers. We greatly appreciate the time that they gave to present, and a big thankyou to all for making this evening an incredibly insightful and stimulating one.

Special mentions

One particular aspect of the event that had attendees whizzing around the room was the national award-winning eFOLDi. Local inventor Sumi Wang and joint creator of the eFOLDi, an electric scooter that converts into a transportable case joined us for a Celebration of Success.

After receiving grant funding and business support from Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, eFOLDi has gone on to win British Invention of the Year 2016 and has recently come runner up in Virgin’s Media Business VOOM 2016 competition as Start-up of the year. Thank-you to Sumi for bringing the innovative eFOLDi, this rising star is no doubt set for great things; we hope that you enjoyed the evening and wish you every success. Huge thanks also to Surrey Chambers of Commerce for their tireless assistance, Avocado for providing the sound equipment and to Kingston Smith Accountancy for courteously supplying the wine.

Find out more about how Reigate & Banstead Borough Council can support your business. 

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council has announced the start of a consultation on the next part of its local plan, the Development Management Plan, and is urging residents, businesses and workers in the borough to have their say.

The ten week consultation will run from Monday 1 August to 5pm on Monday 10 October 2016.

The Development Management Plan (DMP) will detail where in the borough development will go until 2027 and guide what it looks like. It will translate the scale and broad locations of growth set out in Council’s Core Strategy (the first part of the plan adopted in 2014) into ‘on-the-ground’ development proposals. It will include sites for new housing, shops and employment; zones for things like green space, residential areas of special character and local shopping centres and policies against which planning applications will be assessed.

Cllr Tony Schofield, Executive Member for Planning Policy, said: “Our consultation covers a wide range of important planning topics. We are consulting on where new homes and other types of development like shops and offices should go, along with the infrastructure and facilities needed to support them.

“We are also asking for views other important planning matters, including the approach to economic and retail development, how new developments should be designed and how much parking they should provide, and protecting our heritage and natural environment.

“Having a Local Plan in place will provide greater local control over where development goes. It will help make sure that the need to provide new housing and grow the economy is balanced against protecting the local environment and providing infrastructure and services. In our plan, new development will be provided in urban areas as a priority. If the Council does not have a plan in place it is more likely that government planning inspectors will decide for us where development will go in the future and what it looks like.

“I urge residents, businesses and workers in the borough to give us their views. This is your chance to shape what is included in this plan.  Your views are important to us so please get involved.”

New development will help to pay for local services needed to support the growing communities. The consultation document identifies potential sites for two new primary schools and a new healthcare facility.

How to have your say

Exhibitions will be held at various locations around the borough along with a number of staffed drop-in sessions so the community can find out more and have their questions answered.

To view the full consultation document and supporting evidence or to find out more visit www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/dmp.

There are lots of ways people can have their say including an online survey and an interactive online map so they can easily find out what’s proposed nearby or comment on proposals for a specific area.

Alternatively download a comments form and complete and return it by email to ldf@reigate-banstead.gov.uk or by post to the Policy team at the Town Hall, Castlefield Road, Reigate RH2 0SH.

For those without access to the internet, hard copies of the consultation document and comments forms will be available at the exhibitions, at libraries or by calling 01737 276178.

Following this consultation, responses will be analysed and a draft version of the Development Management Plan will be prepared for further public consultation in spring 2017. It will then be examined by an independent planning inspector before it can be formally adopted by the Council

Anyone that would like to be kept up to date on this and other planning policy matters can register to be added to our mailing list, at www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/dmp, by emailing LDF@reigate-banstead.gov.uk or by phoning 01737 276178.

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council  are delighted to be sponsoring the 'Reigate & Banstead Business of the year award' at the SME Surrey business awards 2016. Awards can be an endorsement of your hard work, determination and enterprise in business. Winning an award offers great marketing and PR opportunities, as well as increasing your credibility and standing in the eyes of your peers and customers.

We want to encourage as many local businesses as possible to apply. Reigate and Banstead will have a table at the awards ceremony so if your company, based in the borough is short-listed in any category you will be able to apply for tickets as our guests. These will be allocated in pairs on a first come first served basis.

The awards are open now for applications.

If you require any assistance with your applications please get in touch.