More than £250k has been awarded to local small businesses since the Reigate & Banstead Business Support Grants programme launched in 2013.

Business Support Grants of up to £1,000 are available to local businesses with less than 4 employees who are looking to start, develop or grow.

A recent survey asked recipients how the grant had helped their business?

• "Absolutely - without it the employment of my first employee would have been delayed, I would have lost business due to capacity issues and I wouldn't have grown as quickly as I did."
• “It’s been fantastic to have the opportunity to meet and engage with the local council which is helping start-ups to hit the ground running.  I’d highly recommend applying for a grant.”
• “The grants make the world of difference to a small business.  I think the scheme is crucial to the success of the borough, giving micro businesses a leg-up to become small businesses, and beyond!”

If you feel your company could benefit from a Business Support Grant, find out more

Business Awards can bring real value to your business in terms of networking, employee attraction and publicity.  Reigate & Banstead Borough Council will sponsor the Apprentice of the Year award again at the 2020 Gatwick Diamond Business Awards.   Applications for the awards open on 2 October.

"Reigate & Banstead Borough Council are absolutely delighted to be supporting the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards this year to celebrate all the great talent within the Gatwick Diamond. We are especially pleased to be sponsoring the Apprentice of the Year Award."  Cllr Humphreys, Portfolio Holder for Place & Economic Prosperity.

We would encourage you to enter your business into the awards. If you unsure how to write award-winning entries, book your space on the How to Win Awards seminar on Tuesday 5 November 9.30-11am - an event run by the Gatwick Diamond at the Town Hall, Reigate.  Book now .

Congratulations go to:

• Morrisons Solicitors  for winning Law firm of the Year in 2019 Surrey Law Society Awards
• Alex Barton - shortlisted as Volunteer of the Year for The Childrens Trust at The Third Sector Awards
• Reigate & Banstead Borough Council Greenspace Team for winning eight South & South East in bloom awards.
• Banstead Village in Bloom for achieving a Gold Award in the RHS Britain in Bloom Competition
• Your Local Little Black Book Reigate for their successful first edition. Find out more
• Surrey Life Food and Drink Awards 2019 winner of Local Tea/Coffee Shop of the Year, Reigate's Beryl & Pegs 
• Surrey Life Food and Drink Awards 2019 winner of best local food event/initiative, The Salt Box 
• Clifford (pictured) from Clifford Austin-Hunt Salon in Banstead, who celebrates 60 years in hairdressing.  Read more
• Doodlemoo who have launched a crowd-funded creative planner read more
• Monte Forte Pizza who are opening their pizza shop in Reigate.
• The Include Choir for receiving a Giving Voice Award from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. 

The Council is asking local communities about their priorities for spending funds collected from new developments in the borough to improve facilities, services and infrastructure.

Whenever a new development is built, the developers pay a Community Infrastructure Levy, which helps to fund the infrastructure, facilities and services needed to support the area’s new homes and businesses.

 A proportion of this funding is made available to spend on local projects in the neighbourhoods where development has been built.

Do you think pedestrian footpaths need improving, or perhaps the area would benefit from more cycle storage racks, or enhancement of the appearance or parking in a local shopping parade?

We want to know your ideas for projects to fund.

Please complete the survey at www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/CILLocalFund by Sunday 13 October 2019.

If you have any questions, please contact the Planning Policy team on 01737 276178 or cil@reigate-banstead.gov.uk.

A new voucher scheme has been introduced to help accomplish the Government's ambition to have full fibre broadband coverage of the UK by 2033. There are two Gigabit vouchers schemes, which have a finite amount of Government funding, so any businesses or residents who are interested should investigate them as soon as possible.

Getting people connected since 2012

Since 2012, Surrey County Council and Openreach have been working together and to date 90,000 premises in Surrey have benefitted as part of the Superfast Surrey Broadband Programme. More than 98% of homes and businesses across Surrey are now able to access superfast broadband download speeds of more than 24 Mbps.

It is anticipated that commercial network providers will connect about 90% of UK premises to full fibre by 2033 and this work has already begun. Recently Openreach announced that parts of Epsom, Ewell and Burgh Heath will benefit from Openreach's Fibre First rollout.

Building Digital UK Gigabit Voucher Schemes

In order to ensure that remaining premises aren't left behind, Building Digital UK (BDUK), part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), has introduced two gigabit voucher schemes that Surrey residents and businesses may be eligible for.

Click on the heading for more details

Are you unsure about how Brexit will affect your business?
Need to know the changes that will be made to taxes and VAT?
How will EU citizens working at a UK-based business be affected?

Surrey Chambers want to provide as much clarity as possible. They are holding Brexit Bootcamps covering all aspects of Brexit.
 
The Bootcamps will be totally interactive with the opportunity to talk directly with experts in their field. Bring your specific questions so that you can go away more prepared. They will also share their Checklist to ensure that you don’t forget any key areas.
 
They are currently holding Bootcamps at three locations on three different dates:
09/10/19 - Sandown Park Racecourse - Esher. Book your space now
11/10/19 - H G Wells Conference & Events Centre - Woking. Book your space now. 
24/10/19 - Denbies Wine Estate - Dorking.  Book your space now.