Thursday 2nd November: Redhill Business Guild Meeting
Duane Kirkland, Head of Leisure & Intervention, RBBC
An assessment of the Harlequin building on 20th September showed that it was affected by the current concerns about RAAC. It will therefore be closed until at least the end of the year. This has involved cancelling 400 shows, events, films and bookings, and required refunding over £30,000 in tickets. All the team have been redeployed or relocated, mainly to council offices. Insurance for RAAC is complex and as yet not clear whether anyone will take responsibility.
The building has had two visual surveys: an initial one, followed by an in-depth survey. But a more intrusive survey is required but this will be delayed as at present schools and hospitals are taking priority for the specialised equipment and skills required. The impact on 2024 is still being considered, including how the closure will affect users and residents.
What the council does want to do is maintain a town centre presence and continue to deliver arts opportunities and consider how Christmas options should continue. To begin this process, a Harlequin Pop-Up has opened in the Belfry. Duane expressed his gratitude to the Belfry staff for their help with this.
Also in the Belfry will be Santa’s North Pole Adventure . Running from 15-24th December, a theatre show aimed at 2-8 year olds.
The biggest task has been to keep the immensely popular Harlequin pantomime going, and Duane was pleased to announce that Beauty and Beast will still be running this year, expecting 16,000 visitors on 500 tiered seats through 43 shows, it will be one of a very few nationwide that will be hosted in a big top. As part of this, the Pavilion in the Park is to be reopened next week for coffee and cake in day, run by Harlequin staff; and when the Panto is running it will be open in the evening as a bar. There will be illumination in the park, and the 293 properties that border or are in close proximity to the park have been contacted. The stage will be set up to direct sound away from residential areas, and it is possible that acoustic fencing will be required. All of this has needed to be done within normal regulatory controls that affect the use of the park. Parking will be in the same places as when Harlequin was in use. In short, every part of putting on a Panto has been rethought and replanned. Duane concluded that it was a testament to why the Guild is so valuable that people have worked together across the board to get this together.
Paula Edwards: The Chain Agency
#DestinationRedhill is a town activation event that was first run in the summer to coincide with the opening of The Light, drawing people into town from the outskirts of the Borough and beyond. It is an opportunity to drive significant footfall into town, and figures suggest that those who came into town last time generally returned more often.
This time it is on 9th December, and funded by the Thriving Town Centres fund from Cllr Biggs.
There will be:
A free competition to win £500 of vouchers from Redhill businesses.
Christmas workshops at the Harlequin Pop Up
Live music under the Harlequin steps
Free entertainment all day in Belfry and High Street
Christmas Market
Festive films at Light
Late night opening.
There are plenty of opportunities for town centre businesses to get involved, so please get in touch with paula@thechainagency.co.uk.
Please also support by sharing #DestinationRedhill messages on social media and by attending in person.
Andy Nash: The Belfry
Town centre Christmas decorations are now up and the tree in the centre of town is going up on Friday. This is the seventh year that the Guild have organised the Redhill Christmas tree and this year our supporters include, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, Surrey County Council, Cllr Bramhall, Cllr Essex, The Belfry, Ralph James, Roadrunners and The Light.
A recent promotion in The Belfry was Models of Diversity, which gave models the opportunity to demonstrate the work of big brands promoting body positive images.
The upcoming British Legion poppy appeal is already beating last year. The 11/11/11 Memorial Service and poppy drop will be on a Saturday this year, so please make the effort to attend. Especially as this year there will be a treat when it is finished as the Belfry hosts its first Diwali celebration.
On Saturday 18th November is the big Christmas Light Switch On, a full day of free entertainment and activities. Santa’s Grotto opens on the same day. There are plenty of gift wrapping slots, offering CSR opportunities for local companies.
Simon Teasdale: Redhill Market
Food Rocks are now running Redhill Market. They already run several other markets, including Leonardslee and Horsham. There are new gazebos and new street food is coming in from cuisines around the world. There will be an extra Indian stall on Diwali Day and the French Market coming on Sunday 12 November. The Christmas market ties in with #DestinationRedhill day on Saturday 9 December and will include festive drinks and fairground rides. And they hope to build up even more next year. They are already promoting the market through social media and are open to ideas from local businesses about how they can promote one another.
Cllr Essex
It is observable that minor law breaking has become more popular since Covid, but parking around the Station Roundabout has become a persistent problem. Adding yellow lines to provide instant fines (via ticket inspectors employed by private contractors) will be a step towards addressing this. The station redevelopment that was discussed at a previous meeting received lots of objections on several issues, incuding the lack of an appropriate drop off area outside the station, and is now on hold. We are waiting to see the next step, but it needs to make more provision for users of all transport types.
The library is up for redevelopment.
There are concerns about anti-social behaviour in the town, and the council focus is on prevention. On Friday night a youth club is now open weekly.
The Abbot pub has no plans for redevelopment yet. The owner put in an application two years ago which was approved but no work was initiated and it is believed the plans have now been shelved. But the first focus is clearing up traffic from outside McDonalds.
Plans to close ticket offices at Redhill Station have been shelved after campaigning, but Redhill is a London connected place and travel cards are a good idea.
Borough Commander Alex Maguire & Sergeant Rob Staplehurst, Surrey Police
The Police are addressing problem behaviours using response teams and community engagement teams. There had been a high rate of robberies especially in the town centre, often by teams travelling in from outside the area. Special powers, invoked to deal with the rise in violent crime, seem to have targeted the right people, and resulted in charges and custodial sentences. It is not uncommon for there to be a rise in burglaries in darker months, but advice is available from officers on securing premises. Anti-social behaviour saw a rise in summer months, especially around McDonalds and Sainsbury’s. Community protection warnings and then notices can set specific conditions on problem people and behaviours, while repeat offenders get criminal behaviour orders.
There have been arrests in the last few weeks for violence, including GBH assaults from drunks.
In addition, both Sainsbury’s and Co-op, have suffered from a lot of shoplifting. Shoplifting is now getting more arrests and more charges, under orders from the new Police Superintendent. Groups of people had been coming in from London boroughs and working together, they have now been banned from coming to Redhill. A grant has come recently from the Home Office to provide safer town centres and the Police are working alongside officers in Brighton who have more experience in this area. In order to address this there is now a pop-up community safety office in Redhill town centre and the “Clear, Hold, Build” initiative is being implemented. This focuses not just on clearing the problems, but keeping them away and building new resilience in the community to keep them out. The initial meeting for this will be in a couple of weeks time.
There is a “Suspicious activity portal,” an online reporting device, especially for evidence from personal or domestic camera systems. https://www.surrey.police.uk/police-forces/surrey-police/areas/campaigns/suspicious-activity-portal/ Please submit any potential evidence, as they can collectively help form a picture of what is going on in the area.
Officers also work with the Council’s joint enforcement team to reduce street begging and poor behaviour driven by alcohol misuse.
The anti-social behaviour survey is now closed. There were over 500 responses which will be collated centrally and fed back to the local force.
Rosemary Jones, Redstone Rotary.
Redstone Rotary are looking for teams for their quiz night. Also looking for teams to support Father Christmas 12th December for two weeks. Please contact Rosemary or Phil through the charity email address: info@redhillredstonerotary.org
