Redhill Business Guild meeting: Wednesday 22nd March
Last week’s meeting saw a great turnout with many new faces joining us for the first time at The Harlequin. After the usual networking at the bar the meeting commenced with good news from Andy Nash about The Belfry. The centre is now under new ownership and there are plans underway for improvements across the shopping centre and a couple of new openings coming up in the near future.
We then heard from Councillor Mark Brunt, Leader of the Council.
Mark has lived in Redhill since 1994 and felt that for some years Redhill lacked a purpose, and more recently there was little reason to come into Redhill after 5pm. He pointed out that the town was originally known as Reigate Junction: a railway town that existed only to support Reigate.
The council decided it needed to give Redhill a purpose and although they were told no one would buy the land, it could only be given away, they ignored the advice and began to draw up plans.
In 2020 as lockdowns began they were again advised to abandon the project but pressed on, gaining £2m of funding from government. And he praised Vinci who managed to keep the project on track when very little else was happening. As it turned out, lockdown became a useful experience: as it became apparent cinemas on their own don’t survive the project became about much more than films. The fit out for The Light part of the building should be finishing in May, this includes the cinema, bowling and other activities.
Mark spoke personally about his vision for the town, that he saw the Rise (Marketfield Way development) as part of a transformation for the whole town. not just one site. Its presence and activities should bring business to the whole High Street and the Belfry. Andy Nash confirmed this is already beginning to happen as there are a couple of new tenants lining up in the Belfry already on the back of it
Where we are now is that all the ground floor units have either been exchanged or are about to be. The next venue soon to open is Creams a specialist in ice creams, dessert and waffles.
Parking is now secured in Belfry until midnight every week night and parking will be free after 6pm for the users of the Rise.
For those concerned for the future of The Harlequin, Cllr Brunt saw this an exciting opportunity to do different things with the venue and assured us there would be continued Investment in the public realm works.
Mark concluded by talking generally about the town. On its own it won’t solve all the problems but it should encourage other businesses to invest, but also statistics show that the best answer to anti social behaviour is social behaviour: getting people using the High Street well will deter those who don’t. But the very existence of the Rise disproves those who continually put the town down: things do happen in RH1, as the presence of those in the Guild shows. In fact, the Council expressed to thank the Business Guild who have been one of the staunch supporters of this scheme when a lot of people have said it would never happen.
Councillor Richard Biggs then spoke about the future plans for Redhill
The High Street is not dead. Redhill is not dead, but it is changing and attracting more social, community and health projects. As an example of this Cllr Biggs mentioned that the YMCA are looking to open a site in town.
The Rise, then, should be seen as the starting block and the Council are now beginning to ask what else needs to be done to make Redhill great. And they are not looking now at individual sites but beginning to work with residents and businesses to get an overview of what Redhill can be.
Over the next six months they want to start getting groups together to include a range of stakeholders: Guilds, residents, charities, NHS, community groups. These will ideally be in person rather than Zoom.
Part of this will include thinking about the proposed development on the Station site which in its current form is not offering enough, and really needs to make a statement about what kind of town Redhill is.
But this is not all in the future, The Rise is already improving day time economy and it is anticipated that £0.75m will be approved tomorrow to improve Redhill town. There is also an ongoing review of sports facilities in borough and business can get involved to support sports.
General News
Cllr Sue Sinden is inviting sponsors to raise money for the Lucy Rainer foundation a local charity to provide mental health awareness and support for young people. The need for this was highlighted by a recent spate of suicides or attempted suicide.
Stripey Stork is expanding to provide service for primary school children and need office furniture and equipment. Please contact them if you can help: https://stripeystork.org.uk/contact-us/.
The next round of the Reigate and Banstead Business Awards is being prepared. Applications open at the beginning of May and the RBBA ceremony will be on 23rd November.
Donna Matthews runs the We Love Redhill Facebook page and mentioned that a frequent complaint is the pavement outside Wilkos which had been dug up for electrical work and relaid very poorly. Cllr Biggs said that utility firms have a responsibility to reinstate it to its original standard but they can argue that they will put a temporary surface down for up to 12 months.
On the subject of social media, Andy said that the Orpheus charity were currently holding fundraising events in the Belfry. One of their performances staged a demonstration and as management had not been informed what was happening they shut it down, which was broadcast on social media as obstructing the work of the charity. It was in fact a short term interruption and the charity was actually supported by the Belfry to hold their events on site.
Dan Reynolds who runs RH1 Networking is hosting a speed-networking event (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rh-networking-speed-networking-event-tickets-515977902797) on 30th March. There are just a few places left, so book in quickly. He has also set up a new Facebook group called Reigate and Banstead Businesses, for business to post news and activities. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/583636370483954)
Someone asked if antisocial behaviour still a problem and what is being done. There was, Andy mentioned, far less ASB in Redhill than in many towns nationally. He was able to speak on this having just come from a national conference. There is an ongoing drug issue and most of the crime in the town is within that circle. The council are working with Police to monitor and address issues.
Council’s Entrepreneur Academy Scheme is still running to support businesses. More derails here: (https://www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/info/20052/business_in_the_borough/182/how_we_can_support_your_business/5)
And finally… our next meeting will be on 24th May 2023 and you won’t want to miss it. We meet at The Harlequin for networking and then will be taken on a guided tour of The Light to preview the new leisure offering.
