Why selling Horley High Street car park is a bad idea

Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's Executive want to sell Horley High Street car park on the open market.

Horley is a growing town with a parking shortage, and lots of people use the car parks not just to go shopping, but to commute to work from Horley Station and to do the school run.

Closing Horley High Street Car Park removes 86 spaces which people can use in the town centre. With more houses planned to be built in Hookwood, Westvale Park and Smallfield, this will add pressure on the commuter parking, so taking this away is incredibly short sighted.

Alongside this, Reigate and Banstead's original plan was to build social housing on the site. If it's sold on the open market, the developer who buys the land could decide to build flats which are unaffordable to people in the local area.

There's also a factor that the flats will need parking. If 40 flats are built, that means at least another 60 or 70 parking spaces will need to be built alongside the existing 86 on the site.

My biggest concern is that this decision was taken without consulting local people.

I'm grateful to the councillors on the Overview & Scrutiny Committee who have asked Reigate and Banstead's Executive to rethink their decision, but the sell off could still be agreed.

I believe local people should be given a say on the future of the car park and I hope that Reigate and Banstead's Executive talk to local people before making any final decisions about the High Street Car Park.