Reigate & Banstead Conservatives challenged to explain plan to sell council-owned Horley car park to private sector

The Overview & Scrutiny committee successfully ‘called in’ the proposal, meaning it had to be discussed in public. The Conservatives announced last month their intention of selling the Horley High Street car park, a move that Greens say is “another broken promise from a morally decrepit administration”.

At the meeting on October 21, the committee recommended that the council executive should reconsider the decision when it next meets, on November 19.

Horley car park was one of five council-owned sites that were promised in September 2025 as locations for affordable and social housing. One of the other sites, the Gloucester Road car park in Redhill, is still likely to be used for council housing, but the council leadership has made an exception for Horley.

Green group leader Jonathan Essex (Redhill East) said: “There’s no way this council should be selling off assets to the private sector – with no benefit to the public – a year before it ceases to exist; especially assets like this one, that had been promised as the location for affordable housing.

“The promise has been broken little over a year after it was made. I want to know why, which is why we challenged the decision by calling it in and asking the Conservatives to explain their reasons and asking them to think again.

“Instead of selling this valuable public asset they should be ensuring that both Horley and Redhill car parks are used for genuinely affordable housing.”

Councillor Essex said that private developers in the borough have previously avoided building affordable homes by saying they are not profitable or are not required when created as part of office conversions.

Councillor Victoria Chester (Green, Horley East and Salfords) queried the push to sell rather than consider all options.

“The Conservatives seem to be very happy to leave other much more difficult issues for the new East Surrey Council to sort – why rush to this bad decision on something that is so important to our residents?” she said.

Councillor Chester added: “Have we asked Horley residents if they are happy to have their car park sold to a private developer?

“Parking in the town centre is increasingly busy, and sustainable travel should be encouraged by provision of better public transport rather than removing car parks.

“And do we really think residents prefer we use public assets to make more money for a dying council rather than providing housing they can actually afford and desperately need?”

Councillor Essex criticised the Conservatives for blocking a scheme for temporary accommodation for people made homeless. A property in Horley was bought by the council in 2024 but the council has done nothing with it.

He said: “It’s scandalous that this property is sitting empty two years later when it could be used to house local families and earn the council an estimated eight per cent return on investment in the process.

“It seems that the Conservatives would rather leave this valuable property empty because of their inexplicable aversion to social housing, and instead pay private sector rates to house people in emergency accommodation.

“They are ignoring the strong financial case for the council to have its own accommodation where families can be housed in their own communities.”