Access to council services

Town Hall

The Town Hall has been adapted to assist wheelchair users and those with disabilities. There are disabled parking bays near to the reception entrance, and the flooring outside the main doors is coloured and slightly raised to assist partially sighted visitors. The main doors are automatic and have sensors to detect when people are approaching.

In reception, there is space in the waiting area for wheelchair users. The reception desk is lowered at one end to enable easy access to the receptionist. There is a disabled toilet available and all of the interview rooms and desks are accessible to wheelchair users.

There are portable induction loops available on all Customer Services Desks in Reception. The flooring in the reception area is flat and all on one level.

A lift is available to access the New Council Chamber, used for public meetings, and there is space for wheelchair users and an induction loop installed.

Customers can make payments out of hours using the night safe. This is situated on the wall of the building to the left of the reception, and a ramp leads up to the night safe, to enable wheelchair users to access this facility.

Sports centres

The three sports centres in Banstead, Horley and Redhill have automatic doors, and ramps for wheelchair access. The swimming pools have pool hoists, there are changing facilities and toilets for the disabled. Lift access is available where needed and each centre has disabled parking bays outside.

The Harlequin Theatre & Cinema, Redhill

The Harlequin Theatre & Cinema Redhill can be accessed by lift and has automatic doors at the entrance. Disabled parking is available and disabled toilets are provided.

Community centres

Access to the four Community centres in Banstead, Horley, Redhill and Woodhatch is either on flat, level ground or by using a ramp. There are automatic doors at the entrance and lift access where required. All have disabled toilets and parking bays for disabled visitors outside.

Home visits

For residents claiming housing or council tax benefit, home visits can be arranged for the elderly, disabled or housebound. Contact the Benefits Services team on 01737 276 497.

Hearing or speech impaired

The induction loop system helps people who use a hearing aid to hear sounds more clearly by reducing or cutting out background noise. Users switch their hearing aid to the ‘T’ position and adjust the volume as necessary. A portable induction loop is kept in the Town Hall reception for use in the interview rooms.

We use specialist organisations to assist us in dealing with customers who are hearing or speech impaired.

RNID (Royal National Institute of the Deaf) Typetalk provides a telephone relay service, which enables deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing and speech impaired people to communicate with hearing people on the telephone.

We are also able to arrange an experienced sign-language interpreter. Please note that advance notice may be required to arrange this service.

Sight impaired

We use the services of the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) to assist us in dealing with customers who are sight impaired.

Council leaflets and forms can be translated into:

  • Braile
  • clear print, this normally has a type size (point size) of 12 or larger and concentrates on basic design elements such as font, type size, contrast and page navigation
  • large print. This normally has a type size (point size) of 16 to 22
  • audio tape

If you have further inquiries, please call the Customer Contact Team on 01737 276 000.

Non-English-speaking customers

We have arrangements in place to provide interpretation services to assist us in understanding non-English speaking customers:

  • telephone interpreters
  • face to face interpreters
  • text translation
  • text to speech translation

Please note advance notice may be required to access these services.