Statement regarding the regional restrictions from Councillor Mark Brunt, Leader of Reigate & Banstead Borough Council

Tier 2: High Alert

The decision for Surrey to move into Tier 2 has been made by ministers based on public health recommendations and considers a combination of factors including case detection rate, pressure on the local NHS and the rate at which infections are rising or falling.

A full list of the new, tougher, Tier 2 restrictions that will come into effect are detailed on the Gov.uk/coronavirus pages, and include the following: 

• No households are permitted to mix indoors (with the exception those in established support bubbles)
• The rule of six will apply outdoors, as it did in the previous set of tiers
• Pubs and bars must close unless operating as restaurants.

We are pleased that many of the borough’s retailers and other small businesses will be able to reopen with covid secure measures in place and I urge you to continue to support them, making sure you shop safely on our highstreets or buy from their online stores.

Service update

Despite the ongoing restrictions, all our essential services continue to run as normal.

I’m also pleased to confirm we will also be re-opening the Waller Studio cinema and café at the Harlequin Theatre and our leisure centres, as well as partial re-opening of our community centres. All will be operating with strict safety measures in place and within the Tier 2 guidance. Our outdoor facilities including gyms, skate ramps, multi-use games areas and tennis courts will re-open too and we will monitor their use, together with our playgrounds, to observe whether they are being used safely.

We have begun to see the positive results the lockdown has had on the infection rate and we thank you for the sacrifices many of you have made in order to adhere to the restrictions. However, we must keep up our safe practices to reduce our social contact. We know how quickly infections can rise if given the chance. The current tiers will be reviewed by the Government on 16 December.

Help and support

Over the winter months, alongside our community partners we will be doing everything we can to support those in urgent need. Please find information on the services available on the coronavirus pages of our website, addressing a broad range of issues from emergency access to food and medication through to advice and information for our local businesses.

If you know of anyone who continues to be severely impacted by the new restrictions, please help them to access this support and ask them to contact our community helpline if they can’t get online, on 01737 276000 or SMS 07834 626468 for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Thank you

It is now vital that we continue to follow the Government and NHS guidelines to help reduce the number of cases in our borough. Remember, ‘hands, face, space’; keep enclosed spaces well ventilated and self-isolate if you or anyone in your household has a suspected or confirmed case of coronavirus.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Councillor Mark Brunt                                                                                                                    
Leader, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council

Stay up to date

To stay up to date with information on all council services visit the coronavirus pages of our website, sign up for a  MyReigate&Banstead account  for email updates and follow us on social media.

Christmas waste and recycling changes

As usual there will be changes to waste and recycling collections over some of the public holidays. We will notify residents in the coming weeks and the information will be published on our website.

Members of the garden waste service will see the regular two-week service break over the Christmas period, starting from Monday 28 December. Normal services will resume from 11 January.