An hour's free parking replaces 20 free minutes at all three of Horley's council car parks from 21 September, scrapping first-hour charges of £1.40 to £1.80.

Parking in Horley is about to get an hour cheaper. Reigate & Banstead Borough Council has determined to vary its off-street parking charges so that all three of the town’s council car parks give the first hour free, replacing the 20 free minutes on offer now. The change takes effect on Monday 21 September 2026.

The council made the decision under section 35C of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, which lets an authority vary the charges in an existing off-street parking order without remaking the order itself. The notice is dated 20 August and was published on 27 August by Megan Milano, the council’s property solicitor and authorised officer (Reigate & Banstead Borough Council notice of variation of parking charges).

Nothing else in the tariff moves. Two hours, three hours and the rest stay exactly as they are, and Sundays and bank holidays remain free.

What changes, car park by car park

The three car parks between them hold 449 spaces: 86 at the High Street, 163 at Central Car Park and 200 at Victoria Road (Reigate & Banstead Borough Council).

Car park First hour now First hour from 21 September
The High Street (RH6 7BN) £1.40 Free
Central Car Park, Consort Way East (RH6 7AU) £1.50 Free
Victoria Road (RH6 7AS) £1.70 Free

Above an hour, the charges are unchanged. At the High Street and Central Car Park that is £2.10 for two hours, £2.80 for three, £3.40 for four, £4.40 for five and £6.50 for up to ten. At Victoria Road it is £2.20 for two hours, £2.70 for three, £3.50 for four, £4.30 for five and £6.50 for up to ten.

Chargeable hours at every council car park in the borough run from 8am to 6pm. Motorcycles park free in any marked motorcycle or pay-and-display bay, and blue badge holders park free in any marked disabled or pay-and-display bay when the badge is properly displayed.

One figure the council’s own records disagree on

There is a 10p discrepancy worth flagging. The statutory notice gives Victoria Road’s existing one-hour charge as £1.70. The council’s own Horley car parks page gives it as £1.80.

Both are published by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council. We could not establish today which is being charged at the machine, so if you are paying for an hour at Victoria Road before 21 September, check the tariff board rather than either page. After 21 September the point becomes academic, because the hour is free either way.

The notice varies charges only. It does not change the council’s existing condition that a free stay still needs a valid ticket from the machine, so expect to keep pressing the button and putting the ticket on the dashboard.

The timing is not a coincidence

The free hour arrives in the same fortnight that Horley’s town centre rebuild is meant to finish disrupting the High Street.

Surrey County Council and the borough council have been repaving and re-landscaping the High Street since February under the Delivering Change in Horley Town Centre programme, a roughly £3 million set of projects. The Lumley Road, High Street and Consort Way East junction reopens on 3 September. The new one-way High Street opens from late September (Surrey County Council).

There is a squeeze first. High Street Car Park is closed to the public from 3 to 19 September, two days before the free hour starts, for resurfacing and repaving at its entrance. The council’s own car parks page also notes that a works compound in that car park has reduced its capacity for the duration of the project, and that permit holders can use Central Car Park or Victoria Road instead.

So the practical sequence for the next three weeks is: 86 fewer spaces from 3 September, all of them back on 19 September, and the free hour from 21 September.

What it means for you

  • Until 20 September, the free period at all three car parks is still 20 minutes, and an hour costs £1.40 to £1.80 depending on which one you use.
  • From Monday 21 September, an hour is free at all three. A quick trip to the bank, the chemist or the school run no longer needs a payment.
  • Between 3 and 19 September, do not plan on the High Street car park. Use Central Car Park on Consort Way East or Victoria Road.
  • Sundays and bank holidays are already free at all three, and that does not change.
  • The free hour applies only to these three Horley car parks. Charges in Reigate, Redhill, Banstead and Tattenham Corner are unaffected by this notice.

Our guide to parking in Reigate compares the town centre car parks and the station, and Reigate roadworks and travel tracks the Horley works phase by phase alongside the rest of the borough’s closures.