A second allocation of £162,343 will expand the Memorial Park playground, including equipment for children with additional needs. Total for the park: £290,595.
The playground in Redhill’s Memorial Park has been allocated a further £162,343 of developer money, and part of it is earmarked for play equipment specifically for children with additional needs.
That takes the total set aside for the park’s play area and outdoor gym to £290,595.
The figure comes from the March 2026 update to the borough’s Community Infrastructure Levy Strategic Infrastructure Programme, the council’s rolling list of what it is spending developer contributions on.
Two allocations, one park
The park now carries two separate entries in that programme, both for the 2026/27 financial year:
- SIP(2)-11: £128,252 for upgrading the play area and outdoor gym equipment. This is £113,824 allocated in March 2023, plus £14,428 of CIL indexing to 2026. It is delivered by the council’s own Greenspaces Play and Projects Manager.
- SIP(2)AH2025-08: £162,343 to expand the playground equipment offer, which the entry says includes play equipment specifically for children with additional needs. The delivery organisation is recorded as a local ward councillor.
The programme describes the second sum as a “New allocation through March 2026’s SIP(2) Update to supplement strategic CIL allocation made March 2023”.
The larger sum is not in the council’s published summary of the bidding round its reference number belongs to. That web page lists eleven successful projects from the 2025 round and Memorial Park is not among them, although the numbering skips its reference. The programme document records it as a later allocation.
What is already happening in the park
The council set out its plans for the park in an article on 25 June.
For the outdoor gym, it said work would start in the week beginning 29 June to remove the existing trim trail and equipment, and that the new gym and trim trail were “expected to be open late July”.
The equipment is supplied by Kompan and is free to use. The council says it covers cardio, calisthenics, strength and resistance training, from an arm bike and cross trainer to a sit-up bench and stretch station, and that it is adjustable and accessible for people of all abilities from age 13 up. Signs explain how to use it, and there is an optional free app.
We could not confirm today whether the gym has opened. The council has published no completion notice on its website, its parks news page carries nothing since 8 July, and its parks directory does not list the equipment. We will update this page when the council publishes a date.
The play area itself is the later job. It was installed in 2014 as part of a major upgrade of the park. The council asked families and park users for their views on new equipment in May 2026, used the feedback to write the brief for contractors, and said work “could start on the refurbishment in the autumn”.
Cllr Nadean Moses, the executive member for greenspaces and sustainability, said: “Outdoor play is vital for children’s physical and mental wellbeing so I’m delighted that we’re upgrading one of our busiest play areas.”
The council runs 56 play areas and eight outdoor gyms across the borough.
Where the rest of the £500,000 went
The Memorial Park sum sits alongside a separate round of developer money that has had almost no public attention.
The council’s 2025 review of the programme identified £500,000 of strategic CIL funding to hand out within the current programme period. Bidding was open from 30 June to 30 July 2025, and bidders were told the outcome in September 2025.
Eleven projects were offered funding. Most of them are outside Reigate, and five are in Horley:
| Project | Where | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Meadvale Hall and 34th Reigate Scout Group hut, purchase and improvement | Somerset Road, Meadvale | £154,550 |
| Redhill Brook pond clearance and outdoor learning facilities | Noke Drive, Redhill | £86,124 |
| Spectator pitch perimeter safety fencing | Merstham Football Social Club | £57,350 |
| Village hall roof, floor and disabled parking | Salfords Village Hall | £48,454 |
| Window replacement and refurbishment of two scout halls | Baden Drive and Bay Close, Horley | £31,000 |
| Car park and pedestrian accessibility improvements | Horley Health Hub, Victoria Road | £25,377.08 |
| Contribution to the purchase of the Garibaldi community pub | Mill Street, Redhill | £24,100 |
| New kitchen and flooring for a refuge | Location withheld, east Surrey | £19,962 |
| Outdoor gym equipment | Michael Crescent Park, Horley | £19,097 |
| Outdoor gym equipment | Innes Sports Pavilion, Horley | £19,097 |
| Replacing 20 timber windows and landscaping | Innes Sports Pavilion, Horley | £14,819 |
Those eleven offers add up to £499,930.08. The council allocated all but £69.92 of the money it had identified.
Two of them we have already covered. The £24,100 towards the Garibaldi is part of the deal that saw the community buy the pub’s freehold outright on 7 August. The Merstham fencing money went to the club whose 3G pitch cleared its last planning condition this month.
Some offers carry conditions. The Meadvale scout hut sum is recorded in the programme as “up to £154,550” and depends on a private sale being agreed at or below market value. The Salfords and Merstham payments were both transferred in January 2026.
How this money works
The Community Infrastructure Levy is a charge the council sets on new development. It is not council tax and it is not a government grant.
Fifteen per cent of it goes into a Local Fund, spent in the neighbourhoods where the building happened, in consultation with ward councillors. In Horley and in Salfords and Sidlow, which have their own town and parish councils, that share is passed to them.
The rest is pooled into a Strategic Fund and spent through the Strategic Infrastructure Programme. The current programme covers 2023 to 2027. It contains 51 projects, chosen from 75 bids, and was agreed by the council’s Executive on 23 March 2023.
Inclusion in the programme is not a guarantee. The council states that it is “not a formal commitment by the Borough Council to fund that scheme”, and that money is released only when a project has reached a suitable stage and has met conditions such as planning permission, landowner consent and match funding.
There is also a deadline behind all of this. The programme runs to 2027, and the document notes that “In April 2027 RBBC will be abolished and merge with other Councils to become East Surrey Council”. Anything not delivered by then passes to a council that did not choose it. Our guide to who runs what from April 2027 sets out the handover, and the new Local Plan timetable shows the same date landing in the middle of the borough’s planning work.
What it means for you
If you use Memorial Park with children, the practical position is this.
- The outdoor gym and trim trail were due to open in late July. Check on site rather than online: the council has not published a completion notice.
- The play area refurbishment has money attached but no start date. The council said work could begin in the autumn, which has now started, and that it would share details “as soon as we can”.
- The expanded scheme is meant to include equipment for children with additional needs. That commitment sits in the funding record rather than in any published design, so it is worth holding the council to when the plans appear.
If your own group wants a share of this money, the Local Fund is the route for smaller neighbourhood projects, and the council publishes a project bid form for it. Bids have to show that the project helps the area cope with the pressure new development brings, which is the legal test the council has to apply.
The council describes Memorial Park as being in Redhill town centre. Parking rules across the borough are on our parking in Reigate page.
Sources
- Annex 4: CIL Strategic Infrastructure Programme 2023 to 2027, updated March 2026 (PDF), Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, for both Memorial Park allocations, the conditions, the transfer dates and the April 2027 statement
- CIL Strategic Fund, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, for the £500,000 round, the bidding dates, the table of eleven projects and the 51 projects from 75 bids
- CIL Local Fund, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, for the 15% share and the bidding test
- New-look play area and outdoor gym are coming soon to Memorial Park, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, 25 June 2026, for the works timetable, the equipment description, the quote and the 56 play areas
- Parks news, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, checked 10 September 2026, for the absence of a completion notice
More from Reigate News: things to do in Reigate, parking and planning applications.
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