Reigate and Banstead Borough Council will set up a property and investment company to meet funding challenges.  

The company will help plug the Council’s future funding gap caused by the termination of a government grant. The Council has said that to be financially stable by 2018, it needs to generate additional, secure sources of ongoing income such as rental income from property assets.  

The company will be a commercial trading company wholly owned by the Council. It would be funded through a combination of council reserves, the Public Works Loan Board and commercial sources.  It is expected to generate a minimum of 6% return on investment. Some of the Council’s existing assets will be transferred to the company.

A lorry driver involved in a fatal collision in Horsham while more than 11 times over the drug-driving limit has been convicted.  

Ryan Bosher from Crawley was charged with drug driving after the Volvo tipper truck he was driving collided with a Citroen C4 at the beginning of July.  Ryan Bosher pleaded guilty at Crawley Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.  He also received a fine.

The driver of the car suffered a medical episode at the wheel which caused his car to go into the path of the oncoming lorry.  Inspector Stewart Goodwin, of the West Sussex Roads Policing Unit said that although the lorry driver was not directly at fault for the incident, the overwhelming reading he gave for drug-driving meant he posed a major risk to himself and other road users.  

Southern Rail will reintroduce more trains on its Redhill routes from Monday, returning to the full timetable for some services.

A temporary timetable was put in place on 11th July due to a high number of cancelled and delayed services, following unprecedented levels of staff sickness.  Services are being restored incrementally; some were reintroduced on 5th September.  

From Monday, routes reverting to the normal timetable are the Reigate and Redhill services to London Bridge and Victoria, and the Tonbridge and Redhill service to London Bridge and Victoria.  The half hourly off peak fast service between Redhill and London Victoria will also be restored.  

The Gatwick Express is still operating under the revised timetable together with some services in the Brighton area.