Reigate & Banstead Conservative Association covers the constituency of Reigate, from Banstead in the North to Salfords in the South.
We offer a strong Conservative agenda, focused on the needs of local residents and delivered by a professional team of local people.
You can find contact details for our officers and representatives on the People page. Please get in touch if you require our help.
How we are organised
We are a voluntary member organisation, with more than 400 local members from across the constituency. The members in each of the Council ward areas come together to form a Branch, and many of these hold social and political events within their ward. They also select the candidates who will stand for the Conservative Party for that ward in council elections. If they are elected, the councillors use their Branches as one of many ways to keep in close contact with the things going on in the ward they represent.
The Association itself is run by its officers, who are elected each year at a general meeting open to all 400+ members. The officers are supported by an Executive Council, which comprises representatives of each local Branch and the officers. The Executive Council is responsible for setting the budget, setting priorities, overseeing the approval of candidates for council elections and selecting the Parliamentary Candidate.
The Association is financially self supporting, and does not receive any funds from the central Conservative Party (in fact it pays funds over to the centre rather than vice versa). Apart from subscriptions from its members, the Association raises its funds from its own, constituency wide social events, donations and raffles. Spending is mostly on maintaining a small office, with a part time member of staff, and campaigning.
The Association does not have any direct say in the running of the County or Borough Councils. Once it has selected candidates and supported their campaigns, the Association's role ends. Positions on Council policy, selection of the Mayor and Leader of the Council etc, are decided by the groups of Conservative councillors on the respective Councils, with the final decisions made by the Councils' committees. There is some overlap of membership with the Association's Executive Council, which enables feedback in both directions.
The Association and Council Groups are not explicitly bound by national Conservative policy, especially if there are specific local issues at stake, in which they are free to make their own views clear. The Conservative Policy Forum provides a regular channel for local Associations and their members to give their views to the Party's leadership on current policies.
Please contact us if you would like to find out more, or how to get involved.