Leatherhead's businesses voted to fund the town centre, but only a quarter of them took part

Leatherhead town centre has a new partnership looking after it, and only a quarter of the businesses paying for it took part in the vote that set it up. Since 1 January 2026, every business inside its boundary whose premises are valued at £8,000 or more for business rates pays a charge of 2% towards it, for an initial five years. It's what is known as a business improvement district, and it spends the money on things no single shop would pay for on its own.

What the money is for

The partnership's own site lists events such as the Duck Race, Halloween and the Christmas Festival. It also promises extra cleaning and seasonal planting "over and above the services already provided by Mole Valley District Council", along with crime prevention, better signs and shared deals on waste and utilities. The ducks will get the headlines, but if you run a business there, I'd read the shared deals first: that's where you might get some money back.

It also wants the town to speak "with one clear and cohesive voice" as the new East Surrey Council takes over in April 2027.

A quarter of the town decided

The partnership publishes its vote result, and it's a landslide on a low turnout. Of the businesses that voted, 81% were in favour, and 78% when each vote was weighted by the value of the premises. Only 25% of the businesses entitled to vote took part at all. That's allowed: as the partnership itself points out, there's no minimum turnout in England, and a vote only needs a majority of those who take part, counted both by number and by value.

So one business in four decided for everyone. Every business that fits the description pays, however it voted, or whether it voted at all. That isn't a Leatherhead quirk. It's how every partnership of this kind works, and the rules are short enough to read over a coffee.

If you run a business there

Three things cost nothing. The partnership's events page takes listings by email, and it already carries far more than its own events, from the Mole Valley Arts Alive festival to the Chamber's networking evenings. After the vote, Bruce Shaw, director of the shadow board that ran things before the partnership formally began, invited businesses to get involved "whether by joining the Board or participating in themed working groups", and turning up is how you get a say. And the first bills went out in March 2026, so if the property value on yours looks wrong, ask now rather than at the next vote.

Next door in Epsom and Kingston

Epsom's equivalent, Go Epsom, is in its second five-year term, 2023 to 2028, so Epsom's businesses have already had one chance to judge what it pays for. Kingston First, which describes itself as the UK's first business improvement district, began its current five-year term in January 2025 after a vote to carry on in which 56% of businesses took part.

Leatherhead's partnership lasts five years at most, and carrying on needs another vote. By then its businesses will have a record to judge it by, and rather more reason to turn out.

Leatherhead is one of the towns on our page for businesses in Surrey and South West London, if you'd like to see how we work locally.