Members of Caterham Valley Parish Council ('CVPC')are demanding that Tandridge District Council ('TDC') consult with the local community over how to spend the revenue raised through the government's New Homes Bonus scheme. The Bonus is a grant paid by central government to local councils for increasing the number of homes, based on the amount of extra Council Tax Revenue raised. In 2012 the amount raised through new homes built in Caterham totalled £202,000.00 while the amount for the rest of Tandridge amounted to £32,422.00.

CVPC Chairman, Michael Lincoln said: "It seems that TDC has applied all the bonus money to a general fund for the benefit of the whole of Tandridge. This is hardly fair when those parishes to the south of the M25 have not suffered from the same level of development but are still benefiting from funds generated from the new homes built in Caterham."

In a statement, Louise Round, Chief Executive of TDC said: "Tandridge District Council has agreed a policy to use the money from the New Homes Bonus to maintain and support revenue service provision throughout the Council, which helps reduce the level of annual savings required to be found, or to finance the capital programme. This has helped us not increase Council Tax for the third year running.

"The money from the New Homes Bonus scheme does not belong to a particular area of the district, but is allocated to the District Council to decide how it should be spent."

The Parish Council referred the matter to the Housing Minister, Mark Prisk MP and the reply stated: "The Government expects local authorities to engage with their local community to decide how the money is spent, so that residents feel the direct benefits of growth." Cllr. Lincoln said: "This is clearly not the case as there has been no approach from TDC asking where we wish to invest this grant".