Riding arena construction in Surrey

The ground

Surrey runs from London clay in the north to greensand and heath further south. The sandy ground rides and drains beautifully, but it can be unstable under a sub-base and needs a geotextile specification that suits it rather than a standard one copied from a clay site.

This is why we survey on foot before quoting and why our guide prices are published as bands rather than a single figure. Anyone quoting an arena in Surrey without seeing the ground is either padding the price to cover the risk or is about to discover it at your expense.

Planning in Surrey

Green Belt covers much of the county, and Surrey Hills National Landscape covers a good deal of the rest. Both are workable, but neither is a formality, and the application is worth doing properly the first time.

Most well sited applications on land already in equestrian use are approved. Lighting is the usual sticking point. Our planning page covers the process in detail, including Biodiversity Net Gain, and we can handle the application for you.

Where the water goes in Surrey

On the greensand and heath, soakaways generally work well and the drainage design is simple. On the London clay in the north of the county it is the same problem as the Kent Weald, and the nearest legal outfall can be a long way from the arena. That distance is a cost, and it is one we would rather identify at survey.

This matters more than the surface you choose. When an arena stops riding well, the cause is usually underneath it rather than on top of it: water with nowhere to go. The legal and physical route out is a Surrey specific question rather than a standard detail, and it is the first thing we establish on a survey.

Who has to agree to the water leaving

Surrey County Council is the lead local flood authority, so consent for a discharge into an ordinary watercourse comes from there. The complication in Surrey is less about which body and more about distance: on the London clay in the north the nearest lawful outfall can sit several fields away, and the right to cross the land in between is a separate question from the right to discharge. On the greensand a soakaway usually removes the problem entirely.

Orientation, not legal advice. The survey settles which regime applies.

The designation that decides it in Surrey

Green Belt covers a very large share of Surrey and the Surrey Hills National Landscape covers much of what it does not. Green Belt is the one that decides most arena applications here, and it turns on whether the proposal counts as appropriate development and preserves openness rather than on appearance. That is a different argument from the one a National Landscape asks for, and it is usually won or lost on the supporting statement rather than on the drawings.

When to build here

The sandy sites are workable year round and are some of the most straightforward builds we do. The clay in the north follows the same rule as the Weald: build in the drier half of the year if you have the choice.

We will say so if we think you would get a better arena by waiting three months. A formation worked in the wrong conditions is a problem you live with for twenty years, and it is not worth a slightly earlier start.

Planning authorities in Surrey

Applications in Surrey are determined by bodies includingGuildford Borough Council, Mole Valley District Council, Waverley Borough Council, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council and Surrey Hills National Landscape. Policy and the appetite for lighting genuinely differ between them, which is one reason a pre application enquiry is usually worth the fee.

Where we work in Surrey

We build routinely around Guildford, Dorking, Farnham, Reigate, Cranleigh and Godalming, and across the rest of the county. Travel affects cost, so we would rather discuss it openly than quote as though it does not.