Raven’s vision for the future of Preston

Our emerging proposals for Preston focus on providing homes that are fit for the future and creating a neighbourhood that better meets local needs, both now and in the future.

We’ve carefully reviewed every home we own in the area - looking not only at the condition of the buildings, but also at how well they work for residents and users now and in the years ahead.

Redevelopment would allow us to provide homes that are fit for the future, while also delivering the wider improvements residents have told us they want in Preston, such as more shops, better shared spaces, and places to gather.

Rebuilding these homes offers the best long-term solution – giving current residents the chance to return to brand-new, high-quality homes while also creating additional housing to meet local needs.

Alongside new and improved homes, the proposals aim to:

Revitalise Marbles Way and create a new local centre at Merland Green, with modern shops and complementary community spaces.
Provide a range of housing to meet the needs of the local community.
Enhance green spaces – celebrating woodlands, play areas, food growing, and safe, sociable places.
Improve pedestrian links and signage between new and existing facilities and areas.

Your feedback and how we’re using it

In December 2025, we sent you a feedback newsletter summarising what you told us during our October 2025 consultation. Your input reinforced our ambition to create a neighbourhood that feels safer, greener and easier to get around.

Many residents said they recognised the need for investment and the opportunities redevelopment could bring - including the chance to address longstanding issues in the area and provide better homes.

Others want more reassurance and clarity on our plans as they are developed. Below brings together the key issues, values, aspirations and questions you raised, alongside how our emerging proposals are responding

What we are proposing and what we hope to deliver

Raven does not own all of the spaces that make up our proposals for the renewal of Preston. Some parts of our plans relate to homes, buildings and spaces that we own and manage. For these areas, we have developed more detailed proposals.

Other elements of our plans relate to wider, more aspirational neighbourhood improvements - addressing issues you raised in your feedback during the previous rounds of consultation. These can only be delivered with the support and funding from our partners, such as Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, Surrey County Council and other service providers.

As a result, improvements in these areas cannot be guaranteed immediately and are likely to be delivered in stages over time. However, they reflect our long-term vision for Preston, and we are working hard to make them a reality.

Why the plans are becoming more detailed

To turn our ambitions into reality, we have developed the plans for Preston to a level of detail that allows us to be more confident they are deliverable and affordable.

This work helps us make sure we can:

Deliver real change, not just ideas and aspirations
Deliver high-quality homes that ensure we can keep our commitments to rehousing and supporting residents
Create plans that are appropriate for the area and will deliver real benefits for all
Provide a prioritised list of wider benefits, enabling us to work with our partners to secure funding and begin to deliver changes.

While the proposals you are seeing today are still emerging and open to feedback, they are based on what we believe is a realistic and achievable way forward within the constraints of the site, funding and planning requirements.

Final decisions will be subject to Raven Board approval ahead of any planning application pending planning permission being granted, construction would not begin on the first phase for at least two years
The redevelopment would take place in phases across a number of years, with the current proposed programme being approximately 12 years for completion.

The below plan shows the proposed areas for redevelopment across Preston, along with initial ideas for how some of the landscape ambitions - shaped by your feedback and what you have told us you would like to see - could be incorporated across the area.

Some of these landscape ambitions will require partnership working and can only be delivered with the support from our partners and external funding.

The plan also includes two areas where additional new homes could be integrated into the neighbourhood.