Mole Valley 14 Liberal Democrats, and 7 Independents (6 Ashtead Independents and 1 Beare Green Independent). There are no Labour, UKIP or Green Party councillors. Surrey County Council, elected every four years, obtains six representatives from this area: The district, named after the River Mole, was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the urban districts of Dorking and Leatherhead and most of the Dorking and Horley Rural District. A Legatum Prosperity Index published by the Legatum Institute in October 2016 showed Mole Valley as the second most prosperous council area in the United
River Mole the Pipp Brook, a tributary draining the northeastern slopes of Leith Hill. Between Dorking and Leatherhead the Mole cuts a steep-sided valley (the Mole Gap) though the North Downs, carving a river cliff on the western flank of Box Hill and a smaller cliff at Ham Bank in Norbury Park. The sudden change from impermeable Wealden Clay to permeable chalk and the increased gradient of the river (which drops in the stretch between Brockham and Leatherhead, compared to in between Horley and Brockham) allow the water table to drop below the bed of the river. Water is able to flow