The county’s top tier councils have all agreed to push ahead with plans for a major reorganisation of local government which would see elections postponed and some smaller councils scrapped.
Members of East Sussex and West Sussex county councils and Brighton and Hove City Council all voted to apply for the government’s Devolution Priority Program.
If agreed, this would see this year’s local elections in East and West Sussex suspended ahead of elections for a new mayor for the county next year.
Should the councils have decided not to opt for the priority route of 2026, things would have gone ahead anyway in 2028.
West Sussex council leader Paul Marshall said: “Devolved powers [will] enable us to tackle health inequalities and economic growth, to improve our infrastructure.
“We welcome strategic planning, particularly when you look at the number of homes that are being asked to be built each year right across Sussex.
“If those homes are built, then it’s really critical that [they] are built alongside the infrastructure – that’s schools, that’s roads, that’s public transport, that’s health facilities.”
While supporting devolution, James Walsh, leader of the West Sussex Liberal Democrats group, said: “We are very concerned that these proposed reforms will in reality take decision making even further away from most residents, the very opposite of devolution.”
And Donna Johnson (Green and Independent Alliance, Selsey) suggested the motives behind the ‘untimely haste’ to get things done was politically driven rather than for the benefit of communities.
In East Sussex, councillors are also seeking to create a new unitary authority, to replace the existing county, borough and district councils.
Conservative council leader Keith Glazier said: “Whether we like it or not, the political mandate was given to the current government in July of last year they are very clear that this will happen before the end of this term.
“The bottom line is that we can be in there shaping it or we can be falling behind.”
However, East Sussex opposition councillors opposed postponing the elections. Green Party councillor Wendy Maples said: “Whether we think the changes proposed by government are more opportunity or more threat, they are change and change gives, or should give residents the opportunity to reflect anew on what they want.
“Denying residents a vote is a very serious decision. It says ‘I know better’. I have been in this role for three-and-a-half years and what I can say is that you don’t. You don’t know better, our residents do.”
Brighton and Hove council leader, Labour’s Bella Sankey, said: “This is an exciting and significant step to unlock new powers and funding for communities across Sussex.
“I’m keen to move swiftly with the Government and all tiers of local government across the region to take advantage of the opportunities being presented to us.
“Other parts of our country that have already devolved are already improving residents’ lives by integrating bus services and addressing health inequalities and I want our residents to feel these benefits too.”
The councils should find out by the end of January if their bid has been successful. The government will then consult on the proposals between January and March, with the aim of agreeing the new strategic authority by September.
If approved, the authority will be created in May 2026, with elections being carried out to select a mayor.
