Crawley Borough Council is holding ‘exploratory discussions’ which could see the town’s political boundaries moved into Surrey as part of the government’s devolution plans.
A White Paper, published in December, proposed a reorganisation of local government which would see county councils replaced with mayoral strategic authorities covering populations of at least 1.5million.
Surrey has a population of 1.2million, while the combined population of Sussex is around 1.7million.
Michael Jones, leader of the council, had previously said that Crawley’s identity needed to be “strongly retained” during any reforms.
When asked about the Surrey option, he said: “I don’t think it would be fair for me to disclose what at the moment are exploratory discussions – but there have been discussions with a range of people on both sides of the border.”
On Friday (January 31), the Secretary of State will announce which regions will be included in the Devolution Priority Programme – and whether county elections will be postponed by a year until May 2026. If Sussex is included, a six-eight-week public consultation will be launched in February. But where will Crawley stand?
Mr Jones said: “All I can say at the moment is that, clearly with local government reorganisation, Crawley Borough Council is having to look at a range of different options. Nothing has been ruled out, but neither have any firm decisions been taken.”
In a letter to Jim McMahon, Minister for Local Government & English Devolution, Surrey County Council said it would “make sense to engage concurrently with neighbouring authorities to explore the benefits of forming or joining mayoral strategic authorities over a larger footprint.”
Mr Jones added: “When this first arose, I was very clear that we needed arrangements for any new council boundaries that clearly recognised Crawley’s identity and protected it and represented the economic interests of the area.
“As it stands, soon the government will be inviting proposals from local authorities for what that would look like. Clearly, however the boundaries are drawn on that, Crawley being on the edge of Sussex and Surrey will have to go in one or the other – and that is what is subject to debate at the moment.
“We’re not making any firm decisions but we are aware that there are people on both sides in each county who would like Crawley within their combined area.”
A spokesman for West Sussex County Council said: “All councils in Sussex will be discussing how local government could be reorganised in our region in line with the government’s criteria and a full proposal will be submitted later this year.”
