Councils submit proposals for local government reorganisation

Councils across Sussex have made their choice of preferred unitary authorities under the local government reorganisation process, with Hastings Borough Council deciding to put forward all three options it has been considering. It also voted to request that the mayoral elections due next May be postponed, having already asked the same for next year’s local elections. Report by Nick Terdre, research and graphics by Russell Hall.

The choice of unitary made by the Hastings Borough Council Cabinet at a special meeting on 24 September was One East Sussex, but it was decided that the other two options which have been assessed – Labour’s coastal/inland model and the Hastings Independents’ federated model – should also be put forward for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s consideration.

In the words of a council statement, “The council’s Cabinet endorsed the one East Sussex unitary model, but business cases and proposals for a coastal unitary model and the district and borough federated model were all sent to the government.”

The ministry has made it clear that councils should only submit one proposal, so if Hastings were considered to have submitted three, its submission might be disregarded.

Together with the other five East Sussex councils it already appears to have ignored the ministry’s stipulation that proposals should cover East Sussex and Brighton as one area.

Of 810 responses to HBC’s consultation, 286 favoured the single council, 301 the federated model and 169 the coastal option.

One East Sussex – a single unitary for the whole area – was also the choice of East Sussex County Council, Eastbourne Borough Council and Rother and Lewes district councils, while Wealden decided late in the day not to make any proposal. In Hastings the One East Sussex model was supported by the Greens and Conservatives.

The chances are, then, that the ministry will select the One East Sussex option. Its provisional choice will be put out to public consultation in November and a final decision made in February.

There was general agreement at Full Council that the four group leaders had worked well together in assessing the options for reorganisation, and Labour councillor Judy Rogers said she hoped that, whatever the government decision, they could continue working together to get the best for Hastings.

There was also general agreement that the government had allowed too little time for such an important job, and that none of the proposals would be viable without the reform of local government finance.

The exact division between the coastal strip and inland rural area as proposed by HBC’s Labour group has been revealed in the business case for this option. In the map above, the coastal strip is coloured orange and the inland rural area blue.

Disagreement in West Sussex

Meanwhile West Sussex County Council plumped for a single unitary but found itself at odds with its lower-tier authorities, which all chose so-called Option B2. This would see the area divided into two unitaries – Adur/Arun/Chichester/Worthing and Crawley/Horsham/Mid Sussex.

Brighton & Hove put forward a proposal covering the whole of Sussex, which would be divided into five unitaries. The unitary for Brighton & Hove would take in several wards from Lewes: East Saltdean & Telscombe Cliffs, Peacehaven West, Peacehaven East, Peacehaven North and Falmer Parish (part of Kingston ward).

Residents in these areas, as well as Lewes councillors and other politicians, have vociferously rejected the idea of being grouped with Brighton. Lewes Lib Dem MP James MacCleary has called Brighton’s proposal “a dog’s breakfast,” while Rother District Council’s leader Cllr Doug Oliver branded Brighton & Hove City Council “despicable” and “incompetent.”

The unitaries are due to come into operation in 2028, when the existing councils will all be abolished. ‘Shadow’ elections for councillors in the new authorities are to be held in May 2027.

Mayoral election

Meanwhile a Sussex mayor, who will head the Sussex Combined County Authority, is due to be elected next May. The Conservatives have selected Katy Bourne, the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, as their candidate, and the Liberal Democrats Ben Dempsey. The Greens will announce their choice next Wednesday. Candidates for Labour and Reform are as yet unknown.

In a motion supported by the Greens and Hastings Independents, and opposed by Labour and the Tories, HBC has decided to request a one-year postponement to 2027. This would enable the election to take place under the supplementary vote system, which new legislation will have introduced by then, as opposed to the first-past-the-post system due to be used in 2026. It was essential, Cllr Julia Hilton, who holds the devolution portfolio, told Full Council, that such a powerful figure as the mayor should enjoy a strong electoral mandate.

As the Lib Dems have recently stated, FPTP combined with a low turnout can result in a representative being elected with the backing of as little as 4% of the electorate.

The Greens put a similar motion for postponement to the ESCC Full Council meeting on 24 September, but it was defeated, and no other Sussex council has proposed it, so it seems unlikely that HBC’s request will sway the ministry.

According to a briefing note to the ESCC Cabinet, deferral would mean delay or reduction in receipt of the £38m a year mayoral investment fund which Sussex is due to start receiving once a mayor is in place.

More proposed postponement

HBC’s four group leaders – Cllrs Glenn Haffenden (Greens), Mike Edwards (Tories), Helen Kay (Labour) and Paul Barnett  (Hastings Independents) – have also asked for the local elections next May to be postponed, arguing that this will free up officer time and enable elected members familiar with the process to concentrate on further developing the local government reorganisation plans.

They also claimed that residents would be “confused” by having mayoral and local elections next May followed by elections for a shadow unitary authority or authorities in 2027 – residents may care to disagree.

Apart from the Tories, all the other groups complained bitterly when the government postponed the county council elections scheduled for May this year.

However both Sussex county councils have agreed to request that the postponed elections now set for next May should be postponed again.

Councillors out of a job

Presuming that the local elections in Hastings go ahead, 16 seats will be contested. Councillors whose term will be over are: Conservatives – Mike Edwards (Ashdown), Andy Patmore (Maze Hill) and Matthew Beaver (West St Leonards); Greens – Tony Collins (Central St Leonards), Amanda Jobson (Gensing) and Glenn Haffenden (Tressell); Labour – Margi O’Callaghan (Braybrooke), Judy Rogers (Castle), John Rankin (Conquest) and James Bacon (Old Hastings); and Hastings Independents – Mike Turner (Baird), Paul Barnett (Hollington), Simon Willis (Ore), Nigel Sinden (Silverhill), Andy Batsford (St Helens) and John Cannan (Wishing Tree).

Several of these were elected in 2022 for different parties: Rankin for the Tories and all the Hastings Independents for Labour.

There is a vacancy in the county council division of Ashdown & Conquest following the untimely death of Tory councillor Peter Pragnell, but no Notice of Election has been published, and HOT has been unable to get confirmation from ESCC that a by-election will be held.

Setback for Reform

Assuming it goes ahead, it will be a chance for Reform to check whether their lead in the polls translates into electoral success, though in last week’s by-election in Rolvenden & Tenterden ward of Ashford Borough Council the Greens held onto the seat despite a strong showing by Nigel Farage’s party.

Meanwhile the government ministers originally responsible for devolution have found themselves out of a job. Angela Rayner had to resign over an underpayment of stamp duty on a new flat, while Jim McMahon, the minister of state for local government and English devolution, found himself peremptorily dismissed in the ensuing reshuffle.

Now the new minister of Housing, Communities and Local Government is Steve Reed, and devolution responsibilities have been split between Alison McGovern (local government reorganisation) and Miatta Fahnbulleh (English devolution).

Reed told councils he was “committed to his predecessor’s policy programme, including local government reorganisation, and would “[continue] with the devolution priority programme to hold mayoral elections next year.”

 

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