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Councils plan to postpone elections for devolution

Getty Images A close up of a hand putting a white paper voting slip into a black ballot boxGetty Images
East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton and Hove councils met on Thursday and agreed on plans to create one strategic authority under a mayor

Politicians across Sussex plan to postpone local elections in May in favour of electing a mayor and replacing councils with unitary authorities.

East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton and Hove councils met on Thursday and agreed on plans to create one strategic authority under a mayor.

Leaders of borough and district councils in East Sussex have written to the government, saying it is "unacceptable that our residents, the voters, won't decide who runs the county council" while devolution is taking place.

The government said no decisions have been taken on postponing elections.

In a joint letter to the Government before the meeting, the Green Party and Liberal Democrat leaders of Eastbourne, Hastings, Lewes and Wealden said: "It must be up to our residents to decide who makes these changes to services.

"We support increased regional powers, particularly around public transport, climate action, skills, energy, and planning, but we do not agree with doing this at the expense of local democracy."

Other Green and Liberal Democrat councillors and MPs across Sussex have echoed their concerns.

Green councillors have called for extraordinary full council meetings in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove to debate the devolution plans ahead of the special cabinet meetings decide the next step.

Ahead of the meeting, Roy Galley, the Conservative chair of East Sussex County Council, said: "The Government came out with a white paper on the 16th of December, requiring a response by the 10th of January, which is a pretty quick pace.

"They've also decided their preferred model would be a mayor which would cover Sussex, so that's the Government's plan now and part of that is that they are proposing to delay elections. I can understand thoroughly why people may be concerned about this."

In a statement, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We will only consider postponing elections for areas where the council concerned have requested it and where it helps an area to deliver reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeline."

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