In two-tier council areas like ours, local authorities are being forced by the Labour Government to merge to become a single-tier councils. An initial joint submission to the government was made by all eight councils in West Sussex, but an additional submission from Crawley Borough Council and Reigate & Banstead was sneaked in at the last minute, claiming a new single-tier council made up of these two councils was the best option.

That’s clearly ridiculous, including that the combined population of Crawley and Reigate is barely half the government’s required minimum population for all new single-tier councils. However, Crawley Labour are pushing joining Surrey hard, including a senior Labour councillor emailing all Crawley borough councillors insisting, “this is the obvious way forward” and “Let’s all get behind this option”.

What might be the real agenda behind Crawley Labour trying to move Crawley northwards into Surrey? I have my concerns. The London Mayor, Labour’s Sadiq Khan, often makes statements about Gatwick Airport, which is not only outside London, but which has the additional Surrey/West Sussex county border further separating Gatwick from London, giving Crawley a strong second line of defence from being absorbed into Labour-dominated London.

The secretive Crawley and Reigate submission repeatedly mentions London, and says “historic county boundaries are now illogical”. It references being “strongly connected to the London economy” and highlights railway links to London and the M25 and M23 motorways. Note that using the M23, the London/Surrey border near Coulsdon is only 12 miles from the Crawley/Surrey border at Junction 9.

Cllr Duncan Crow - Leader of the Conservative Group at Crawley Borough Council

Crucially, any new council with Crawley within Surrey will mean Crawley’s new council will border London! With London needing more housing, it’s easy to foresee Sadiq Khan and Crawley Labour then pressing for the London boundary to expand to absorb the new neighbouring council that includes Gatwick.

Crawley has always proudly been part of our historic county of West Sussex. Our new single-tier council must remain within West Sussex and not move to Surrey, which feels like the first stage of an underhand two-stage plan to make Crawley and Gatwick part of a new London borough.

Political opinion with Cllr Duncan Crow: Crawley belongs in West Sussex, not Surrey or London!