Chichester District Council will be abolished as part of the local government reorganisation

The reorganisation – which will run side-by-side with the devolution of top-tier councils such as West Sussex County Council – was discussed by members of the cabinet on Tuesday (January 7).

A White Paper was issued in December which outlined proposals for both.

While West Sussex and East Sussex county councils, along with Brighton & Hove, will likely merge into one strategic authority, the plan is to merge the district and borough councils to form three unitary authorities covering the whole of Sussex.

With a tongue-in-cheek ‘thank you’ to the government for its Christmas present, chief executive officer Diane Shepherd said the council was working with staff and unions to make sure the transition was ‘smooth’.

Further information from the government was expected to be received on the day of the meeting.

In the meantime, Ms Shepherd said her understanding was that interim bids to create the unitary authorities needed to be submitted by March.

Each authority would be cover populations of at least 500,000 people.

They would then have until September to work with the other district and borough councils to submit detailed proposals.

Ms Shepherd said the next couple of months would be ‘interesting whilst we work on what the geography should be’.

Each council will need to approve the proposals before they are submitted – and she was unsure what would happen if they did not agree.

She added: “These changes will obviously have major implications for us as a council if we don’t exist in a couple of years time.

“We’ve got to work through those implications – not just for the council but for our staff and for our communities.

“Staff have been informed of the changes. It is uncertain times for staff but I have [told them] it is a merger – local government is still existing. It is bringing together the services of the county council and the services of the district council.

“Staff will transfer on TUPE arrangements. What I have been saying to staff is to look at this as an opportunity because I do see some real opportunities here for our staff.

“But we will work closely with them and the unions over the coming months to make sure that the transition is smooth.”

West Sussex County Council’s cabinet will meet on Thursday (January 9) to discuss the situation.

As an upper-tier council, it has until Friday to submit a bid for the ‘fast-track devolution scheme’.

Together with East Sussex and Brighton & Hove the bid will ask to create a strategic authority based on the Sussex footprint – a population of around 1.7m.

The authorities will know by the end of January if they have been successful.

If they are, the West Sussex county elections will be postponed for one year while proposals are prepared.

An announcement should be made in September about the creation of a new strategic authority in March 2026.

Mayoral elections will take place in May 2026 and the mayor will sit alongside the leaders of the three top-tier authorities.

For one year the people of Chichester will be represented by four councils – the county council and the new strategic authority, and the district council and the new unitary authority.

This will be known as a shadow year, while the transition to the new arrangements takes place.

Ms Shepherd said the district council would essentially be ‘ham-strung’ that year with no major decisions being allowed.