West Sussex County Council leader to confirm the authority’s commitment to devolution and local government reorganisation

Members of the cabinet made the decision during a meeting on Thursday (January 9) – though there was concern from opposition councillors about the ‘inordinate haste’ of the process.

The government’s White Paper was published on December 16 and the council has until Friday (January 10) to jump on board.

Now Paul Marshall – along with the leaders of East Sussex County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council – will write to the Minister of State for Local Government & Devolution about establishing a mayoral combined authority for the whole of Sussex by May 2026.

The government’s recommendations call for such authorities to have a population of at least 1.5m – the combined population of Sussex is about 1.7 million.

The letter will form the first part of the devolution process and should see Sussex placed in the government’s Devolution Priority Programme.

It will also invite the government to postpone for one year the county council elections, which are due to be held this May.

During that time, proposals for local government reorganisation will be developed – something that cannot be done during purdah (the pre-election period).

Should the councils have decided not to opt for the priority route of 2026, things would have gone ahead anyway in 2028.

Mr Marshall stressed the need to get on board quickly and said it was ‘quite clear’ that the government would only really want to talk to local authorities which had the mayoral model in place.

He added: “I think what’s clear to us is there are big demands in Sussex – right across board, both east, west, as well as in Brighton – and we very much welcome the opportunity to have those devolved powers sooner rather than later, to enable us to tackle the health inequalities, to tackle the economic growth, to improve our infrastructure.

“We welcome strategic planning, particularly when you look at the number of homes that are being asked to be built each year right across Sussex.

“If those homes are built, then it’s really critical that [they] are built alongside the infrastructure – that’s schools, that’s roads, that’s public transport, that’s health facilities.”

While supporting devolution, James Walsh, leader of the Liberal Democrats, worried about how quickly things were moving.

He added: “Any changes must be carefully considered, transparent, and inclusive, ensuring that residents and businesses are fully engaged in shaping our future, and not making hasty, rushed, and minority decisions.

“We are also very concerned that these proposed reforms will in reality take decision making even further away from most residents, the very opposite of devolution.”

Donna Johnson (Green & Independent Alliance, Selsey) suggested the motives behind the ‘untimly haste’ to get things done was politically driven rather than for the benefit of communities.

But she added that pragmatism was called for, and said: “Having greater control over funding and policy could enable regional needs to be addressed more efficiently, and a more localised model of decision-making could lead to a much more effective use of resources, potentially addressing our community’s desire for greater control of policies better reflecting their needs.”

Gary Markwell (Reform, Arundel & Courtwick) feared the proposals did not offer ‘true devolution’ but created an extra layer of government ‘resulting in a loss of local decision making’.

The councils should find out by the end of January if their bid has been successful. The government will then consult on the proposals between January and March, with the aim of agreeing the new strategic authority by September.

If approved, the authority will be created in May 2026, with elections being carried out to select a mayor.