Local elections are a must for 2027, says Worthing West MP – but it's a tall order

Secretary of State for Local Government, Steve Reed MP, told the House of Commons on Thursday, January 23, that he had approved postponing elections for 29 English councils, including West Sussex County Council and in Adur and Worthing, until 2027.

After the announcement, Dr Cooper stood up to pay tribute to her councillor colleagues, as a former leader of Worthing Borough Council, and to call for a speedy response from the government on the format for unitary authorities in Sussex.

She said: "As we are on the fast track in Sussex, could the Secretary of State please reassure us that unitary authority decisions will be made as soon as possible and that the Boundary Commission will come out and make sure that we have the right size wards at the earliest possible opportunity."

Mr Reed called her a 'pugnacious champion for her constituents' who had made her point 'very, very clear'.

He added: "We intend to make those announcements as soon as we can, so that there is certainty and we can move ahead to the new structures."

After the Parliamentary sitting, Dr Cooper said: "I stood up in the House and I expressed solidarity with my councillor colleagues. I think they have been put in a really difficult position and they have made a decision that they think is best for the residents of Worthing.

"They are trying to get to unitary authority status in a really fast timeframe. I have concerns about how fast we are going, I really do. We have to have elections next May. There is no justification for not having them. That is going to have to be a shadow unitary authority. That's pretty fast. The councils need to know what the unitary authority boundaries are going to be as soon as possible and get an election plan in place. That's an awful lot.

"I am in favour of a coastal amalgamation of the current Arun, Adur and Worthing borough and districts. My observation would be that the new boundaries would be somewhere between ward and division size. The boundary commissioner has got to come out and look. I think it is quite possible for them to meet the unitary level."

Dr Cooper said the decision to postpone the elections was made by the Secretary of State, after receiving responses from the councils.

She said: "Councils were asked to consider their capacity to run local elections this year and take advice about financial capacity and human resources in light of needing to reorganise and restructure as unitary authorities, for which there will be elections next May.

"Sophie and her team took advice that going ahead with elections would divert capacity and resources from the already stretched borough council team. Some of the reasons are about logistics, cost of elections and the time needed to train up new councillors.

"The secretary of state made the decision based on that. It was his decision and he could have said no. I obviously understand that people need to go and vote. I can see the sense this year but obviously next year, we have got to be ready to go and that is a tall order."

Dr Cooper said there was also a case for the new Sussex mayoralty election to be held in 2027.