East Sussex council leaders have collectively endorsed a document setting out the next steps in the upcoming shakeup of local government.
Over a series of meetings held in the past week, the leaders of East Sussex County Council and the county’s five district and borough councils – including Rother District Council – have collectively endorsed the East Sussex Interim Plan — a document which sets out the initial response to the government’s plans to reorganise local government.
Among other things, the document sets out how the councils are initially pursuing the creation of “a single unitary based on existing county boundaries”, which would replace and take on the responsibilities of all six existing authorities.
But the document also notes how this approach may be subject to change as a result of further guidance from the government and the views of local residents. The final proposals are due to be submitted in September, with more details expected to emerge in the coming months.
Several alternative options have already been discussed over the past week, including plans to split the county into rural and coastal unitary authorities. The full details of how this split would work have yet to emerge, however.
While some (most prominently Labour councillors in Rother and Hastings) have expressed strong support for this approach, others (including Labour councillors elsewhere) have raised concerns about the practicality of the proposals.
Among those to advocate for this approach was Labour’s Trevor Webb, who is a county councillor and a member of Hastings Borough Council.
Speaking at an East Sussex County Council meeting on Thursday, March 20, Cllr Webb said: “I think the [single] unitary option is the one that the leaders of the county council and the groups set the stall on right from the start.
“There hasn’t been any real analysis, in my humble opinion, on other options, as in the coastal unitary option.”
He added: “It is going to be the ministers who are making the decision … and I honestly don’t think the East Sussex unitary will happen. And if it doesn’t happen, then everybody has got to get their heads together, the district leaders and county leaders … to discuss.”
East Sussex County Council leader Keith Glazier (Con) has raised doubts about the viability of the alternative options, however.
Speaking about the coastal unitary proposals during Thursday’s county council meeting, Cllr Glazier said: “I don’t know if any of you have looked at the disaggregation costs of actually splitting a county — to create two new children’s services [and] adult social care [departments]. It’s enormous.
“There is some work done by the [County Councils Network] … which shows smaller unitaries really struggle and the more times you split a county unitary — apart from going from these notional savings, which I would question anyway — you are very soon into deficit, even if you split it into two.”
Whatever form it comes in, the new unitary authority or authorities would be expected to hold elections in 2027. The new organisation(s) would spend a year shadowing the existing councils, before completely replacing them.
In Rother, Labour councillors put forward a motion which sought to get the endorsement decision deferred in order for alternative options, such as the coastal unitary, to be considered. This motion was defeated and the endorsement agreed, however.
The role of town and parish councils has yet to be decided with the government expected to publish a white paper at some point.
Image Credits: Google Maps .