[Politics] mega councils '26 no thread ?

[GT49er]

Ever since the 1970s (that I can remember - probably before that) they've always messed about with the local government set up, county boundaries, new authorities, mayors, no mayors - you name it, they've done it. Never does any good; usually doesn't do too much harm (apart from the huge wasted cost of doing it), and somebody'll come along and change it all in a few years.
Can't do anything about (all the political parties will do it if they get ingo power; they can't help themselves - so no point in getting bothered about it anyway. In my mind Sussex has always been a county anyway, comprising East and West Sussex - just like Yorkshire is one county made up of three ridings - and whatever they do won't change my perception anyway.

 

[Frutos]

I would argue it reduces a level because at the moment if you live in newhaven you have newhaven town council, lewes district council, West Sussex county Council and the department of regions (whatever its currently called) at Westminster level.

Going forward for many items these will be devolved from Westminster mayor/mayoral admin committee. And below that you have West Sussex and then maybe newhaven.

So at least one level less and maybe two.

Unless either the town has moved or the boundary has, Newhaven has nothing to do with West Sussex!

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Personally I cannot wait for the Crodo “Who should be mayor of Sussex?” thread

I vote for Katie Price - given what a car crash idea this is we might as well have a car crash mayor.

 

[Lush]

Does this mean that everyone in Sussex now has to pay for the i360?

 

[A mex eyecan]

If Brighton & Hove merge would people want to merge with:

a) adur and worthing
b) mid sussex or
c) lewes

more the question which of the people of Adur and Worthing, Mid Sussex and Lewes would really want B&H to merge with them

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Does this mean that everyone in Sussex now has to pay for the i360?

Only if it becomes the new council offices

 

[Monkey Man]

The proposal as I understand it is simply this. Sussex will have three unitary authorities – East, West, B&H. Then a mayor for the entire county on top of that tier.

So no more district or borough councils eg Eastbourne, Adur, Hastings, Wealden etc.

Maybe there are efficiencies to be achieved by doing this but I think people are rightly worried about what this means for their communities. A lot of what councillors do is at a very micro level and although it's easy to snipe at this level of politics, the good representatives work hard for their corners of their towns and villages and try to solve a lot of problems, the majority of which aren't really reported.

So here in Seaford, for example, will we lose our town council as well as our district authority? Personally I'd miss local accountability and wouldn't be as comfortable with decisions being taken by people who perhaps have no connection with the town.

 

[ROSM]

Unless either the town has moved or the boundary has, Newhaven has nothing to do with West Sussex!

You may say that........but yes i made a boo boo. Just pretend I said east

 

[HeaviestTed]

Devolution revolution: six areas to elect Mayors for first time

Deputy Prime Minister brings six areas onto the Devolution Priority Programme with Mayors to be elected by May 2026 plus four new devolved institutions created.

www.gov.uk

I can’t imagine much will change, just an extra layer of bureaucracy

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I vote for Katie Price - given what a car crash idea this is we might as well have a car crash mayor.

Chris Eubank for me.

(I live in Kent.)

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

The proposal as I understand it is simply this. Sussex will have three unitary authorities – East, West, B&H. Then a mayor for the entire county on top of that tier.

So no more district or borough councils eg Eastbourne, Adur, Hastings, Wealden etc.

Maybe there are efficiencies to be achieved by doing this but I think people are rightly worried about what this means for their communities. A lot of what councillors do is at a very micro level and although it's easy to snipe at this level of politics, the good representatives work hard for their corners of their towns and villages and try to solve a lot of problems, the majority of which aren't really reported.

So here in Seaford, for example, will we lose our town council as well as our district authority? Personally I'd miss local accountability and wouldn't be as comfortable with decisions being taken by people who perhaps have no connection with the town.

My understanding is that Town Councils will remain - they will still have the ability to adopt Neighbourhood Plans

 

[HeaviestTed]

Devolution revolution: six areas to elect Mayors for first time

Deputy Prime Minister brings six areas onto the Devolution Priority Programme with Mayors to be elected by May 2026 plus four new devolved institutions created.

www.gov.uk

I can’t imagine much will change, just an extra layer of bureaucracy

Oi Mods! What happened to my title “sexit”

 

[Steve in Japan]

Just got an email from ESCC inviting me to participate in the Mayoral Combined County Authority devolution consultation - so we do get a voice. I just doubt it carries any weight.

This is not the detail about how the new "unitary" authority would work - that comes later I think

 

[BrightonCottager]

There're precedents for districts disappearing into Counties - Cornwall and Wiltshire to name but two. Neither have an elected mayor, as far as I know, although Cornwall does have a little devolution.

There're also precedents for cities rejecting proposals for elected mayors - B&H in the 90s when Ken Bodfish proposed it, but an effective campaign based on it being antidemocratic, concentrating so much power and money in the hands of one person, meant a defeat in the referendum. And Bristol CC have recently voted to ditch their mayor for similar reasons. I'm sure B&H's current lovable leader would relish being mayor of Sussex, concentrating even more power into her hands than the current malfunctioning cabinet system.

In principle, both local government reorganisation and devolution make sense - the Tories' destruction of strategic planning has been a disaster for house building and infrastructure planning. But we shouldn't be using medieval boundaries to do it on and it needs a fairer electoral system.

 

[Anger]

Is this all about the party in power, producing a system with large enough boundaries creating a the possibility of them never getting voted out?

Gerrymandering you mean? I don’t think there are sufficient hallmarks to point to that.

 

[worthingseagull123]

No thread on the mega council plans for 2026 ?

East Sussex and West Sussex are part of the plan

Voted Lord Mayors of Lewes and Chichester ? what happens to Mid-sussex and B&H ?

Rumour has it that the B&H council want to drop the H to save on printing....

I want Worthing and West Sussex to have nothing to do with Brighton and Hove.

Worthing has been a disaster under the Labour council and we want to keep the Greens as far away as possible, given the damage they cause.

 

[BadFish]

Why do we need a mayor when we already have a Duke and Duchess??

This is the first step to Sussex taking over Westminster and installing Megan abd Harry as Queen and King.

 

[Chicken Run]

I'm sure B&H's current lovable leader would relish being mayor of Sussex, concentrating even more power into her hands than the current malfunctioning cabinet system.

I think our Bella has her eyes on Westminster, she’s so far up Starmer’s arsehole that there’s room for one more !

 

[Lenny Rider]

I want Worthing and West Sussex to have nothing to do with Brighton and Hove.

Worthing has been a disaster under the Labour council and we want to keep the Greens as far away as possible, given the damage they cause.

Not quite a disaster, I think they’ve had the harsh reality that it’s so easy to be in opposition, being in power is a totally new ball game.

 

[JBizzle]