Residents denied vote as devolution creates massive change across Sussex

This May’s West Sussex County Council elections have been cancelled, leaving voters unable to choose who will determine the final arrangements of the government’s devolution process in Sussex. 

Conservative led West Sussex County Council asked the government to cancel the upcoming elections after volunteering to become one of the government’s fast tracked regional authorities in forming a combination of councils covering West Sussex, East Sussex and Brighton. Prior to the government offering to cancel elections of fast-tracked authorities, WSCC had written to Angela Rayner, Labour deputy leader, saying it did not support its policy of larger unitary authorities. 

While pledging support in the devolution process, Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association warned that existing local authority services could suffer if there was insufficient funding and capacity during the reorganisation. 

In a letter written to Jim McMahon, Minister for Local Government and English Devolution she also warned of the need to maintain engagement from local Communities. “Given significant change to local structures, residents, communities and businesses will need to feel represented as councils embark on reorganisation. Ensuring that communities are engaged will be crucial to mitigating risk and capitalising on opportunities,” the LGA Chair wrote.

“Denying the public their vote from the start is a sure-fire way to make communities feel disenfranchised and not engaged in a process that will take months and months and will completely change the structure of local and regional governance for ever,” said Kate O’Kelly, Campaign Lead at Chichester Liberal Democrats. She pointed out “Voters have had their democratic right to choose who they want to represent them removed at a critical time in the evolution of local government, which is unacceptable,”

“This is a disgraceful stitch up between Labour and the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats made sweeping gains against the Conservatives at the General Election and now failing Tory-run councils are running scared and denying voters a chance to kick them out of office in May,” said Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey.

“This is a slap in the face of voters who are being denied the chance to kick out the Conservatives and give their verdict on the Labour Government. The Conservatives are so scared of the electorate that they would rather cling on to power in councils without a democratic mandate,” said Liberal Democrat Local Government spokesperson Vikki Slade.

Kate O’Kelly also highlighted that “without adequate planning, consultation and consideration - this exciting opportunity to shape and define a new and future-proofed local authority structure will have been squandered.”

“It is clear that with no preparatory new local government transition work even begun in outline at WSCC, a fast-track status runs a real danger of being shambolic with disastrous outcomes for the residents and voters who rely on Chichester or Arun District Council and/or WSCC’s services to our community,” said Kate, pointing out that “CDC is in a healthy financial position compared to many other district and borough councils and  WSCC is in a poor financial position.”