It is well documented that local government as a whole is facing financially difficulties, which are set to become more challenging in the years ahead. The projected growth in adult social care needs, as our society ages and lives longer, is one of the largest challenges.
The government are forcing through the merging of councils in two-tier area like our own in West Sussex. An upside is this will generate future savings, although the amount of savings will depend on whether the government decide there should be one or two unitary councils covering West Sussex, with two councils being much more costly to set up and then run, than one.
Regardless of where we end up with council mergers, financial pressures will remain, but they are set to become much greater for us in West Sussex due to a deliberate government policy. In seeking to shore up votes in traditional Labour heartlands up north, the Labour Government are being quite brazen that they are set to redistribute around two billion pounds of government funding, from local authorities in southern England, to those in the north and the midlands.
Councils get around half their funding from central government, determined by a complex mix of formulae that seek to address differing levels of demand and costs for council services. From 2026, there will be a phasing in of plans that will see the number of these formulae reduced by over a third, along with tweaks designed to direct funding away from local areas deemed to be economically better off. This risks Crawley and West Sussex being hit hard.
If the government don’t fund local authorities to meet the future challenges they have, and if they redistribute that funding to favour Labour heartlands, then the legacy of this Labour Government will be one of big cuts to services and council tax hikes for us in Crawley and West Sussex.
Cynically hoping you won’t notice steep annual increases, Labour also plans to mask future council tax rises by changing how it is collected, with payments being over twelve months, rather than the current ten.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
13th August 2025
