Happy New Year! 2026 has arrived and a fairly safe prediction is continued and increasing pressure for local government, both financially and service pressures, plus local government reorganisation.
As things stand, the government is expected to announce in March what our new Unitary Authority covering Crawley will be. There will then be elections to elect this entire new single-tier council in May next year, with West Sussex County Council and Crawley Borough Council then being wound-up in the months following the May 2027 local elections.
In May 2028 there will also be the election for the new role of Sussex Mayor which was originally planned for May this year, but which the government has delayed due to the complexity of setting up new mayoral authorities across the country at the same time as unitarisation of councils.
The workload for councils across West Sussex to create unitary authorities and the mayoral combined authority is huge, while still delivering the important everyday services for which demand is increasing. The government decision on whether we have one or two new unitary authorities for West Sussex will have major implications thereafter.
With a Labour Government that is also taking huge amounts of council funding away from West Sussex to send to Labour heartlands up north, future financial viability is crucial for our new unitary authority and only the whole West Sussex option gives that by costing £30 million a year less to run every year than having two unitary authorities for the county. The sad reality of splitting West Sussex County Council into two halves as Labour propose locally, will mean less money to spend on roads and cuts to services, combined with higher council tax. It would also risk causing major disruption to services over an extended period.
The ’more local’ argument for a smaller council doesn’t wash as whatever size council we have, local arrangements for local decision making have to be included regardless. I strongly recommend the whole West Sussex unitary proposal. If you wish to formally express your own view, the government online consultation closes this coming Sunday 11 January.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
7th January 2026
