There is now only one week until the government’s additional online consultation closes, on their modified proposals for local government reorganisation in Sussex. The deadline to take part is 11.59pm on Monday 15 June and it is expected the government will decide in July what the future of our local government will look like.
With all the chaos that has enveloped the Labour Government, including a likely leadership challenge, it is easy to forget that we have profound changes proposed for our own local government. I urge everyone interested to have your say while you still can.
The consultation is easy to find online by searching for “Sussex local government reorganisation” and is easy to do. The only question it asks is the following: “To what extent do you agree or disagree that the potential modification to the two unitary proposal will deliver better unitary local government in West Sussex than the original proposal received as judged against the criteria?” You then have options to tick varying from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
The government’s modified proposal is splitting West Sussex in two with our new proposed unitary authority being Crawley/Horsham/Mid-Sussex/Chichester, so my own response was to tick the strongly disagree box. The second part of the consultation has a text box for any additional comments and lists the criteria the government say they are using to decide.
While the consultation is on having a two unitary authority proposal for West Sussex, it is still very clear that having one unitary authority is by far the best solution to ensure a financially sustainable council for the future that will be able to maintain services, including meeting the growing need for adult social care and ensuring our roads can be maintained.
To enact the government’s proposals to split up West Sussex County Council will cost council tax payers tens of millions, in both disaggregation costs and future running costs, and cause disruption to services. I strongly urge using the consultation text box to say that having one unitary authority for West Sussex is the best option when set against the government’s own criteria.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
10th June 2026
