There will be seven voting members, including the Sussex Mayor, on the devolved Sussex Mayoral Authority.  Six of these voting members will be elected from East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton and Hove. The Sussex Mayor is the seventh voting member, and they will have the casting vote.  Each member will have a vote. The default voting system is that a clear majority of four voting members will carry a change in policy or Sussex-wide legislation. Associate members like the Police and Crime Commissioner, the local NHS Trust Chief Executive or district council leaders can attend meetings, and they cannot vote.

Only Unitary Authorities like Brighton and Hove and County Councils will be represented on the devolved Mayoral Authority. By 2028, the whole of Sussex should be unitary authorities like Brighton and Hove which is better because a single authority runs all the council services in the area.

If the referendum is approved, the first mayoral elections will take place on 07 May 2026.

The Mayor will sit on the Council of Nations and Regions with the Prime Minister, the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. The mayor will also represent Sussex on the Mayoral Council with other countywide or metro Mayors like the Mayor of London, Greater Manchester, Liverpool and other northern regions.

The Independent Remuneration Panel will recommend allowances and the new authority would set its own allowances and agree the allowance of the Sussex Mayor.

Elections have been postponed in East and West Sussex from May 2025 to May 2026 in order to ensure that the Sussex Mayor and voting members can be elected at the same time. I do not think elections for the new unitary authorities will take place until 2027 and these councils will not begin to operate until 2028. It means there will be very little democratic accountability between May 2026 and May 2028. According to the Local Government Association, shadow elections might take place during this time and they will not be full elections.

This part of the process is not at all clear to me and is causing concern to Councils across East and West Sussex as well as Brighton and Hove. All three authorities of Brighton and Hove, East and West Sussex support devolution to bring greater investment and protection of Sussex’ natural resources into the area. All three authorities are consulting widely about the boundaries of the five new unitary authorities.

Green Party concerns in Lewes and East Sussex (click here)

Councillor Ezra Cohen from Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council feels there are inadequate safeguards in place to protect democratic accountability, ‘enhance representation and restore trust’ in public services.

Lewes District Council would like to ensure that devolution is ‘truly a transfer of power to communities, not just a reshuffling of centralised authority.’

Four out of five of the District and Borough Council leaders in East Sussex feel lack of council elections ‘risks undermining the very principles of local democracy and public trust that the White Paper claims to champion.’

Mayoral campaigns can spend up to £140,000 which East Sussex County Council (ESCC) feels is too high and creates a financial barrier to democratic participation. The Sussex Mayor will be elected two years before the unitary authorities go live.

Mayoral elections will use the First Past the Post voting system, a Supplementary Vote system might be fairer according to East Sussex County Council (ESCC.)

Councillor Cohen is concerned that the Sussex Mayor will operate alone for two years without a directly elected assembly like the London Assembly. This means there will be no checks and balances to what the Sussex Mayor is doing.

West Sussex County Council is also very concerned about democratic accountability. Click on the link (in green) to read their concerns.

All of the Mayors’ Commissioners need to be elected, not appointed to protect local democratic oversight and accountability. I cannot find a clear answer to this question online at the moment. If you know, please drop me a comment.

There are no statutory duties to produce local climate and nature strategies alongside the Local Growth Plan and Spatial Development Strategy.

Police and Crime Commissioners need 100 signatures in support of their candidacy rather than £5,000 which is a stronger test and prevents economic discrimination.

Brighton and Hove would like to retain its distinctiveness

Brighton and Hove residents would like to remain as a discrete unit and unitary authority within existing boundaries to maintain the distinctiveness of the towns. However, we are well under the optimum size of a unitary authority which is 500,000.

Geographical boundaries

Alongside devolution and a Sussex Mayor, the government is asking for proposals for unitary councils in all parts of Sussex which are better because a single council runs all the services for the area. I think there should be four or five unitary authorities.

East Sussex has a population of 555,484 and wants to maintain its boundaries and maintain its existing partnerships which makes sense. West Sussex has a population of 900,862 which is almost double the optimum size of a unitary authority.

I think Crawley (with a population of 120,545) and Horsham (with a population of 149,464) and the rural areas in between should be another unitary authority focused around Gatwick airport and Three Bridges stretching Westwards.

Brighton and Hove with a population of 279,637 should merge with Mid Sussex to include Ditchling and Haywards Heath as far as the Southern side of Horsham or potentially also Westwards to encompass Adur and possibly Arun.

This would leave Worthing (with a population of 112, 240) and Chichester (with a population of 128,003) and Petersfield as the main towns in rural West Sussex.

Timetable

Spring 2025: Sussex-wide national devolution consultation run by the government.

Spring to summer 2025: Local consultations across Sussex run by local government.

End of September 2025: Councils to submit a detailed plan to ensure Sussex is economically viable, provide better public services for residents and show how community views have shaped the plan.

End of 2025 to early 2026: Ministers will consider proposals for the unitary authorities and begin implementing the proposals.

May 2026: Elections for the Sussex Mayor.

2027: Elections for the new unitary authorities.

2028: Unitary authorities are fully functioning and go live.