Wealden council leader angry at suspension of May elections
Publish Date: 8 February 2025
A decision to suspend this May’s East Sussex County Council elections has been criticised by Wealden District Council leader Councillor Rachel Millward.
The decision to cancel the upcoming elections was announced this week by the government to pave the way for a devolution deal which would see East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton & Hove councils becoming one Mayoral Combined Authority.
The cabinets of those three upper tier authorities had submitted a joint expression of interest in the Devolution Priority Programme and a bid was also made to suspend the East Sussex County Council elections, despite opposition from leaders of five borough and district councils in East Sussex – Eastbourne, Lewes, Rother, Wealden and Hastings.
Following the decision to suspend the elections, Councillor Rachel Millward said, “What does it say about the intentions of this so-called devolution that the public are denied their chance to vote for the politicians who lead the process?
“Conservatives hang on by a thread at East Sussex and their term rightfully ends this May. The government has effectively handed up to three more years of the running of essential services to a soon unelected administration. What we are seeing is not devolution, but yet more centralisation in the most centralised country in Europe.
“The promise of all this is improved services for residents – but that will only come with legislative reform and large-scale investment. We have no promise of either of these yet. Moving the pieces of the puzzle around will not improve things and is an incredibly costly exercise.”
Deputy leader of Wealden District Council Councillor James Partridge said, “The elected Mayor of Sussex will have authority over an area that covers 18 MPs’ constituencies. That’s an awful lot of power in one person and with the structure of this authority being designed by politicians well past their re-election date, the whole thing feels extremely undemocratic.”
Under the timetable for the Devolution Priority Programme, these areas will be expected to set up new strategic authorities in time for mayoral elections to take place in May 2026.
The government will now begin a consultation to seek the views of people and organisations in Sussex.
Running alongside Devolution is a separate process of Local Government Re-organisation, which could see Eastbourne, Lewes, Rother, Wealden and Hastings combining to become one authority.
A formal invitation to submit reorganisation proposals has now been issued to all authorities.