What is the “Devolution Revolution?”
Tucked away in the manifesto of the winning party in the July 2024 General Election was a statement that most of us would probably have been completely unaware of at the time…
“We will transfer power out of Westminster, and into our communities, with landmark devolution legislation … we will also widen devolution to more areas, encouraging local authorities to come together and take on new powers”.
The newly elected Deputy Prime Minister Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP, didn’t waste any time in leaping out of the starting blocks. By August last year she had written to local council leaders up and down the country inviting “proposals by the end of September to participate in a first set of devolution settlements”.
The race is on…
Here are some key moments in the timeline since then.
On 30th September, the leader of Adur District Council, Councillor Jeremy Gardner, together with the leaders of the other six district councils in West Sussex and Brighton & Hove City Council, replied just in time to the Deputy Prime Minister with an expression of interest in “a shared vision for devolution” with a preferred geography of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex.
The government finally published the full details of its “devolution revolution” in its 99-page English Devolution White Paper in December 2024. By January, the leaders of East and West Sussex County Councils were on board, although some of the district council leaders in East Sussex were sceptical. Brighton & Hove City Council, together with the two County Councils submitted an expression of interest to be considered for the Government’s Devolution Priority Programme.
Things were now moving very fast. On 5th February the Government issued a press release announcing that Sussex & Brighton had joined its devolution priority programme to become a mayor-led strategic authority by May 2026. It meant immediately that the West Sussex County Council elections scheduled for May this year would certainly be postponed.
Then, within a couple of weeks, the Government launched a public consultation to seek views on the proposal to form a single “Mayoral Combined County Authority” for the whole of Sussex and Brighton. The consultation is open until 13th April and we strongly recommend that you take a look at it.
Sussex and Brighton Devolution Consultation
The questions ask to what extent you agree or disagree with various statements like whether it will deliver benefits, support the economy, improve social outcomes and local government services etc. The survey also gives you an opportunity to explain your answer to each question and guides you through the consultation document.
Even if you don’t complete the survey, the preamble to the survey questions is well worth a ten-minute read. It explains the background, how the Combined County Authority would be organised with its elected Mayor, the powers it would have and implications for Sussex and Brighton.
…but where are we heading?
The issue that has been gradually dawning on us as the big picture emerges, is how will this affect us right here in Shoreham? How will it all impact on our local council, Adur District Council, and its familiar functions like the planning committee and rubbish collection?
The top-level answer is right there in the preamble to the Government’s Sussex and Brighton devolution consultation:
“Councils have been invited to develop proposals for new unitary local government. This would replace the existing two-tier system, where services are split between a county and district councils, and bring these services together in unitary local government…”
In fact, on the same day that the Government announced that Sussex & Brighton could become a mayor-led strategic authority, the Minister of State wrote to Councillor Jeremy Gardner and the leaders of other West Sussex district councils, inviting them to “work with other council leaders to develop a proposal for local government reorganisation.” It goes on to say that the councils should make “every effort to work together to develop and jointly submit one proposal for unitary local government across the whole of your area”.
They have until 26th September 2025 to do this.
So there you have it. Adur District Council will disappear within a couple of years.
How do residents of Shoreham-by-Sea feel about that? What are your thoughts? Are we going to be asked for our opinions? Are we even going to be told what will be proposed?
Let’s turn again to the Adur District Council leader, Councillor Jeremy Gardner, for his on-the-record thoughts about it all:
“The government wants local government to be more efficient and to bring together services provided by county councils and district councils. Services now provided by these two tiers of local government would be delivered by new “unitary” councils. These will be bigger than Adur but smaller than West Sussex County Council.”
”Public consultation must be a cornerstone of the process, and any new council structure must remain fully accountable to residents. As leader of Adur District Council, I am committed to ensuring that the voices of residents in Lancing, Sompting, Shoreham, Southwick, and Fishersgate are heard and that any changes deliver real benefits for our community.”
The Shoreham Society certainly intends to do its bit to hold Jeremy to that promise and lend a helping hand in getting your voice heard. As you know, “Having a Local Say” is one of the Shoreham Society’s core missions.
Since becoming a Unitary Authority with Brighton, Hove has deteriorated by absorbing some of Brighton’s problems. This will undoubtedly be the case again if Shoreham becomes the next area to come under their control. We should seek some assurances that the new flats social housing project would be for people already living in Adur although over time that would be eroded anyway if we were part of the Unitary Authority.
the history environment beach LNR MARINE conservation must be protected from over development and lack of infrastructure for residents to enable them to have healthier and safer, free of crime lives.
Presently the town is already suffering from over development, having affects of water pollution, GRID LOCKED ROADS, climate change, pot holes causing accidents, creating more demands on the NHS We need a greener, healthier envionment and sustainable town, for the caring community that communicates in our unique historical town, grateful to the volunteers of the Shoreham Society values
keeping it protected
Shoreham is rapidly losing its identity.
Early signs of this were Shoreham Airport becoming Brighton City Airport.
Surely a more favourable solution would be for Shoreham and Lancing to link with Worthing.
For a matter of interest would we take on Brightons huge debts?
You have written, “Adur District Council will disappear within a couple of years”.
This is untrue.
The current programme, which, of course, could change, is as follows.
Thursday 7the May 2026 – Sussex Mayoral election.
Thursday 6th May 2027 – Sussex Unitary Authority Elections
Those Unitary Authorities would “shadow” the District, Borough and County Councils until May 2028 – when the Unitary Authorities would take over – and the District, Borough and County Councils would cease.
= Three years.
‘A couple of years’ = three years. Not an unreasonable use of the phrase. It is still within a short period of time compared with how long the present local council arrangements have been in place – for ‘just over’ 50 years.
We are being invited to give our views on a proposal where there are still more questions than answers. How can one give a genuine response when there is still so much unknown. It would be good if there could be a FAQ section displayed for the local community to access on an organisation’s website.
Thanks so much for briefing the Society and its members and other readers so quickly and thoroughly as this massive local democracy change begins to become a reality.