Councils in West Sussex reveal options for local government reorganisation

Several West Sussex councils have shared their preferred options for the upcoming local government reorganisation.

As part of the proposed local government reorganisation, Adur, Arun and Worthing councils said on Friday, September 12, that their preferred option would be to merge with Chichester to form a new unitary authority.

This would see West Sussex split into two new unitary authorities, roughly covering south west and north east, with Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex council areas to make up the other authority.

Members of the councils will need to vote to approve the option at meetings of their respective full councils, with Adur, Worthing and Chichester then passing the plans to their cabinets before the final plans are sent to the government for consideration.

A full plan for the local government reorganisation is due by September 26, with Adur’s full council meeting on September 22, Worthing’s and Chichester’s  being held the following day, and Arun’s the day after that.

The plans were chosen from three options presented in a public consultation on reorganisation earlier this year, which saw over 9000 responses.

About 62 per cent of the respondents said they approved of a two-unitary split instead of one countywide unitary, with 62 per cent of respondents again approving of the chosen roughly north/south split of the county.

The other two options included splitting the county into roughly East and West, and merging all seven smaller councils into one large unitary authority serving around 900,000 residents.

According to the consultation, the estimated population of the new South West authority would be 472,938 and the North East authority would be 427,924.

A report for the Adur and Worthing cabinets said the chosen reorganisation plans would see annual net savings for the new council of £18.8million.

It said that according to the timeline, another statutory consultation on the plans would be released in November, with a ministerial decision from the government on the options considered due by March, 2026.

Leader of Arun District Council Martin Lury (LDem, Bersted) said in a statement: “This milestone reflects the dedication and collaboration of councils across West Sussex in responding to the government’s request for reorganisation”.

Leader of Adur District Council Jeremy Gardner (Lab, St Mary’s) said: “We are grateful for everyone who took part in the engagement exercises. The feedback and priorities shared with us will continue to be vitally important as we transition to a new form of local government.”

Leader of Worthing Borough Council Sophie Cox (Lab, Castle) said: “The aim of this business case is to build on what works well, ensuring any future arrangements are resilient, adaptable, and responsive to the evolving needs of our residents.”

Cllr Cox told Local Democracy Reporting service this move would help the councils bring services together that are currently run by West Sussex County Council, such as adult social care, or that already work closely together, such as provision of social housing.

Two other options explored in a business case included splitting Chichester District Council area in two, making it a more even geographical north/south split, and merging Brighton & Hove City Council with Adur and Worthing, with the rest of West Sussex being merged to form the two authorities.

In the business case these options were the two lowest rated by the measures the council’s used, stating they were ‘unbalanced’.