Councillors making up the panel gave up their seats to ensure as many people as possible could get into St Martins URC Church in Longridge Avenue to raise their concerns about a public consultation to bring parts of Lewes District into Brighton and Hove City Council control.
Most of the people attending the meeting on Friday, 1 August were from East Saltdean, with a smattering from Telscombe Cliffs, Peacehaven, Newhaven and Kingston, all areas included in four proposals for an expanded Brighton and Hove City Council.
During the meeting, the assembled people were told the government wants to abolish the two-tier council system as the devolution and local government reorganisation was part of the Labour manifesto.
Brighton and Hove City Council leader councillor Bella Sankey said: “One thing I really need to stress, because I think it has got a bit missed so far, is that if you live in East Sussex the councils that run your services will not exist in the future.
“You’re not being asked to consider the status quo versus merging with Brighton and Hove, you’re asked to consider what will serve your communities better.
“East Sussex County Council has put forward creating a unitary authority serving over 500,000 people. To my mind, as someone running a unitary authority for 280,000 people, doubling that is a huge challenge.”
After talking to other council leaders, she found 300 to 400,000 allows for better connections with the communities while still achieving economies of scale with the communities.
Brighton and Hove’s consultation looks to reach the 300,000 threshold through four options, which include absorbing East Saltdean, Telscombe Cliffs and Peacehaven, with other options including taking in Kingston and Newhaven.
Town and parish councils, known as the third tier of local government, will continue to operate.
Brighton and Hove’s chief executive Jess Gibbons explained the city is only allowed to engage with its own residents, but it will take into account responses from people living in East Sussex and Lewes District before submitting its proposals to the government on Friday, 26 September.
The government will then consult after reviewing the proposals put forward by the city and East and West Sussex County Councils.
Councillor Sankey said: “I think there is an idea that has grown up that this is all about housing building and that Brighton and Hove is looking to concrete over vast swathes of the coast.
“That is absolutely not the case, and I want to say categorically that this is not what is driving these proposals at all.”
She also addressed suggestions that Brighton and Hove is looking to share its debt.
Councillor Sankey said: “We actually have relatively low levels of debt for a unitary of our size. All councils have a certain amount of debt because we need to borrow money to invest in things.
“When we borrow, certainly under my administration, we put together a strong business case and we make an investment that we know will be the right thing over the longer term, and will sometimes bring money back into the council.”
To applause, Telscombe Town Council deputy mayor, councillor Neil Watts asked why Brighton and Hove was looking east rather than west.
Councillor Watts said: “What’s the problem with taking over Adur? We are perfectly happy with East Sussex.”
Labour councillor John Hewitt, who leads on devolution and local government reorganisation, said expanding west is not financially viable according to government tests, and West Sussex County Council found the same. He did not give any more detail.
West Sussex is currently consulting on three options: to have one unitary in the county footprint, or divide into two unitaries, with variations of Adur joining either with Horsham, Mid Sussex and Crawley footprint, or with Worthing, Arun and Chichester.
A woman from East Saltdean said one of the biggest problems with joining Brighton and Hove is the rubbish and recycling collections, as they hear the issues people in West Saltdean have with their service.
Councillor Sankey said she would take the view “on the chin” as services are not where they should be, but one of the first things she did on becoming leader was start “root and branch” reform of the service.
On a good note she highlighted how Brighton and Hove’s children’s services are outstanding, has no agency social workers, and the council is performing better than others on education health care plans (EHCPs) when compared with other councils.
Cheryl Wood from Peacehaven stated council tax is higher there than in Brighton and Hove, and questioned how payments would balance out.
Councillor Sankey received an outraged response when she explained the Lewes area tax would be frozen until the rest of Brighton and Hove “caught up”.
Ms Gibbons confirmed this is the normal situation when councils merge, as she experienced when working at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, which formed a unitary authority in 2019.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s consultation on local government reorganisation is open on the Your Voice section of its website until Monday 25 August.
Following a cabinet meeting on Thursday, 25 September, Brighton and Hove will submit its proposals to the government on Friday, 26 September.
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