Lewes District Council was accused of whipping up people on social media when launching a petition opposing Brighton and Hove’s proposals to move parts of the district into the city boundaries.
Council leader Zoe Nicholson accused Brighton of wanting to use areas including Peacehaven and Newhaven as a “dumping ground” and deputy leader Christine Robinson said the city wanted to “concrete over their neighbourhoods”.
In a council meeting last week, Brighton councillor Bridget Fishleigh described this as “inflammatory and irresponsible language” – and Brighton and Hove council leader said the wording of the petition strayed into “the realm of conspiracy theory”.
Another councillor, Theresa Fowler, also pointed out Lewes District residents pay more council tax than in Brighton and Hove.
This week Cllr Robinson, who represents Telscombe on the area’s town, district and county councils, denied inflammatory language had been used.
She said: “It speaks volumes that Brighton and Hove City Council believe this is an acceptable way of working with a neighbouring authority.
“Since the government launched the local government reorganisation in December 2024, all East Sussex authorities have been actively consulting and working cross-party to prepare a coordinated response.
“Yet, seven months later, Brighton and Hove City Council has suddenly announced, for the first time, it wants East Saltdean, Telscombe, Peacehaven, Newhaven, and Kingston removed from the Lewes district part of the proposed unitary footprint and absorbed within the city boundary.
“There has been no consultation with Lewes District Council or any other neighbouring authorities over these plans. Unsurprisingly, the council and many thousands of our residents are deeply unhappy.
“There has been no inflammatory language, only a district council determined to stand up for the best interests of every single resident.
“And as for the claims being made about council tax, Brighton is one of the most expensive places in the UK to live and own a home.
“The facts speak for themselves. Brighton is facing a housing crisis and needs sites to build 40,000 homes by 2040. We also know they need to increase their population to meet the government’s criteria for unitary council status.
“It’s no surprise that thousands of people across Lewes district have already signed a petition opposing Brighton’s plans.”
Brighton and Hove City Council leader Bella Sankey hit back, saying: “They’ve excluded us from their meetings on local government reorganisation, then refused to meet with me at all on it. And now saying we’re being non-consultative – you couldn’t make it up.”
Brighton and Hove City Council is consulting on four proposals to expand its population from 280,000 to 300,000 – to comply with government guidance for unitary authorities to have a population of up to 500,000 – by absorbing areas currently within Lewes District.
All four proposals currently under consultation until Sunday, August 24, include bringing East Saltdean, Telscombe Cliffs, and Peacehaven into Brighton and Hove’s control, with three other proposals including drawing in Kingston and Newhaven.
In Lewes District, the average band D property pays £2,627.39 a year in council tax, compared with £2,338.06 for the same band in Brighton and Hove.
The bulk of Lewes District council tax payment goes to East Sussex County Council, with precepts to Lewes, East Sussex Fire Authority, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, town and parish councils.
The Lewes District Council petition has more than 4,600 signatures. Brighton and Hove’s consultation on the Your Voice section of its website has received more than 800 responses as of Thursday, August 7.
Ending the two-tier system of local government to replace districts and counties with unitary authorities was in the Labour general election manifesto for 2024 along with English devolution.
Existing parish and town councils will remain.
East Sussex County Council has proposed creating a unitary authority serving over 500,000 people.
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.
Local government reorganisation is taking place at the same time Sussex is devolving to have a county-wide executive mayor.
Once the new mayor is elected in May 2026, the Strategic Mayoral Authority will include the leaders and their deputies from the two county councils and Brighton and Hove City Council.
Ceremonial mayors will remain in place, such as Brighton and Hove’s mayor.
After local government reorganisation, the Strategic Mayoral Authority will include the leadership of the Sussex unitary authorities which could be four or five councils.
Brighton and Hove City Council is due to debate the results of its public consultation in September, before submitting its proposals to the government on Friday, September 25.
The government will then hold its own consultation after considering the options put forward by the Sussex councils.
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