Dorothy Macedo has concerns about Local Government Reorganisation in the South East.

Party members in the South East are facing Local Government Reorganisation in Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Kent and Oxfordshire. There will be ‘shadow’ elections in May 2027 for the new councils. Unfortunately we are still waiting for a decision as to what these new authorities will look like.

Labour’s regional director wrote to all stakeholders to lay out the plans. The regional office is to “directly administer” the selection process for the elections next May and there will be “no formal role for existing Local Government Committees” – despite what the Rule Book says – and will interview applicants for the panel of candidates. The actual selections will be made by members in the new wards from this approved panel, with regional office acting as the LGC until the elections. New LGCs will only be set up after the elections.

This caused much unease in Sussex, in particular: local parties have been asking for selections and campaigning to start for some time. The regional staff have a full workload and local members fear we will be left behind while other parties have candidates and manifestos. There is also concern that policies will be decided at the centre rather than being decided locally by the people who know the local issues.

Unions are particularly concerned that the relationships with current councils will have to be renegotiated with the new authorities. Experience in other areas that have had reorganisation is that this can take years rather than months.

The regional director sought to reassure the regional executive that there is nothing to stop us preparing now for the elections next year by campaigning and by promoting local activists even though we can’t actually select. This is not a great option as we don’t know the shape of the new authorities.

Last year there was a major operation to seek the views of councils, Party members and the general public about the preferred options for the new authorities in Sussex. In West Sussex the overwhelming view was for two new councils, a coastal one and a mainly inland one. This was rejected by the minister and now we are being consulted again. This would be fine if we had plenty of time to sort this out, but clearly we do not. The prospects for Labour holding onto any of its recent hard won gains in the county are receding at pace.

Dorothy Macedo is a member of Worthing West CLP.

Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/planspark/2603693462 Creator: Tim Bonnemann Licence: Attribution 2.0 Generic CC BY 2.0 Deed