Right now in East Sussex, there are different councils that run and look after where you live. They each take care of different things. East Sussex County Council covers the whole of East Sussex and looks after things like schools, roads, and social care and education for children and adults. Then there are five smaller councils, the district and borough councils, that do things like collect bins, help people find homes, and give permission to build new things. In some towns and villages, there are also smaller town and parish councils that look after very local things like parks and graveyards.
This way of working has been around for 50 years. But now, the government thinks it's time for a change. They want to bring these services together, so that there is a new council (or councils) that takes care of everything, instead of having lots of separate ones. Except for the much smaller town and parish councils, that will stay the same. This process is called Local Government Reorganisation and is planned to happen by 2028.
An initial plan was sent to the government in March to explain how this process might work in East Sussex. You can view this plan here eastsussexcouncils.org. The current idea is to have one council for the whole of the area covered by East Sussex County Council and the five district and borough councils, but this could change depending on what people think and what the government decides.
The government has a few rules about what the new council should be like:
- It should do all the jobs the current councils do.
- It should be big enough to save money, withstand financial shocks, and handle problems well.
- It should cover a population area of 500,000 people or more.
- It should prioritise delivering high quality services.
- Councils should work together to create a new council or councils that has listened to what local people need.
- It should help the whole of the Sussex area to work better together
- It should help local people have a stronger say in decision making and feel empowered where they live.