Purpose

The Government published a
White Paper on English Devolution in December last year, which
contained proposals for the restructuring of existing councils into
a new streamlined single tier of local government.  This proposal is called Local Government
Reorganisation.
The Cabinet will be asked to
decide on West Sussex County Council’s preferred option for
local government reorganisation in West Sussex and agree the
submission to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government.

Decision

Following
consideration of the report the Cabinet resolved:

(1)       
To support option A as the Council’s preferred solution for
Local Government Reorganisation in West Sussex;

(2)       
To authorise the Leader of the Council to write to the Government
setting out the Council’s preference;

(3)       
To delegate authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with
the Leader of the Council, to make any final adjustments to the
supporting statement before the deadline for submission.

(4)       
Agree to request the Minister consider if the high bar for
deferring the county council elections in May 2026 has been
met.
Due to the need for this matter
to be determined as soon as possible the Cabinet has secured
agreement from the Executive Director of Law, Assurance and Insight
and the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee Chairman for
this key decision to be taken urgently (Part 4, Section 1, Standing
Order 3.54) so that the submission can be made to government within the deadline, as the delay of waiting for
the call-in period to elapse would prejudice the County
Council’s interests.