Councils in Sussex back local election delays

Councils across East and West Sussex at county and borough levels are expected to tell the government that postponing local elections would enable them to focus on restructuring, the BBC understands.

At extraordinary council meetings in Worthing on Tuesday and in Crawley on Wednesday, there were long debates and opinions were divided, but both councils voted to call for postponement.

In December, the minister for local government invited council leaders concerned about delivering reorganisation alongside elections to request to cancel them.

The government said it was listening to councils' concerns about capacity.

Council leaders have until midnight on Thursday to submit responses to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The decision to cancel elections will then be made by ministers.

Elections for borough and district councillors in Crawley, Hastings, Worthing and Adur are due to take place on 7 May.

Crawley Borough Council leader Michael Jones, who had called the meeting and spoke in favour of elections going ahead, expressed his disappointment at the outcome, but said he felt "honour-bound" to follow it through.

He said: "I'm a democrat and sometimes when there's a vote, you have to comply with the will of the majority on things that you don't necessarily agree with."

In Worthing, council leader Sophie Cox, who supported postponement, told residents that the council was not denying their right to vote.

"A delay to elections during a period of rapid transformation and local government reorganisation is neither unusual nor unprecedented," she said.

Both East Sussex and West Sussex County Council made a request in September to postpone elections for the second year running and both have confirmed they will resubmit a request by the deadline.

Hastings Borough Council has confirmed it will be requesting to postpone its elections due to concerns about stability and finances.

Meanwhile, Adur District Council has not held a meeting on the issue and has yet to reveal how it will respond.

While Adur and Worthing are separate councils, they share administrative services, including electoral services, so it is expected that Adur will follow Worthing and Crawley's positions.

The government said it would consider responses on a "case by case" basis and it expected to make a decision by March.

Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected], or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.