A new Sussex-wide local authority is to hold its first meeting next week as part of the Labour government’s “devolution” programme.
Brighton and Hove City Council said: “The first meeting of the Sussex and Brighton Strategic Authority will take place on Wednesday 15 April 2026 at Brighton Town Hall.
“This inaugural meeting follows on from the formal establishment of the new authority in March 2026 and will enable the organisation to start operating.
“The strategic authority is the result of East Sussex County Council, West Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council joining the Devolution Priority Programme in 2025, reflecting their shared ambition to create a mayoral authority to provide a single strategic voice for Sussex and Brighton.
“At the meeting, members of the three constituent councils will be asked to establish the authority’s initial governance arrangements, including appointments to the board, the appointment of the chair and vice-chairs, and approval of a constitution and an assurance framework.
“Members will also be requested to set in motion the building of the foundations for the authority’s early priorities and work programme.
“These arrangements will be kept under regular review through to the first election of a mayor for Sussex and Brighton, scheduled for May 2028.
“The establishment of the Sussex and Brighton Strategic Authority is a key step in securing devolution for the area.
“Through a mayoral strategic authority, Sussex and Brighton is able to access significant long-term investment from national government, alongside new devolved powers over areas such as transport, skills, housing, economic growth, public safety and public service reform.
“The transfer of significant powers and funding to the Sussex and Brighton Strategic Authority, includes
- a long-term investment fund totalling £1.14 billion, providing sustained long-term term funding for locally agreed priorities
- £30.4 million released over the next two years before mayoral elections, enabling early investment in programmes that matter most to Sussex residents and businesses.
- £9 million in capacity funding over four years to support the establishment and operation of the new authority
“The meeting is open to the press and public. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.”
The Sussex and Brighton Strategic Authority, formally known as the Sussex and Brighton Mayoral Combined County Authority, is expected to have six members.
Two are due to appointed from Brighton and Hove City Council, two from East Sussex County Council and two from West Sussex County Council.
The two members from Brighton and Hove City Council are expected to be the Labour leader Bella Sankey and the Labour deputy leader Jacob Taylor.
The two members from East Sussex County Council are expected to be the Conservative leader Keith Glazier and the Conservative deputy leader Nick Bennett.
The two members from West Sussex County Council are expected to be the Conservative leader Paul Marshall and the Conservative deputy leader Deborah Urquhart.
The authority has been established to provide strategic leadership across the area, working with local councils, partners, investors and the government to try to deliver greater prosperity for the area.
The election of the first mayor of Sussex and Brighton is scheduled to take place in May 2028.
Can they ensure that those on the Brighton council responsible for losing millions on frivolous projects come nowhere near the new authority.
As per the article, Brighton council are part of the new Strategy Authority.
Neither the Greens or Tories on BHCC who approved the i360 loan will be on the Combined Authority Board.
Nobody wants this and when Reform come to power it will be abolished
Reform UK’s 2024 manifesto does not mention devolution or mayoral combined authorities, and devolution is a legally binding process – Reform couldn’t realistically abolish it, even if they wanted to or ever be in a position to do so.
I disagree with you there.
Should they form the next government all they would need to do is repeal the relavant statutory instruments and legislation that created the regional mayors.
Local Government – including combined authorities – is the creation of Parliament and what Parliement creates it can amend and abolish.
Whether they would want to is a different issue – especially if there are reform mayors in place – and there are 2 of them already. They arn’t going to give up a power base that gives them elected representatives,
You’re absolutely right that they can on a technical level, if they were ever in a position to do so in parliament, which I think is debatable as a one-man populist party of questionable integrity, and on a personal level, I hope never happens.
I agree with you regarding whether they would want to. My meaning behind saying it is realistically couldn’t, is that it would be legally complex and politically extremely risky. Undoing over a billion pounds in local investments is pretty contradictory to their own messaging of “taking back control”. And like you say as well, they’d be giving up Mayors already in place to do so.
Considering all that, Lee’s comment doesn’t logically make a lot of sense to me. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people, like him, who accept the charm. That’s a failing on the rest of us to help them understand politics.
I find this process very interesting. There are a few questions that I would like to see answered through this process:
Who covers journalism, since it covers a broad area?
How does the Third Sector input into the devolved strategy, once established?
How does the public engage with strategic regional questions?
Will regional meetings be open to the public to view and livestreamed?
Are regional-level scrutiny boards desired and needed?
Lots of questions. The detail will be so important to get right. Lots of potential good here, too. I’m ever the optimist, and keen to see this potential realised.
As per the article
“The meeting is open to the press and public. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.”
No doubt web broadcast will be made available.
Ah, I was reading that as specifically for this specific meeting, rather than every meeting of the established new strategic authority moving forward. It’s been a longer day than originally thought!
No mention of webcasting – a significant omission!
Brighton Town Hall is certainly capable of it; there’s a saying I tend to apply to things like this: Paraphrasing, assume it was mistakenly missed rather than maliciously until proven otherwise.
So not a representative body at all. No scrutiny from lay members. Nest, feathering, own; just rearrange these words to incorporate into a cogent sentence!
Apart from them being elected people, the existing oversight boards are now being fed in from across the region, and whatever additional is being added, as well as the cross-checks from each other, and the mayor’s office itself. I don’t think that statement really holds water, Ann.
How will the members be feathering their nests?
They don’t get paid any extra for being on the Combined Authority as being a member is part of their existing council leadership roles.
These Combined Authorities are a representative body but they are formed of leaders and deputy leaders of the constituent councils. There are no directly elected members of the combined authority – other than the Mayor.
Unless of course you want a whole slew of even more people elected into it?
What will stop these mayors from just looking after otheir own town at the expense of another ie if you have more concervative than labour or vice a versus
The Mayor will be an elected official independent of any specific local authority. The councils’ representatives will, of course, be advocating for their particular area each. The checks and balances will be on each other.
“Ah yes, the classic ‘they’ll all keep each other in check’ argument — because politicians from different councils have *never* formed cosy agreements or prioritised their own patch before. I’m sure this time it’ll be a flawless harmony of selfless regional cooperation.”
I love how GPT thinks “Ah, yes, the classic…” is the way every sarcastic remark is supposed to be delivered. It’s done it every single time you’ve instructed it to respond sarcastically. Very silly, JamesGPT.
“Ah yes the classic gpt ”
Pot calling kettle…
That’s not how that saying is used, but good attempt!
Are you seriously trying to say that your post are not chat gpt ?
You certainly seem an expert on the subject. And just about everything else too .
No offense but if you would like me to ask gpt on your behalf another summary on your behavior I’m more than happy to assist.
Still awaiting your expertise credentials and what exactly it is that your qualified in other than the bhn walter mitty
On fallacies, or debates? By JamesGPT’s own admission, I’ve been talking to people on here for a long time, James. Fallacies get used a lot, Rupert comes to mind, so you learn to recognise them. Thank you for the unintended compliment, though! Still an appeal to authority and a genetic fallacy. Credentials are irrelevant here.
The irony is, you’re trying to use an AI to generate a profile of me, then treating that profile as evidence of AI-generation. It’s purely self-defeating. You’ve also proved that it can’t be true before, remember the whole saga of the sarcastic remark on a typo? AI doesn’t make typos.
Sussex and Brighton makes it sounds like the city has magically relocated elsewhere – it’s still geographically within the county of Sussex even if it’s administered separately. Sussex Regional Authority would suffice for the East & West parts of the county including Brighton.
I’m looking forward to a reform mayor personally. It was the only way Brighton was going to get one.
You don’t seem to realise that the new Mayor of the Sussex region once elected will have absolutly zero influence over B&HCC and what it does and the council tax.
The only way B&HCC will get a reform mayor is for reform to win a majority of seats on B&HCC at next years elections and appoint a Mayor from one of their number and even then they will have zero power other than to chair meetings of the full council because we have a civic mayor and not an executive one..
The mayor will be incharge of housing transport infrastructure and police
And the whole of sussex
They will also take or add to part of everyone’s council tax across to whole region
Not quite, Shaun. Local councils retain day-to-day control.
Precepts are a thing, but you’re talking £20 a year for someone on Band D, if we’re going by other regions, or about 0.8%. With what’s freed up, pressures on LA budgets are eased, as those functions are moved to the MSA, potentially to the tune of £60 million within the region. When you hear about economies of scale, this is the mechanism by which that works.
And that’s absolutely has not been explained to the public at all; it’s a bit technical.
If the Mayor charges a council tax precept that that sill doesnt affect the amount B&HCC charges for the services it provides.
Look at your bill and see how it’s made up.
Currently I see lines for B&HCC, East Sussex Fire Authoruty and for Sussex Police & Crome Commissioner.
If you live within Rottingdean Parish Council you’ll see their precept listed there.
All the bodies listed set their own rates
Based on comments within Brighton and Hove News, a user named Benjamin is a frequent and highly active commenter who has engaged in discussions for several years, often focusing on local council issues, traffic, and urban management.
Brighton and Hove News
Brighton and Hove News
+2
Activity Details & Characteristics:
Frequency: Benjamin is active in the comments sections, with recent comments noted as of March/April 2026.
Duration: Comments indicate a presence spanning several years, with interactions noted from at least early 2023 through 2026.
Common Topics: He frequently debates topics such as bin collection changes, local government organization, ULEZ petitions, and traffic management.
Engagement Style: Benjamin often interacts with other regular commenters, such as “James” and “Tracy Ward”, sometimes responding to them directly (e.g., “So, for the 12th time, James”).
Views: His comments often involve interpreting council data, defending or explaining policies, and engaging in debates with other users regarding the efficiency of local services.
Just to clarify Benjamin. Chat gpt was used to generate this info .
Pitty you cannot clarify when trying to impress on a daily basis .
You have still to tell us all your qualifications and ties . Otherwise it’s just noise
It wasn’t really in question, JamesGPT. The parts that you did actually write are ad hominem and a genetic fallacy, so I can see why you’d want to rely on them. Otherwise, it has answered your question for you, lol.
Calling something ad hominem or a genetic fallacy doesn’t make it so—it just labels it. If you think those apply, point to the exact claim and explain how it attacks the person rather than the argument, or dismisses a point based solely on its origin. Otherwise, it comes across more like deflection than substance.
And no, nothing there “answers the question for me”—it sidesteps it. If you’ve got a direct argument, I’m all ears.
It was obvious to a human what I was pointing to, but I’ll happily be more explicit for your LLM. So under JamesGPT’s logic, a parent questioning school policy, or a tenant challenging rent increases, or a resident opposing a planning application is ‘just noise’ unless they first produce their CV? Textbook genetic fallacy and dismissive of them using ad hominem.
Civic discourse doesn’t require credentials; it requires reason, evidence, and engagement. I’ve provided all three, by JamesGPT’s own admission, effectively answering the question for you, James. The irony is exceptionally thick today.
Yawn
I see. It told you I was right.
James what has your post got to do with the article?
If you are going to comment please goive us the benefits of YOUR own self generated opinions and not rubbish attacking other posters.
If there is a change to political control after the May County Council elections will the same persons remain as members of this new Authority?
The mayor would be the same, as she is separately elected. Part of this initial meeting will be to establish the governance around board composition. I imagine it would be on a term-basis?
After the county council elections they would decide who they appoint to the combined authority at their annual meeting in May.
Who they appoint depends on the political make up of each council so yes the current members nominated by East and West Sussex County councils could change.
There aren’t any election in B&H until 2027 and again who then becomes a member of the combined authority will depend on the election results.’
What will also change is once the new council structure has been decided those new councils will be represented and again who representes them will be determed by the results of elections.
Wait until the local elections take place and see if it holds water if these councillors still hold there positions after local elections
Why? That would cause an unnecessary delay in setting up the governance framework. Doesn’t matter if there is a continuance or not.
Which elections though?
The 2026 county council elections or would you want to wait until the B&H elections in 2027 or the Mayoral in 2028?
You’d just be delaying things and the sooner the body is fully functioning the sooner they are able to spend the money allocated to them.