The consultation seeks views on forming a Mayoral Combined County Authority for the local government areas of East Sussex County Council, West Sussex County Council, and Brighton and Hove City Council.
The council’s response acknowledges the potential benefits, particularly around transport investment, but wants to see more details about how investment will be focussed on addressing the current huge inequalities in places like Hastings, focussing on enabling our communities to flourish and reach their full potential alongside wealthier areas of Sussex. It is essential with such a huge area that there are clear routes for local residents and businesses to influence and shape investment plans at a neighbourhood level.
The council would also like to see assurances that tackling climate change will be made a statutory duty, that there is a key focus on addressing the housing crisis, which has a direct impact on people’s health and wellbeing, and for reforms that prioritise democratic accountability, inclusivity, local oversight, and sustainability, to ensure that devolution is truly a transfer of power to communities, not just a reshuffling of centralised authority.
You can view the council’s full response to the Sussex and Brighton devolution consultation at https://www.hastings.gov.uk/devolution/what/
Cllr Julia Hilton, Leader of Hastings Borough Council, said: “As a council, we welcome the impulse to see more decisions devolved away from central government, in particular the proposed thirty-year funding pot to cover essential investment in our transport infrastructure as well as in jobs and skills.
“However, despite this declared aim, the devolution White Paper has no clear structure in place for either how local people can influence investment plans or how these new potentially very powerful mayors will be held to account for their decisions. To address this democratic deficit, we have proposed that alongside the mayor, there should be a directly elected and proportionally representative Sussex Assembly. We also think there needs to be reform to the voting method, with a return to the Single Transferable Voting system rather than the current first past the post, which can see mayors elected on a very low turnout and only 30% of the vote.
“Addressing the huge inequalities in the wider determinants of health such as housing, education, skills, jobs, and social care has to be the measure of success of any new mayor, so there needs to be a specific duty to address inequality and the causes of inequality. And alongside this, a duty to deliver on a Sussex-wide Climate Action Plan. This would be able to join together the similar actions of each council and, alongside additional funding support, pave the way for greater buying power and faster deployment of the actions.
“To give equal representation to all areas, we also think the name should be the Sussex Mayoral Combined Authority. This new role of a Sussex Mayor will impact the lives of everyone in the borough, so please make sure you have your say before the closing date of Sunday 13 April - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/sussex-and-brighton-devolution