First and foremost, it means the end of Horsham District Council (HDC) along with all the other district and borough councils in Sussex and across all of England. Services currently provided by HDC, including planning, will be taken over by a new unitary council. Where that council gets to be physically located is anybody’s guess. But it will be given responsibility for a much larger area.
Several new unitary councils – most likely two or three – will control Sussex and Brighton and above them will sit a single person - a Sussex Mayor. The Government believes these changes will save money and enable local authorities to exercise meaningful power. However there are serious risks from Horsham’s point of view.
Austerity never ended for local government and it is now horribly underfunded. The 2 services with the greatest shortfall are education (SEND provision) and adult social care. Over the last 10 years every other budget was squeezed in order to save these areas from collapse. So West Sussex County Council for example carries a debt on education services approaching £130 million. That at least is not their fault – unlike the ballooning £40 million price tag for a failed IT upgrade agreed by Conservatives we’re all paying for.
And that is where having an independent Horsham District Council has been crucial. HDC is well managed by the current Lib Dem administration with excellent reserves. There’s no doubt our local theatre The Capitol would have been sold off long ago if it had been a unitary council, merged with WSCC budget deficits.
These changes are being imposed at incredibly short notice. Somehow, the 15 or so affected councils in both East and West Sussex, with all their differing political leaderships, have to agree on a single way forward practically overnight. Whatever happens, it will be a terrific distraction for both councillors and officers from their normal business that will last several years.
Yes, wiping out an entire layer of local government could cuts costs. But will it bring better results? The evidence for that is shaky to say the least.