In December 2024, the government published a white paper on local government devolution and reorganisation. It set out plans for the creation of new combined 'strategic authorities', as well as simplifying local government.

Both of these changes will impact residents, organisations and businesses in Crawley and Sussex. We will use these pages to keep you informed to help make sure you get to have your say.

Devolution means that places will be given more responsibility and control over decisions and spending in their region. The plan is to create combined strategic authorities across England, usually with an elected mayor. They can work together with the councils under them to deliver improvements to things like transport, skills and employment support, housing and the environment.

The upper tier authorities in Sussex (East Sussex and West Sussex County Councils and Brighton & Hove City Council) have proposed the creation of a mayoral combined authority for the 1.7 million people across all parts of Sussex. This is a position supported by Crawley Borough Council. The Government has recently run a consultation on this proposal which has now closed.

Read our response to the Sussex & Brighton Combined Authority government consultation.

Should the Government decide to proceed, then elections for a new Mayor would take place in May 2026, and the new Combined Authority would be in place for April 2027.

The new combined authority would work with local councils in East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton & Hove, who will continue to operate most day-to-day services.

Alongside devolution, the government has proposed moving away from the current two-tier system of district or borough and county councils. In West Sussex, this means instead of the current two-tier arrangement where services are delivered by West Sussex County Council and the seven borough or district councils (Crawley, Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, Mid Sussex and Worthing), people will be served by a local 'unitary' council.

A recap of the steps taken towards local government reorganisation in West Sussex.

The government has launched its consultation on the proposals for Local Government Reorganisation in Sussex. Visit the Shaping West Sussex website for further information and to take part in the consultation.

The consultation will seek views on three proposals that include Crawley:

1. Two unitary councils for West Sussex
   Proposed by all seven district and borough councils in West Sussex, including Crawley Borough Council, as the preferred option. This would create two unitary authorities, one covering Crawley, Horsham, and Mid Sussex.
2. Single West Sussex unitary
   Proposed by West Sussex County Council, this option would see one unitary authority covering the entire county.
3. Sussex-wide solution
   Proposed by Brighton and Hove City Council, this would create five unitary councils across Sussex, including one covering Crawley, Horsham, and Chichester.

The consultation will run from 20 November 2025 to 11 11.59pm on 11 January. Please share your views before the closing date to help inform the government’s decision.

A business case for local government reorganisation was published in early September by the county, district, and borough councils.  Crawley Borough Council submitted a letter to central government on 26 September proposing our preferred option for local government in West Sussex. 

Residents across the county were invited to share their views about the future of their councils at shapingwestsussex.org.

All West Sussex residents and organisations were invited to complete the survey asking about where they live or work, the council services they use, as well as what matters to them about how their council could be structured in the future. The survey closed on Wednesday 13 August.

The first option is with other local authorities within West Sussex and the rest of Sussex, with a deadline for proposals to be submitted to Government by 26 September 2025. In March 2025, Crawley Borough Council on behalf of all West Sussex councils submitted a draft interim plan for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) to the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution.

Read the submission document sent to Minister for Local Government and English Devolution.

West Sussex Councils continue to work towards developing potential options with a view to holding public engagement on these over the summer. The council will then decide upon a preference prior to a September submission.

The joint submission with Reigate & Banstead Borough Council highlighted the links to the north of the town. The Government determined that any such proposal must be submitted to the timeframes for Surrey, which had an earlier deadline of 9 May 2025. This proposal was submitted following agreement at Full Council and Cabinet, both held on 7 May 2025.

Read the joint Crawley and Reigate and Banstead full proposals below.

On 17 June 2025, we received a letter from Jim McMahon, Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, stating that this joint proposal would not be included in the Surrey Local Government Reorganisation consultation. You can read the letter and our response on our news pages.