Wealden District Council will be abolished and replaced by a new county-wide authority after the Government confirmed plans to reorganise local government across East Sussex.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed has announced the Government’s preferred model for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), which will see East Sussex County Council and the county’s five district and borough councils replaced by a single unitary authority, subject to Parliamentary approval.
The changes mean Wealden District Council, Eastbourne Borough Council, Hastings Borough Council, Lewes District Council, Rother District Council and East Sussex County Council will all cease to exist in their current form.
Instead, a new East Sussex Council will take responsibility for all local government services across most of the county from April 2028.
The only exception is East Saltdean, Peacehaven and Telscombe, which will become part of Brighton & Hove City Council under revised government boundary proposals. Falmer will remain within the new East Sussex authority.
The Government says replacing the current two-tier system with unitary councils will make services simpler, reduce duplication and improve accountability.
Steve Reed said: “Two-tier structures are confusing for residents, divide responsibilities, slow down decisions, duplicate costs and blur accountability.”
Under the timetable, elections to a shadow authority are expected to take place in May 2027. The new council will then operate alongside the existing authorities for almost a year before taking over responsibility for all services in April 2028.
Those services will include education, social care, highways, libraries, planning, housing, waste collection, environmental health and leisure services.
Responding to the announcement, Wealden District Council leader Councillor Rachel Millward said the authority would now focus on ensuring the transition worked for residents.
She said: “The government has now made its decision and our priority is to work constructively with partners across East Sussex to help create a strong and effective new council for the future.
“Throughout this transition, our focus will remain on ensuring residents continue to receive the services they rely upon, while making sure the needs and voices of Wealden’s communities are represented as plans for the new authority develop.”
East Sussex County Council leader Councillor Andy Woolley welcomed the decision to keep most of East Sussex together but criticised the decision to transfer East Saltdean, Peacehaven and Telscombe into Brighton & Hove.
He said the county council would ask ministers to reconsider the move, arguing that residents and businesses in those communities had strongly opposed the change.
What changes for residents?
For most residents, day-to-day services will continue as normal during the transition.
The biggest change is that, from April 2028, there will no longer be separate county and district councils. Instead, one authority will deliver all local government services across almost the whole of East Sussex.
Town and parish councils, including Hailsham Town Council, are not affected by the reforms and will continue to operate as they do now.
