Urgent Decisions

Noted · Received for information; no decision followed.

The report sets out the submission to Government, by 26 September 2025, of a business case for a single unitary council for East Sussex, based on a Continuing Authority model. p3

It also describes a request to Government to cancel or postpone the county council elections scheduled for May 2026, and a delegation to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to finalise and submit the business case and a covering letter. p3

The report states the urgency arose because Central Government had set a deadline of 26 September 2025, which left no time to hold a Cabinet meeting early enough for a call-in and a scrutiny committee meeting to consider it. p4

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• p31) Approve the submission of the business case setting out the proposal for a single unitary council for East Sussex, based on a Continuing Authority model, (Appendix 1 of the report) to Government by 26 September 2025; 2) Agree to request Government to cancel or postpone the county council elections scheduled to be held in May 2026; 3) Delegate to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, authority to finalise and submit the business case setting out the proposal and a covering letter formally requesting the cancellation or postponement of the county elections and for the County Council to have Continuing Authority status; and 4) Note the next steps in the process.
• p41.2 The urgency arose because deadlines had been imposed by Central Government, which were outside the Council's control. After the statutory invitation on 5 February 2025, considerable work had been undertaken in partnership with the District and Borough Councils to arrive at an agreed interim plan. The proposal, which had been developed collaboratively with District and Borough Councils across East Sussex, each of whom were making decisions around the same time, was finalised in September. It was therefore not possible to hold a Cabinet meeting early enough to allow for a decision to be called in and for a scrutiny committee meeting to be convened to consider the call-in, while still meeting the Government’s deadline of 26 September 2025.