Local elections in East Sussex, West Sussex, Essex, Thurrock, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Suffolk and Surrey will be delayed for one year to allow major reorganisations to take place, Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner has said. Speaking to Parliament, Rayner said the postponement would pave the way for a “generational power shift from Whitehall to the town hall”. She said that holding elections for authorities that were due to be scrapped would be “an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money”. However, Conservative shadow minister Kevin Hollinrake said the “mass postponement” was a “worrying day for democracy”.The shake-up of local councils, announced by the government last year, will see smaller district councils merged with local country councils to create single bodies known as unitary authorities.The new bodies would represent populations of around 500,000. In addition to merging councils, the government has also said it wants more places in England to have mayors, who would get powers over areas such as housing and transport.In her statement, Rayner announced six new devolution areas which she hoped would get to elect new mayors in May 2026: Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Essex, Hampshire and Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sussex and Brighton.”These places will get a fast-track ticket to drive real change in their area,” she told MPs.”While devolution can sound techie, the outcome is simple – it’s a plan for putting more money in people’s pockets, it’s a plan for quicker, better, cheaper transport designed with local people in mind, a plan for put …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnLocal elections in East Sussex, West Sussex, Essex, Thurrock, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Suffolk and Surrey will be delayed for one year to allow major reorganisations to take place, Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner has said. Speaking to Parliament, Rayner said the postponement would pave the way for a “generational power shift from Whitehall to the town hall”. She said that holding elections for authorities that were due to be scrapped would be “an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money”. However, Conservative shadow minister Kevin Hollinrake said the “mass postponement” was a “worrying day for democracy”.The shake-up of local councils, announced by the government last year, will see smaller district councils merged with local country councils to create single bodies known as unitary authorities.The new bodies would represent populations of around 500,000. In addition to merging councils, the government has also said it wants more places in England to have mayors, who would get powers over areas such as housing and transport.In her statement, Rayner announced six new devolution areas which she hoped would get to elect new mayors in May 2026: Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Essex, Hampshire and Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sussex and Brighton.”These places will get a fast-track ticket to drive real change in their area,” she told MPs.”While devolution can sound techie, the outcome is simple – it’s a plan for putting more money in people’s pockets, it’s a plan for quicker, better, cheaper transport designed with local people in mind, a plan for put …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
