Sussex mayor delayed to 2028

Sussex waits until 2028 for its mayor. Here's what the delay means for developers and councils.

Sussex will not elect its first mayor until 4 May 2028. That is two years later than planned. And six weeks after a national reset of council reorganisation, the picture across our region is more fluid than at any point since devolution was first put on the table.

For those of us who work with developers, councils and the institutions that shape the South East, the question isn't whether the delay was right. It's what we do with the time.

How we got here

The vote was originally set for May 2026. Last December, ministers pushed it back so that Sussex, alongside Hampshire and the Solent, Greater Essex, and Norfolk and Suffolk, could finish reorganising its councils first.

That reorganisation has since stalled. In March, government couldn't settle on any of the Sussex proposals. In July it chose a model for East Sussex with an enlarged Brighton and Hove, while West Sussex stayed undecided. Then on 7 September the new government paused the programme nationally for a rapid review. Next May's council elections will now run on existing boundaries.

The Sussex and Brighton strategic authority does exist. It has been operating since April, bringing together the three upper-tier councils. What it doesn't have is a mayor, or the mandate that comes with one.

What it means for developers

First, the planning system you know is the one you'll be working with for a while yet. District and borough councils still decide applications and still own local plans. Don't pause a site because a new map might arrive. It won't arrive soon.

Second, the strategic layer is where the gap is. A mayor would lead on the cross-boundary questions that matter most in Sussex: where Brighton's unmet housing need goes, how growth around the Gatwick Diamond is serviced, how water and transport keep pace. Without that voice, those debates play out plan by plan and examination by examination, as they are right now in Mid Sussex.

Third, relationships are being formed now, not in 2028. Six candidates were already in the field before the postponement. The interim board is shaping a Prosperity Strategy covering housing, skills and transport. Developers who show up early, with evidence and a credible story about place, will help write the brief rather than respond to it.

What it means for councils

Councils are being asked to run services, run elections and prepare for structures that may change again. That is a real strain on capacity, and staff uncertainty is the hidden cost. The sensible course is no-regrets work: clean data, map contracts and assets, and build the joint working that will matter whatever the final map looks like.

There is also a communications job to be done. Residents were promised a vote in 2026. Many now feel the goalposts have moved twice. Councils that explain plainly what is changing, what isn't and when decisions will land will keep trust that would be hard to rebuild later.

The skills question

This is where the delay bites hardest. Rewiring the State, the Cabinet statement published in July, puts mayors in charge of the 16 to 19 budget and of locally tailored technical routes from age 14, with employment support devolved too. It is the biggest shift in post-16 education in a generation.

But those powers follow the mayor. Areas with one in post will be first to design their offer. Sussex risks watching from the sidelines for two years while its colleges, employers and young people wait.

We can't afford that. Our construction, care, engineering and visitor-economy employers already struggle to recruit. Every housing scheme we want to deliver depends on a workforce we are not yet training. My advice to colleges and employers is simple: build the coalition now. Agree priorities, gather the labour-market evidence and be ready to hand a mayor a plan on day one.

Rewiring without short-circuiting

I support the direction of travel. Decisions on homes, transport and skills are better made closer to the places they affect. But rewiring the state is only worth it if the lights stay on while the work is done.

The risk is that structure swallows delivery. That the South East spends 2027 debating boundaries while sites stall, and a cohort of 16-year-olds moves through a system nobody has yet been empowered to fix. The balance has to be reform with momentum: keep building, keep training, and treat the next 18 months as preparation, not a pause.

The autumn white paper and the Budget on 28 October should tell us more. Until then, the organisations that do best will be the ones that plan for 2028 as though it starts tomorrow.