The way forward for East Sussex: What we want to achieve
I had a letter last week which told me the Government was making some extra funding available for 14 hard-pressed councils around the country.
Good news - for them, at least. Unfortunately, East Sussex is not one of the lucky few.
I’ve gone back to Ministers, as you might expect, to ask them to explain how they chose where to send this money.
And why they’ve chosen to shut out East Sussex, a county where many people have genuine and growing need for much greater support.
It’s disappointing but it doesn’t alter my job, as leader of the county council. Which is to press ahead and try to improve people’s lives, even with our very limited means.
How can we do this? I and my colleagues are busily developing our plan and I’d like to share this update with you.
A programme built on three pillars
Our programme will rest on three pillars: real improvements, practical policies, and budget control
Real improvements. As I’ve said before, the only test we want to apply is where we can act to make life better for people in East Sussex.
I want to find new ways to support our communities, our families, and our businesses (including our farmers, growers and fishermen).
That’s not easy as there’s so little money to spend. But with fresh approaches and hard work, I believe it can be done.
For example, we’re working with our highways contractor to lever some extra money into road repairs.
It won’t transform the highways network which has suffered from limited repair budgets and worsening weather, but we know how important this issue is to residents and I hope people in every part of East Sussex would notice some improvement near them if we can get this done.
We hope to say more about this soon.
Practical policies. We have to make policy which is realistic and reflects what is possible, not wishful thinking. We should decide on the evidence and the ‘here-and-now’ and not imagine we can work in a perfect world.
Our aim will always be cross-party working with thorough discussion, and we’ll make any decisions clearly, transparently and democratically.
We’re lucky enough to have great partners and communities in East Sussex and we can build our programme with them.
For instance, I’ve spent time with NHS colleagues recently (including at Eastbourne District General Hospital) and I know that closer working between us can be a huge help to people’s health and quality of life.
Just this month, we’ve been running a series of open sessions in Crowborough, Eastbourne, Peacehaven and Hastings to help people with long term breathing conditions prepare for winter and look after their lungs.
In a single visit, people get medical screening, expert advice and practical support from the NHS, the council, and community and voluntary services. It’s an approach which makes the best use of our combined resources and brings support right into people’s local community.
It’s very popular too – more than 130 people joined the recent Eastbourne event.
So I’d like us to develop this programme much further as part of what we call our Neighbourhood Health Plans.
That’s one example of what I mean by practical policy.
Budget Control. No council ever has enough funds to do the things it would like to, but in East Sussex we’re especially hard-pressed (and unfairly so in my opinion).
Before we were elected, East Sussex County Council was one of many authorities given permission from the Government to borrow extra, about £55 million in our case.
It’s very likely we’ll need to continue this borrowing (known as exceptional financial support) in the next financial year to keep all our essential services running. That includes getting social care support to more than 30,000 adults and responding to 48,000 contacts for children’s early help and social care.
We know how valued and important these services are. We also know the scale of help needed and the costs of providing it are rising sharply.
So when Reform UK became the largest party on the council in the May elections, we inherited the toughest financial challenge this county has ever seen.
Let’s look at the broad area of social care. This includes looking after frail and vulnerable adults, supporting, caring for and protecting children and families, helping young people with special educational need and disability, and providing home to school transport. These are all vital areas of work which, by law, we must carry out.
Last year we spent £468 million on them. Next year we expect that to rise to £560m and the year after to £605m.
Our population gets older, people’s needs increase, salaries and other costs rise far faster than the funding we have available to meet them.
So our deficit - that cost we can’t fund - rises each year too and forces us to borrow.
There’s an overwhelming case that East Sussex deserves better and fairer funding for its needs and we’ll keep hammering that message into the ears of Government ministers and officials.
But, as I said before, we have to work in the world we have, not the world we’d like.
Therefore, the third pillar of our programme will be controlling the budget as tightly as we possibly can.
Can we get better value from our contracts and manage them more tightly? Are there opportunities to reduce spend on consultants or agency staff? Where could new technology make us more efficient? Which assets do we have which could help our financial health?
Those are just some of the areas we’re examining in detail as we work on the budget for next year and beyond.
It’s right we ask difficult questions about where the council spends money so we can control our costs. But that’s different from looking for large reductions in services, which I don’t expect.
You can read more in the report for the next meeting of our cabinet which has just been published.
Agenda for Cabinet on Tuesday, 29th September, 2026, 10.00 am | East Sussex County Council
The strength of East Sussex
The programme I’ve outlined here will take further shape over the next four months.
We will keep you informed and all decisions we take will be in public and through our democratic process, including meetings of the cabinet and the full council.
I also keep in mind the great strengths in East Sussex. We’ve got great businesses, communities, partners and staff. We’re part of a new strategic authority for Sussex which should be able to draw more money and power into the area to help us become more prosperous and influential.
And while we all see the world differently, we come from the same place – we’re a collection of colleagues, neighbours and friends which make East Sussex what it is.
Ends
Tuesday, 22 September 2026