Ministers have paused the plan to add Peacehaven, Telscombe and East Saltdean to Brighton & Hove. The city's May 2027 election now runs on today's 23 wards.

The government has stopped work on the plan to enlarge Brighton & Hove, seven weeks after approving it. A minister wrote to council leaders on 7 September asking them to “cease work on implementing the decisions that were announced in July”, and the July decision for this area was the one that would have brought Peacehaven, Telscombe and East Saltdean inside the city boundary from April 2028.

The council confirmed the pause the following day (Brighton & Hove City Council, 8 September 2026).

There is a second consequence, and for most residents it is the bigger one. The July decision would have cancelled the ordinary city council election due in May 2027 and replaced it with an election to a new, larger authority. That is now reversed. The minister’s letter says elections scheduled for May 2027 “will go ahead to existing council boundaries” (Jim McMahon MP, letter to council leaders, 7 September 2026).

Timeline showing the Brighton and Hove reorganisation decision of 16 July 2026, the pause on 7 September 2026, the May 2027 city election and the April 2028 date that is now uncertain

What was decided in July

The decision letter is dated 16 July 2026 and was signed by Steve Reed, then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. It chose a modified version of the two-council plan submitted by East Sussex’s councils, creating:

  • East Sussex Council: Eastbourne, Hastings, Rother, Wealden and Lewes district minus four wards
  • Brighton and Hove: the existing city plus those four Lewes district wards

The four wards cover East Saltdean, Telscombe and Peacehaven, the coastal strip immediately east of the current city boundary at Saltdean. Peacehaven town centre sits about six miles east of Brighton seafront along the A259.

Reed’s stated reason was economic, not administrative. He wrote that the modification “better reflects Brighton and Hove’s real economic geography”, with “the A259 forming a continuous built-up area” and “Peacehaven and Telscombe relying on the larger employment centre of Brighton and Hove”. He also said it would “better address the current underbounding of Brighton and Hove”, the argument the city has made for years that its tight boundary limits where it can build (decision letter, 16 July 2026).

One place was deliberately left out. The city had asked for Falmer parish as well. Reed refused, saying the parish, “with a population of around 300, should be in ‘East Sussex Council’ rather than part of an expanded Brighton and Hove, given its rural identity”.

What the pause letter says

The letter of 7 September came from Jim McMahon MP, Minister for Local Government, Devolution and Regional Growth. It does three things.

  • It confirms the Secretary of State has withdrawn the March decisions for four other areas: Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock; Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton; Norfolk; and Suffolk. That followed “updated legal advice (for the avoidance of doubt no privilege is waived)”.
  • It puts the 14 decisions made in July, this area’s among them, into a review that McMahon will lead himself. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and West Sussex, still undecided, go into the same review. East and West Surrey are excluded “because they are already established in law”.
  • It asks leaders to stop implementation work, which McMahon says “reduces the risk of nugatory work if, after further review, we decide to change course”.

The letter gives no date for the review to report. It says only that “next steps are communicated early and clearly to the sector”. McMahon acknowledges the position “will feel uncomfortable”.

Councillor Bella Sankey, leader of the council, said in the council’s statement that “the proposals we put forward for Brighton & Hove to merge with communities on our eastern border are robust and evidence-based”, and that the council will “continue to engage closely with government and partner organisations while maintaining our focus on delivering excellent services for residents and communities”.

What it means for you

Nothing changes about who runs your services. Brighton & Hove City Council is already a unitary authority, so unlike most of England there was never a county council above it to abolish. The city was not being merged out of existence in the July decision; it was being made bigger. The pause simply leaves the boundary where it is.

The May 2027 city election is back on, and it will use today’s wards. Brighton & Hove elects all 54 of its councillors at once every four years. The last all-out election was on 4 May 2023, when Labour won 38 seats, the Greens 7, the Conservatives 6, Brighton & Hove Independents 2 and an independent 1, on a turnout of 83,426 from an electorate of 204,255, or 40.8 per cent (council results, 4 May 2023). The July decision would have replaced that poll with an election to the new expanded council and extended sitting councillors’ terms. Under the September letter it goes ahead as a normal city election across the current 23 wards.

If you live in Peacehaven, Telscombe or East Saltdean, you are not becoming a Brighton & Hove resident yet. Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council remain your councils, and your council tax, bin collection and planning authority are unchanged. The Brighton Times covers the city, so if the boundary does move later we will say so plainly.

The money is on hold too. The July letter attached £900,000 of transition funding to each new unitary, plus up to £150,000 each for leadership in children’s services, adult social care and public health, from a national pot of £63 million. Taken together the letter promised “more than £1 million per new unitary”. None of that is spendable while implementation work is stopped.

The nearest vote in the diary is unaffected: the Queen’s Park by-election on 24 September goes ahead as planned, and whoever wins it now serves a full term to May 2027 rather than into a shadow authority.

What to watch

The review has no published deadline. McMahon’s letter links it to the forthcoming Devolution White Paper, which he says “will set out our plans to rewire the state” and “address the question of the role of local government in a devolved country”. Until that appears, three things are genuinely unknown: whether the boundary change survives, whether April 2028 survives as a date, and whether the shadow council model survives.

Separately, and not affected by any of this, the Sussex and Brighton Strategic Authority continues. The decision letter was copied to its chair and to the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner.

Council structure sits underneath a lot of what we cover. If it changes, the pages it would change are the council tax bands page, the planning applications page and the bin collection days page, and we will update them on the day rather than the week after.

Frequently asked questions

Is Brighton & Hove City Council being abolished?

No. The city is already a unitary authority, so there was no county council above it to merge away. The July 2026 decision would have made Brighton & Hove bigger, by adding four Lewes district wards covering East Saltdean, Telscombe and Peacehaven. That plan is paused.

Will there be a city council election in May 2027?

Yes. The minister’s letter of 7 September says elections scheduled for May 2027 “will go ahead to existing council boundaries”. Under the July decision that poll would have been replaced by an election to a new expanded authority.

Are Peacehaven and Telscombe joining Brighton?

Not for now. The decision that would have moved them was made on 16 July 2026 and put on hold on 7 September. Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council remain their councils in the meantime.

Why was Falmer left out?

The Secretary of State refused the city’s request for Falmer parish, saying the parish, “with a population of around 300, should be in ‘East Sussex Council’ rather than part of an expanded Brighton and Hove, given its rural identity”.

When will the review report?

No date has been published. The letter links the review to the forthcoming Devolution White Paper and promises only that “next steps are communicated early and clearly to the sector”.

Does the Queen’s Park by-election still happen?

Yes. The by-election on 24 September is unaffected, and the winner now serves until the ordinary city election in May 2027.

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