Local Government news from Cllr Rex Whittaker July 2026
LOCAL (AND NATIONAL!) GOVERNMENT UPDATES
The past two months has seen a tumultuous sea change at the head of the UK government – with Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigning following the outfall from the May local elections. At the time of writing – Andy Burnham MP will be appointed as the new Prime Minister on Monday 20 July.
Whilst there is a dreadfully short ‘transition period ‘ of only a few weeks – his first week in office will likely see a wholesale change in cabinet positions and personnel.
Intense speculation has been raging on who the next Chancellor of the Exchequer will be, and what type of macro-economic policies the new PM and his team will pursue. Until now the financial markets have been relatively steady taking on board this news, but we may well be in for some market volatility over the summer and autumn.
A key appointment for our local councils to watch very closely will be the new Housing and Communities Minister (currently Steve Reed MP). He has been integrally involved in the huge local government re-organisation programme (LGR) in which the whole county of Sussex (East and West) is proposed to be re-arranged into brand new Unitary Authorities by April 2028. A ‘final’ public consultation on the amended proposals ended on 15 June – so everyone is waiting with bated breath as the final Government decision will not now be announced until October. It is likely that Mid Sussex, Crawley, Horsham and Chichester will be in one combined new authority.
GATWICK AIRPORT
The Government approved the official second runway development consent order in September 2025. In June 2026 the High Court upheld this decision by rejecting a Judicial Review appeal brought by environmental lobby groups. The £2.2 billion scheme, all privately funded, will now likely move to the operational phase – and when completed, circa 2030, increase capacity to 80 million passengers per year. The EGBA position is to support this expansion based upon the significant benefits that it will bring to our local economy.
RENTERS RIGHTS ACT
On 1 May 2026 sweeping new law changes became effective across the private rented sector property market with the introduction of the Renters Rights Act. This significantly increases tenant security with the abolition of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, ending of fixed term contracts, limiting the frequency of rent increases, introducing a right to request pets, and capping to one month the amount of upfront rent to be paid by a tenant. It remains to be seen just what market effect this will have in the short, medium and long term.
MSDC DISTRICT PLAN EXAMINATION
Following the first part of the independent inspector examination in February/March 2026, Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) have been in detailed discussions with the inspector to try and find a way of accommodating his stipulation (based on Government instruction targets) of a significant increase to proposed future housing numbers by around 20%.
This equates to finding an extra land supply for around 4,000 houses (over a 20-year period). Therefore over the past three months a huge amount of technical work has been completed by the MSDC planning policy team. As a direct result, a full and further six week public consultation will be completed between 27 July and 7 September 2026. Full details of this consultation will be published very soon on the MSDC website (planning/policy/district plan/examination ). This will also be widely publicised via East Grinstead Town Council and other local parish websites and social media pages.
DIARY DATES
– MSDC District Planning committee, 20 August and 17 September
– MSDC Full council, 22 July and 23 September
– East Grinstead Full Council, 30 July
– East Court Live free music event, Sunday 2 August
– East Grinstead Classic Car show, Sunday 13 September
Rex Whittaker
17 July 2026