In Brighton and Hove and East Sussex, the modified plan would allow the request of Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC) to expand the city’s footprint eastwards, thereby increasing its population from about 280,000 to 308,000.
BHCC’s Labour leader Bella Sankey has said it would boost growth and “fit boundaries to how people work, live and travel”.
But the Green Party leader of Lewes District Council (LDC), Zoe Nicholson, said the areas currently in her district would see a “fundamental shift” and “lose their local identity, their local voice”.
She added: “Services would inevitably be reshaped around the needs of a city, not small towns and villages.”
In a public consultation run by LDC and East Sussex last year, 86% of the residents who responded said they did not want to see Lewes’ boundaries changed.
Nicholson warned of government requirements to build 40,000 homes by 2040 to meet the city’s housing needs.
She said: “Everyone knows Brighton & Hove is struggling to meet its housing targets, and I’ve no doubt they see Falmer, East Saltdean, Telscombe and Peacehaven as helping to solve that failure.”
