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These regular bite-sized emails are from the always possible team.

Thank you for joining us on this journey. We are together understanding the opportunities and risks facing growth, sustainability and identity in Sussex.

Sussex And The City is an independent and non-political project, clarifying the major reorganisation affecting Sussex and Brighton over the next two years.

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Brighton, Sussex and the ‘left behind’ myth?

A new report from the Centre for Cities challenges one of the most repeated narratives in UK policy: that towns and rural areas are 'left behind' by big cities. In fact, it argues, they’re not being left behind - they’re not being pulled forward because most UK cities are underperforming.

But is that a fair analysis?

🔗 Read the full report here

So what’s the story?

Using data from the Brexit referendum and 2024 General Election, the report shows that areas with stronger economic links to successful cities (measured by commuter flows to high-skill jobs) are less likely to experience political discontent.

That is: it's not proximity to cities that matters - it's access to their prosperity. Where cities perform well, surrounding areas benefit. Where cities are struggling, everyone around them struggles too.

What does this mean for Sussex and Brighton?

Brighton is often seen as a high-performing city, but it's not yet spreading prosperity widely. Productivity and wages lag behind comparable cities, and commuter links between Brighton and its surrounding areas (like Lewes, Adur, Wealden and Mid Sussex) are inconsistent and under-leveraged.

The Centre for Cities report suggests that:

• Boosting Brighton’s performance is essential. A stronger city economy could lift outcomes across Sussex’s towns and rural hinterlands.

   

• Investment in urban infrastructure, innovation, and skills in Brighton and Crawley would benefit residents far beyond those bigger urban centres.

   

• Places like Eastbourne, Worthing or Bexhill aren’t being left out by too much focus on cities - they’ve been let down by cities that haven’t had the tools or leadership to drive regional growth.

What next?

Questions if Sussex and Brighton move forward with a Combined Mayoral Authority:

• Should the strategy should double down on city performance - supercharging Brighton’s creative, tech and visitor economy, and expanding Crawley’s industrial and logistics strengths?

   

• Should a priority be to ensure that commuter infrastructure and digital connectivity make it easier for surrounding towns to access these jobs?

   

• Should the region’s leaders stop framing city investment and town support as trade-offs, but as parts of a regional ecosystem that could be more economically and politically aligned?

Is the myth of the left behind merely a myth?

It makes sense that the real divide is not between cities and towns. It's between connected places and disconnected ones.

In Sussex, the opportunity now is to build those connections deliberately - and lead a model of place-based opportunity that others can follow.

This is a collaborative project. Co-funded, supported and developed by many leading organisations across Sussex and Brighton.

This list is growing every week.

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