As Sussex prepares to elect its first regional mayor in May 2026, questions are rightly being asked about what kind of leadership is needed — and what should sit at the heart of their mandate.
The environment is listed as one of seven core 'competences' in the new English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.
Yet aside from the bullet point, there’s no further mention of it across the Bill’s 300+ pages. By contrast, economic growth appears 54 times. Climate: just once. Nature: not at all.
This imbalance maybe signals a deeper problem with how powers are being devolved — and what mayors will, or won’t, be required to do. Housing, transport and planning will come with statutory duties and financial levers. But climate and nature recovery? Mayors can act on them — but they don’t have to.
Why this matters
The new combined authorities will become the strategic centre of decision-making across Sussex, with sweeping powers over spatial planning, infrastructure and land use. These decisions shape carbon emissions, biodiversity, flood risk, air quality and more.
Without firm environmental duties, these authorities could end up reinforcing the very systems that are failing to meet national climate and nature targets.
In the words of Wildlife and Countryside Link - a coalition of 90 environmental organisations - devolution without environmental safeguards risks “locking in short-term growth at the expense of long-term resilience”.
Local government is already under huge pressure, with many councils overstretched and underfunded. Adding the complexity of new governance structures, while asking those same authorities to lead a green transition - without legal clarity or additional funding - is a recipe for confusion or regression.
The case for a statutory duty
The argument from climate and environmental groups is simple: give mayors a legal responsibility to act.
Just as they will have duties to support economic development, they should also be required to contribute to climate mitigation, adaptation, and nature recovery.
Doing so would:
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Align local planning with national climate and biodiversity targets under the Climate Change Act and Environment Act
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Prevent fragmentation, where some powers (like transport planning) consider climate impacts, but others (like housing delivery) don’t
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Give clarity to councils, developers and communities, reducing legal wrangling and uncertainty
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Support long-term investment and resilience, not just short-term building targets
The Local Government Association agrees. So do the District Councils’ Network, ADEPT, UK100 and over 100 businesses that have signed open letters backing a climate duty.
Why it’s urgent
The current system isn’t working. According to the Office for Environmental Protection, England is off-track on most legally binding nature and climate goals. More than half of English local authorities missed their legal deadline to take action on nature recovery last year.
Meanwhile, council climate scorecards show slow but determined progress - often despite a lack of clear legal backing. “Councils and civil society are united in the call for a statutory duty,” says Isaac Beevor from Climate Emergency UK. “The government must listen.”
A missed opportunity?
It’s not as if this hasn’t been done before. The Greater London Authority has climate and biodiversity duties baked into its legislation. NHS trusts now have duties to consider environmental targets. Even Ofwat and the Crown Estate have been brought into line.
So why not mayors?
Sally Barnard from the South East Climate Alliance - a coalition of over 140 community groups across Sussex, Surrey, Kent and Hampshire - has pointed out that the Bill is silent on the very thing it claims to support. “Mayors and their local authorities will be in an ideal position to accelerate action, but they need the legal duties, powers and funding to do so.”
Devolution is a democratic opportunity. But without environmental duty, we risk shifting power - and responsibility - without the safeguards needed to tackle the defining crisis of our time.
Sussex and the stakes
Sussex faces specific environmental challenges. From coastal erosion and water stress to poor housing efficiency and biodiversity decline, the region has a lot to lose from weak climate governance - and even more to gain from doing it well.
So is it fair to conclude that the mayoral candidate who treats environment, economy and equity as one ecosystem - not rival priorities - will be the one who truly understands the opportunity ahead?
📚 Further reading and sources
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