Bella Sankey
Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council and Chair of the Sussex & Brighton Strategic Authority. This is a living public-record dossier: offices held, powers, meetings, declared interests, gifts and hospitality, recorded interventions and the decisions WATCH is following.
Record checked 16 September 2026 · Primary sources prioritised · No WATCH score or political verdict
Public offices and current responsibilities
| Office / body | Recorded role | Why it matters | Primary record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton & Hove City Council | Leader of the Council; Leader of the Labour Group | Political leadership of the unitary authority and chairing the executive Cabinet. | Councillor record ↗ |
| Cabinet | Chair | Chairs the council's executive decision-making body. | Appointments ↗ |
| Greater Brighton Economic Board | Chair | Regional economic partnership role recorded by the council. | Appointments ↗ |
| Sussex & Brighton Strategic Authority | Chair | The pre-mayoral strategic authority covers Brighton & Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex. Its own site lists Sankey as current chair. | SBSA leadership ↗ |
The council also records appointments to the Joint Staff Consultation Forum, Local Government Association, One Voice Partnership and the Sussex & Brighton Strategic Authority. Her current council term began after the May 2023 election, following an earlier term from the December 2022 Wish by-election to May 2023.
Two layers of executive power
Sankey's record now needs to be read across two institutions. At Brighton & Hove she leads the council and chairs Cabinet. At regional level she chairs the SBSA during the period before the first directly elected Sussex & Brighton mayor, scheduled for 2028.
The SBSA says its board is formed from representatives of the three constituent councils. Its published material says the authority has secured £1.14 billion over 30 years, with £117 million of initial funding over four years. Those are authority-level figures, not money personally controlled by the chair, but they explain why WATCH places the chairmanship under heightened scrutiny.
Register of interests — current published entry
The council's register entry published 15 January 2026 records the following. WATCH reports declarations as transparency records; a declaration does not by itself indicate a conflict or impropriety.
- Employment / vocation: Sankey stated that she was in the process of setting herself up as a sole trader providing consultancy services on human-rights advocacy.
- Trusteeship: trustee of the Hans Albrecht Foundation.
- Sponsorship: none recorded.
- Contracts, licences, corporate tenancies and securities: nil recorded in the published entry.
- Land: an interest is declared, with details withheld under the Localism Act provision cited by the council.
Gifts and hospitality disclosed
The same register contains a series of gifts/hospitality entries above the council's reporting threshold. The published list includes, among other entries, tickets for a Fatboy Slim concert (2023), Europa League football (2023), the Martlets Halloween Ball (2024), a bottle of Ridgeview (2024), a business lunch at the Coal Shed (2024), Theatre Royal tickets (2024), Brighton & Hove Albion v Arsenal tickets (2025), a cricket ticket that the register says was passed on (2025), Brighton Pride / Mariah Carey tickets (2025), and Rugby World Cup tickets plus refreshments (2025).
WATCH will preserve the distinction between declared hospitality and any separate question about influence or conflicts. No such conclusion is drawn merely from an entry appearing in the register.
Recorded meeting declarations
The council's declarations search for the period 5 August 2025 to 16 August 2026 states that there were no declarations of interest on that record for the period. That is narrower than the statutory register above: it concerns declarations recorded at meetings in the specified period.
Attendance — evidence snapshots
WATCH is not publishing a headline attendance percentage until the denominator has been systematically checked against the meetings for which Sankey was expected or appointed. The primary records already confirm attendance at significant meetings, including:
- Cabinet — 20 March 2025: present as Chair.
- Cabinet — 23 April 2026: present as Chair.
- Cabinet — 16 July 2026: present as Chair.
- Full Council — 24 September 2025: present.
- Full Council — 13 October 2025: present.
- Annual Council — 21 May 2026: present.
- Full Council — 23 July 2026: present.
Recorded action: member allowances amendment
At Full Council on 22 May 2025, Sankey proposed a Labour Group amendment to the members' allowances scheme. The amendment proposed a Special Responsibility Allowance for the Chief Whip of the largest party at 15% of the Leader's Allowance and reducing the Mayor's SRA from 30% to 15% of the Leader's Allowance. Council minutes record that the amendment was carried and the recommendations, as amended, were carried.
This is recorded here because it is a concrete, attributable intervention in the remuneration framework—not as a judgement for or against the change.
Financial and governance record
In November 2024 scrutiny minutes, Sankey introduced the council's General Fund Budget Update and described pressures from adult social care and homelessness while the papers recorded an in-year funding gap and a larger projected shortfall for the following year. This records her public role in presenting the financial context; the detailed finance portfolio was held by the relevant Cabinet member.
The council's Annual Governance Statement for 2024/25 was signed by Sankey as Leader and the Chief Executive on 25 June 2025. The statement described the council's governance arrangements as robust while also identifying improvement actions. The 2025/26 governance statement continued the formal leader/Chief Executive assurance process.
Regional decisions and commitments WATCH is following
| Area | Public record | WATCH relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Devolution funding | SBSA says £1.14bn is secured over 30 years, with £117m initial funding over four years. | Track allocations, decision records, delivery and measurable outcomes. |
| Bus reform | As Chair, Sankey publicly described funding for the franchising appraisal as evidence-gathering for potential change. | WATCH is following the study, formal decisions and procurement/evidence trail. |
| Business Advisory Board | SBSA approved plans for a board of up to 15 senior business leaders, with its chair holding an associate seat on the SBSA board. | Track appointments, declarations, influence, transparency and decision-making boundaries. |
| Corporate plan | The SBSA Forward Plan published in September 2026 lists the developing 2027/28 Corporate Plan with Sankey as lead member / Chair for the December steer. | Track promises against later delivery rather than treating strategy language as an outcome. |
WATCH coverage and connected records
This dossier is designed to connect rather than duplicate WATCH reporting.
- Bella Sankey — Person to Watch: the longer WATCH article explaining why her offices matter.
- 20 People to Watch: Sankey is currently WATCH scrutiny priority #1.
- Power Map: where the SBSA chair sits in the emerging Sussex governance structure.
- Public Accountability Directory: official public contact route.
- Right to Reply / Correct Us: the route for evidence, corrections and responses.
Open evidence fields
These are items WATCH intends to maintain as the public record develops, not allegations.
- Complete, denominator-checked attendance series for relevant bodies.
- Annual member allowance and expense returns, separated by basic allowance, special responsibility allowance and expenses.
- Recorded named votes and amendments where the official minutes identify individual voting behaviour.
- SBSA chair decisions, forward-plan responsibilities and delivery against published commitments.
- Changes to the statutory register of interests, gifts/hospitality and outside roles.
- Responses or corrections received from Sankey or the relevant authorities.
Primary source trail
- Brighton & Hove councillor record
- Register of interests, published 15 January 2026
- Declarations at meetings search
- 22 May 2025 member-allowances amendment
- Annual Governance Statement 2024/25
- SBSA — How we're led
- SBSA Forward Plan
Source links are provided so readers can inspect the underlying public record themselves. WATCH will correct this page when stronger or newer primary evidence supersedes an entry.