Lewes District

Lewes is a local government district in East Sussex, England. The district is named after the town of Lewes. The largest town is Seaford. The district also includes the towns of Newhaven, Peacehaven and Telscombe and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. The council meets in Lewes and has its main offices in Newhaven.

Lewes District
Non-metropolitan district
Lewes shown within East Sussex
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Non-metropolitan county	East Sussex
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Lewes
Founded	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Lewes District Council
Area
• Total	112.74 sq mi (292.00 km2)
• Rank	120th (of 296)
Population  (2022)
• Total	100,677
• Rank	242nd (of 296)
• Density	890/sq mi (340/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 94.2% White 2.5% Mixed 1.9% Asian 0.7% other 0.7% Black
Religion (2021) [1]
• Religion	List 48.2% no religion 42.7% Christianity 6.3% not stated 0.8% Islam 0.8% other 0.6% Buddhism 0.3% Hinduism 0.3% Judaism 0.1% Sikhism
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	21UF (ONS) E07000063 (GSS)
OS grid reference	TQ420104

The district lies on the south coast, and a large part of it lies within the South Downs National Park. The district covers an area of 113 sq mi (290 km²), with 9 miles (14.5 km) of coastline.^[2] Plumpton Racecourse is within the district. There are 28 parishes in the district.

The neighbouring districts are Brighton and Hove, Mid Sussex and Wealden.

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district covered the area of four former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:^[3]

• Chailey Rural District
• Lewes Municipal Borough
• Newhaven Urban District
• Seaford Urban District

The new district was named after Lewes, the ancient county town of Sussex.^[4]

Since 2016 the council has shared a chief executive and other staff with nearby Eastbourne Borough Council.^[5]

Governance

Lewes District Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Chair	Lesley Boniface, Liberal Democrat since 20 May 2024[6]
Leader	Zoe Nicholson, Green since 22 May 2023[7]
Chief Executive	Robert Cottrill since 18 January 2016[lower-alpha 1]
Structure
Seats	41
Political groups	Administration (24)   Green (16)   Labour (8) Other parties (17)   Liberal Democrats (15)   Independent (2)
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
County Hall, St Anne's Crescent, Lewes, BN7 1UE
Website
www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk

Lewes District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by East Sussex County Council.^[8] The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[9]

In the parts of the district within the South Downs National Park, town planning is the responsibility of the South Downs National Park Authority. The district council appoints one of its councillors to serve on the 27-person National Park Authority.^[10]

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since 2018. Since the 2023 election an alliance of the Greens and Labour has formed the council's administration.^[11]

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:^[12][13]

Party in control		Years
	Conservative	1974–1991
	Liberal Democrats	1991–2011
	Conservative	2011–2013
	No overall control	2013–2015
	Conservative	2015–2018
	No overall control	2018–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1999 have been:^[14]

Councillor	Party		From	To
Ann De Vecchi		Liberal Democrats	May 1999	8 May 2011
Tony Nicholson		Conservative	25 May 2011	20 Feb 2012
James Page		Conservative	20 Feb 2012	26 Feb 2014
Rob Blackman		Conservative	26 Feb 2014	Sep 2015
Andy Smith		Conservative	14 Oct 2015	5 May 2019
Isabelle Linington		Conservative	20 May 2019	15 Jul 2019
Zoe Nicholson		Green	15 Jul 2019	20 Jul 2020
James MacCleary		Liberal Democrats	20 Jul 2020	15 Jul 2021
Zoe Nicholson		Green	15 Jul 2021	18 Jul 2022
James MacCleary		Liberal Democrats	18 Jul 2022	22 May 2023
Zoe Nicholson		Green	22 May 2023

Composition

Following the 2023 election and changes of allegiance up to June 2024, the composition of the council was:^[15][16][17]

Party		Councillors
	Green	16
	Liberal Democrats	15
	Labour	8
	Independent	2
Total		41

The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

See also: Lewes District Council elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 41 councillors representing 21 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.^[18]

The wards, with their populations at the 2021 Census, are:

Ward	Population (2021 Census)	Number of Councillors	Population per Councillor
Chailey, Barcombe and Hamsey	5,204	2	2,602
Ditchling and Westmeston	2,554	1	2,554
East Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs	7,394	3	2,461
Kingston	1,904	1	1,904
Lewes Bridge	4,834	2	2,417
Lewes Castle	3,964	2	1,982
Lewes Priory	7,916	3	2,639
Newhaven North	4,877	2	2,439
Newhaven South	7,814	2	2,605
Newick	2,446	1	2,446
Ouse Valley and Ringmer	6,513	3	2,171
Peacehaven East	5,377	2	2,689
Peacehaven North	5,186	2	2,593
Peacehaven West	4,872	2	2,436
Plumpton, Streat, East Chiltington and St John (Without)	2,222	1	2,222
Seaford Central	5,023	2	2,512
Seaford East	4,776	2	2,388
Seaford North	5,207	2	2,604
Seaford South	4,388	2	2,194
Seaford West	4,471	2	2,236
Wivelsfield	2,964	1	2,964
Total Lewes	99,905	41	2,437

The district straddles the constituencies of Lewes and Brighton Kemptown.^[9]

Premises

Marine Workshops, Railway Quay, Newhaven, BN9 0ER: Council's main offices since 2023

Since 2013, full council meetings have been held at County Hall in Lewes, the headquarters of East Sussex County Council.^[14] In 2023 the council moved its main offices to Marine Workshops, a former industrial building in Newhaven which it shares with East Sussex Colleges Group.^[19]

When created in 1974 the council inherited four sets of offices from its predecessor councils:

• Lewes House, 32 High Street, Lewes from Chailey Rural District Council.
• Lewes Town Hall and the adjoining municipal offices at 4 Fisher Street from Lewes Town Council.
• 20 Fort Road, Newhaven from Newhaven Urban District Council.
• The Downs, Sutton Road, Seaford from Seaford Urban District Council.

Southover House: Council's headquarters 1998–2022

The Downs was converted into housing and a leisure centre built behind it. The new council's offices were divided between the other three buildings. In 1998 the council acquired Southover House on Southover Road in Lewes, which had previously been offices of East Sussex County Council, to serve as its main offices, remaining there until 2022.^[20]

Geography

The Prime Meridian passes through the district.

Sussex Police has its head office in the town of Lewes.^[21]

Towns and parishes

The whole district is divided into civil parishes. The parish councils for Lewes, Newhaven, Peacehaven, Seaford and Telscombe take the style "town council". Some of the smaller parishes have a parish meeting rather than a parish council.^[22]

Parish	Type	Population (2021 Census)	Area (sq km)	Pop Density per km2
Barcombe	Parish Council	1,491	17.81	83.7
Beddington	Parish Council	273	15.71	17.4
Chailey	Parish Council	2,975	17.81	119.4
Ditchling	Parish Council	2,265	15.50	146.1
East Chiltington & St John Without ‡	Parish Council	458	13.58	33.7
Falmer & St Ann Without ‡	Parish Council	250	17.02	14.7
Firle	Parish Council	267	13.87	19.3
Glynde & Tarring Neville ‡	Parish Council	194	9.72	20.0
Hamsey	Parish Council	734	11.44	64.2
Iford	Parish Meeting	177	9.71	18.2
Kingston near Lewes	Parish Council	816	5.70	143.1
Lewes	Town Council	16,723	11.42	1,464.4
Newhaven	Town Council	12,693	7.18	1,767.6
Newick	Parish Council	2,445	7.80	313.4
Peacehaven	Town Council	15,442	5.18	2,979.4
Piddinghoe	Parish Council	234	3.80	61.5
Plumpton	Parish Council	1,599	9.66	165.5
Ringmer	Parish Council	4,765	25.91	183.9
Rodmell & Southease ‡	Parish Council	429	11.27	38.1
Seaford	Town Council	23,865	17.31	1,378.7
South Heighton	Parish Council	1,015	8.49	119.6
Streat	Parish Meeting	164	5.18	31.6
Telscombe	Town Council	7,392	4.73	1,563.5
Westmeston	Parish Council	290	8.48	34.2
Wivelsfield	Parish Council	2,960	10.79	274.3
Total Lewes		99,905	292.10	342.0

‡ St John Without, St Ann Without, Tarring Neville and Southease are separate civil parishes with parish meetings, but due to their small size population statistics are not published separately for them.

References

1. Serves as shared chief executive to both Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council.^[5]

• East Sussex portal

1. UK Census (2021). "2021 Census Area Profile – Lewes Local Authority (E07000063)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
2. "Lewes District Council: News and local information". Lewes District Council. 2009. Archived from the original on 2 July 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
3. "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 2 August 2023
4. "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1973/551, retrieved 31 May 2023
5. "Robert Cottrill has been formally confirmed as shared chief executive for Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council". The Argus. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
6. "The Chair of Lewes District". Lewes District Council. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
7. "Council minutes, 22 May 2023". Lewes District Council. 22 May 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
8. "Local Government Act 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1972 c. 70, retrieved 31 May 2023
9. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
10. "Members". South Downs National Park Authority. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
11. Oxburgh, Huw (23 May 2023). "Greens and Labour join forces to run Lewes District Council". Sussex World. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
12. "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
13. "Election 2011 - England council elections - Lewes". BBC News.
14. "Council minutes". Lewes and Eastbourne Councils. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
15. "Local elections 2023: live council results for England". The Guardian.
16. Boothroyd, David (5 April 2024). "North Northants gets the Bill". Local Councils. Thorncliffe. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
17. Boothroyd, David (14 June 2024). "Labour's win is Clydebuilt". Local Councils. Thorncliffe. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
18. "The Lewes (Electoral Changes) Order 2016", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2016/1229, retrieved 17 August 2023
19. "New cultural hub in Lewes". Lewes District Council. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
20. "Council to move out of Southover House in Lewes". Sussex World. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
21. "Non-emergency enquiries." (Archive) Sussex Police. Retrieved 13 February 2011. "Sussex Police Headquarters Church Lane, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2DZ."
22. "Town and Parish Council contact details". Lewes District Council. Retrieved 17 August 2023.

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