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, and the council is based in Newhaven. The district also includes the towns of Peacehaven and Telscombe and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas.

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 Template:Convert, with Template:Convert of coastline.<ref name="LDC-9203">Template:Cite web</ref> 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:<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>

• 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.<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>

Since 2016 the council has shared a chief executive and other staff with nearby Eastbourne Borough Council.<ref name=shared/>

Governance

Lewes District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by East Sussex County Council.<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref> The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.<ref name=electionmaps>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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:<ref name=compositions>Template:Cite web (Put "Lewes" in search box to see specific results.)</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Party in control		Years
Template:Party name with colour	1974–1991
Template:Party name with colour	1991–2011
Template:Party name with colour	2011–2013
Template:Party name with colour	2013–2015
Template:Party name with colour	2015–2018
Template:Party name with colour	2018–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1999 have been:

Councillor	Party		From	To
Ann De Vecchi<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	May 1999	May 2011
Tony Nicholson<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	25 May 2011	20 Feb 2012
James Page<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	20 Feb 2012	26 Feb 2014
Rob Blackman<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	26 Feb 2014	Sep 2015
Andy Smith<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	14 Oct 2015	May 2019
Isabelle Linington<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	20 May 2019	15 Jul 2019
Zoe Nicholson<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	15 Jul 2019	20 Jul 2020
James MacCleary<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	20 Jul 2020	15 Jul 2021
Zoe Nicholson<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	15 Jul 2021	18 Jul 2022
James MacCleary<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	18 Jul 2022	May 2023
Zoe Nicholson<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	22 May 2023

Composition

Following the 2023 election,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and changes of allegiance up to May 2025, the composition of the council was:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Thorncliffe>Template:Cite web</ref>

Party		Councillors
Template:Party name with colour	16
Template:Party name with colour	15
Template:Party name with colour	8
Template:Party name with colour	2
Total		41

The next election is due in 2027.<ref name=Thorncliffe/>

Elections

Template:See also 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.<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>

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.<ref name=electionmaps/>

Premises

The council is based at Marine Workshops, a former industrial building in Newhaven which it shares with East Sussex Colleges Group.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 2023 when it moved to Marine Workshops.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Geography

The Prime Meridian passes through the district.

Sussex Police has its head office in the town of Lewes.<ref>"Non-emergency enquiries." (Archive) Sussex Police. Retrieved 13 February 2011. "Sussex Police Headquarters Church Lane, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2DZ."</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Parish	Type	Population (2021 Census)	Area (sq km)	Pop Density per km2
Barcombe	Parish Council	1,491	17.81	83.7
Beddingham	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.