Lewes is a

local government district Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, England. The district is named after the town of

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

. The largest town is Seaford, and the council is based in

Newhaven Newhaven is a port town in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England, lying at the mouth of the River Ouse. The town developed during the Middle Ages as the nearby port of Seaford began drying up, forcing a new port to be established. A ...

. The district also includes the towns of

Peacehaven Peacehaven is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Lewes (district), Lewes district of East Sussex, England. It is above the chalk cliffs of the South Downs about east of Brighton city centre, on the A259 road. It is the ...

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 South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...

. The district covers an area of , with of coastline.

Plumpton Racecourse Plumpton Racecourse is a National Hunt racecourse in the village of Plumpton, East Sussex near Lewes and Brighton. Racing first took place at Plumpton in 1884. Its most notable race is the Sussex National Handicap Chase. History Plumpton Rac ...

is within the district. There are 28 parishes in the district. The neighbouring districts are

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...

, Mid Sussex and Wealden.

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. The new district covered the area of four former districts, which were all abolished at the same time: * Chailey Rural District *

Municipal Borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

Urban District * Seaford Urban District The new district was named after Lewes, the ancient

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. Since 2016 the council has shared a chief executive and other staff with nearby

Eastbourne Borough Council Eastbourne Borough Council is the local authority for Eastbourne in East Sussex, England. Eastbourne has had an elected council since 1859, which has been reformed on several occasions. Since 1974, Eastbourne has been a non-metropolitan district ...

Governance

Lewes District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by

East Sussex County Council East Sussex County Council is the upper tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the latter additionally includes Brighton and Hove. East ...

. The whole district is also covered by

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

es, which form a third tier of local government. In the parts of the district within the South Downs National Park,

town planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

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.

Political control

The council has been under

no overall control In the context of local authorities in the United Kingdom no overall control (NOC; ) is a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats, comparable to a hung parliament. Of the 248 councils who had members up for elec ...

since 2018. Since the 2023 election an alliance of the Greens and Labour has formed the council's administration. 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: (Put "Lewes" in search box to see specific results.)

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1999 have been:

Composition

Following the 2023 election, and changes of allegiance up to May 2025, the composition of the council was: The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 41

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

s representing 21 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years. The wards, with their populations at the 2021 Census, are: The district straddles the constituencies of

and Brighton Kemptown.

Premises

The council is based at Marine Workshops, a former industrial building in Newhaven which it shares with East Sussex Colleges Group. 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.

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.

Geography

The

Prime Meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrarily chosen meridian (geography), meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. On a spheroid, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian ...

passes through the district.

Sussex Police Sussex Police are the territorial police force responsible for policing in the whole of Sussex. Their jurisdiction covers the ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. Their headquarters are in Malling House, Lewes, East Sussex. Hi ...

has its head office in the town of Lewes.

Towns and parishes

The whole district is divided into

es. The parish councils for Lewes, Newhaven, Peacehaven, Seaford and Telscombe take the style "town council". Some of the smaller parishes have a

parish meeting A parish meeting is a meeting all the electors in a civil parish in England are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with ...

rather than a parish council. ‡ 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

{{Authority control Non-metropolitan districts of East Sussex Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership 1974 establishments in England