Lewes is a local government district in East Sussex in southern England covering an area of , with of coastline. It is named after its administrative centre,

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of t ...

. Other towns in the district include Newhaven, Peacehaven, Seaford and Telscombe. Plumpton racecourse is within the district. There are 28 parishes in the district. The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by 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 ...

, and was a merger of the former borough of Lewes along with Newhaven and Seaford urban districts and Chailey

Rural District Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the a ...

Politics

Elections to the council are held every four years, with all of the 41 seats, representing 21 wards, on the council being filled. Since July 2019, following the May election, an alliance of councillors from the

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

, Liberal Democrat, and Labour parties, plus two Independents, has controlled the council, with Green Councillor Zoe Nicholson and Liberal Democrat Councillor James MacCleary holding the leader and deputy leader roles alternating each year. After being controlled by the Liberal Democrats since 1991, the

Conservative party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

regained a majority at the 2011 election. However, subsequent defections of Conservative councillors to UKIP and the Liberal Democrats left the council in no overall control. In the subsequent council election on 7 May 2015, the Conservatives regained control with an increased majority and heavy losses for the Liberal Democrats. In March 2020,

Cllr A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

Sean Macleod resigned from the Green Party, joining the Liberal Democrats in June 2020. The current composition is as follows:

Geography

The district wards are: The civil parishes within the district are: ‡ St John Without, St Ann Without, Tarring Neville and Southease are separate Parish Meetings but have been merged with their neighbouring parishes for the population statistics. The

Sussex Police Sussex Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing in the whole of Sussex. Its jurisdiction covers the ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. The force is headquartered in Malling House, Lewes, East Sussex. ...

has its head office in

, Lewes District.Non-emergency enquiries
"
Archive

. Retrieved 13 February 2011. "Sussex Police Headquarters Church Lane, Lewes East Sussex, BN7 2DZ." The

Prime Meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great ...

passes through the district.

References

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