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, with of coastline. 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:
The new district was named after Lewes, the ancient county town of Sussex.
Since 2016 the council has shared a chief executive and other staff with nearby Eastbourne Borough Council.

Governance

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

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.
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:

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 councillors 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:
WardPopulation
Number of
Councillors		Population
per Councillor
Chailey, Barcombe and Hamsey5,20422,602
Ditchling and Westmeston2,55412,554
East Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs7,39432,461
Kingston1,90411,904
Lewes Bridge4,83422,417
Lewes Castle3,96421,982
Lewes Priory7,91632,639
Newhaven North4,87722,439
Newhaven South7,81422,605
Newick2,44612,446
Ouse Valley and Ringmer6,51332,171
Peacehaven East5,37722,689
Peacehaven North5,18622,593
Peacehaven West4,87222,436
Plumpton, Streat, East Chiltington
and St John 		2,22212,222
Seaford Central5,02322,512
Seaford East4,77622,388
Seaford North5,20722,604
Seaford South4,38822,194
Seaford West4,47122,236
Wivelsfield2,96412,964
Total Lewes99,905412,437

The district straddles the constituencies of Lewes 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:
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 passes through the district.
Sussex Police has its head office in the town of Lewes.

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.
ParishTypePopulation
Area
Pop Density
per km2
BarcombeParish Council1,49117.8183.7
BeddinghamParish Council27315.7117.4
ChaileyParish Council2,97517.81119.4
DitchlingParish Council2,26515.50146.1
East Chiltington & St John Without ‡Parish Council45813.5833.7
Falmer & St Ann Without ‡Parish Council25017.0214.7
FirleParish Council26713.8719.3
Glynde & Tarring Neville ‡Parish Council1949.7220.0
HamseyParish Council73411.4464.2
IfordParish Meeting1779.7118.2
Kingston near LewesParish Council8165.70143.1
LewesTown Council16,72311.421,464.4
NewhavenTown Council12,6937.181,767.6
NewickParish Council2,4457.80313.4
PeacehavenTown Council15,4425.182,979.4
PiddinghoeParish Council2343.8061.5
PlumptonParish Council1,5999.66165.5
RingmerParish Council4,76525.91183.9
Rodmell & Southease ‡Parish Council42911.2738.1
SeafordTown Council23,86517.311,378.7
South HeightonParish Council1,0158.49119.6
StreatParish Meeting1645.1831.6
TelscombeTown Council7,3924.731,563.5
WestmestonParish Council2908.4834.2
WivelsfieldParish Council2,96010.79274.3
Total Lewes99,905292.10342.0

‡ 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.