Lewes District


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

Politics

Elections to the council are held every four years, with all of the 41 seats, representing 21 wards, on the council being filled. After being controlled by the Liberal Democrats since 1991, the Conservative party 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 July 2019, following the May election, an alliance of councillors from the Green, Liberal Democrat, and Labour parties, plus two Independents, took control of the council, with Green councillor Zoe Nicholson as Leader and Liberal Democrat Councillor James MacCleary as Deputy Leader.
In March 2020, Cllr Sean Macleod resigned from the Green Party to sit as an independent Mental Health champion, as he was unable to support changes the Green-led council was imposing on staff that he claimed would be detrimental to their mental health. In June 2020, Cllr Macleod joined the Liberal Democrats, citing their policies around health 'far outweighing any other party'. This makes the Liberal Democrats the largest party within the ruling group.
The current composition is as follows:
YearConservativeLiberal DemocratGreen PartyIndependentLabourIndependent
201819113601
20191989230
20201998230

Geography

The district wards are:
WardPopulation CouncillorsRatio
Barcombe and Hamsey202112021
Chailey and Wivelsfield468722344
Ditchling and Westmeston233412334
East Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs714632382
Kingston209512095
Lewes Bridge435722179
Lewes Castle471222356
Lewes Priory715332384
Newhaven Denton and Meeching823632745
Newhaven Valley379021895
Newick234312343
Ouse Valley and Ringmer657932193
Peacehaven East432522163
Peacehaven North477222386
Peacehaven West417122086
Plumpton, Streat, East Chiltington and St John 239112391
Seaford Central471222356
Seaford East470422352
Seaford North490622453
Seaford South440022200
Seaford West443922220
Total Lewes94723412299

The civil parishes within the district are:
ParishTypePopulation Area Pop Density /sq mi
BarcombeParish Council14476.9211
ChaileyParish Council27289.6284
DitchlingParish Council20276.0339
East Chiltington & St John Without ‡Parish Council5365.2102
Falmer & St Ann Without ‡Parish Council2816.643
FirleParish Council3275.461
Glynde and Beddingham & Tarring Neville ‡Parish Council5559.857
HamseyParish Council5744.4130
IfordParish Meeting2053.755
KingstonParish Council8432.2383
LewesTown Council162224.43679
NewhavenTown Council120262.74375
NewickParish Council23433.0778
PeacehavenTown Council132682.06621
PiddinghoeParish Council2641.5180
PlumptonParish Council16763.7450
RingmerParish Council459110.0459
Rodmell & Southease ‡Parish Council5024.3115
SeafordTown Council231616.73480
South HeightonParish Council11063.3338
StreatParish Meeting1792.089
TelscombeTown Council71461.83913
WestmestonParish Council3073.394
WivelsfieldParish Council19594.2470
Total Lewes94273112.7836

‡ 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 has its head office in Lewes, Lewes District.
The Prime Meridian passes through the district.