East Sussex County Council

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East Sussex County Council
Chief executive
Becky Shaw
since 2010[a]
Structure
Seats50 councillors[3]
Political groups
Administration
  Conservative (25)
Other parties
  Liberal Democrat (12)
  Green Party (5)
  Labour (5)
  Independent (3)
Length of term
4 years
Elections
First past the post
Last election
6 May 2021
Next election
1 May 2025
Meeting place
County Hall at Lewes
County Hall, St Anne's Cresent, Lewes, BN7 1UE
Website
www.eastsussex.gov.uk

East Sussex County Council is the upper tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex in England.

East Sussex is divided into five

civil parishes.[4]

The County Council has its headquarters at County Hall in Lewes; there are a number of other administrative buildings located throughout the county.

History

Further information: History of local government in Sussex

quarter sessions separately for the three eastern rapes and the three western rapes, with the courts for eastern rapes being held at Lewes.[5] This position was formalised by the County of Sussex Act 1865, with the eastern and western divisions of Sussex treated as separate counties for the purposes of taxation, law enforcement, asylums and highways, whilst still deemed to be one county for the purposes of lieutenancy, militia and the coroner.[6]

Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the

administrative counties of East Sussex and West Sussex with separate county councils. The two administrative counties were still treated as one county for certain ceremonial purposes, notably sharing the Lord Lieutenant of Sussex and Sheriff of Sussex. The large towns of Brighton and Hastings were deemed capable of providing their own county-level services and so they were made county boroughs, independent from East Sussex County Council.[7] Eastbourne was later also made a county borough in 1911.[8]

Old County Hall, Lewes: Council's headquarters until 1938.

The first elections were held in January 1889 and East Sussex County Council formally came into its powers on 1 April 1889, holding its first official meeting on the same day at

Member of Parliament, was appointed the first chairman of the council.[9]

Local government was reformed in 1974 under the

ceremonial counties, with East Sussex gaining its own Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff. The lower tier of local government was rearranged at the same time, with the county being divided into seven non-metropolitan districts.[10]

In 1997 the two districts of Hove and Brighton were merged to become a unitary authority called Brighton and Hove, independent from the county council, leaving only five districts in the area administered by the county council.[11] Brighton and Hove (which subsequently gained city status in 2000) remains part of the ceremonial county of East Sussex.[12]

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since a by-election in August 2023, prior to which it had a Conservative majority.[13][14]

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:[15]

Party in control Years
Conservative 1974–1985
No overall control 1985–1989
Conservative 1989–1993
No overall control 1993–2001
Conservative 2001–2013
No overall control 2013–2017
Conservative 2017–2023
No overall control 2023–present

Leadership

The

leaders of the council since 1999 have been:[16]

Councillor Party From To
David Rogers Liberal Democrats 1999 19 Jun 2001
Peter Jones Conservative 19 Jun 2001 5 May 2013
Keith Glazier Conservative 21 May 2013

Composition

Following the 2021 election and two by-elections in July and August 2023, the composition of the council was:

Party Councillors
Conservative 25
Liberal Democrats 12
Green 5
Labour 5
Independent 3
Total 50

Two of the independent councillors sit together as the "Independent Democrats" group, the other is not aligned to any group.[17] The next election is due in 2025.

Premises

The council is based at East Sussex County Hall on St Anne's Crescent in Lewes, which was purpose-built for the council in 1968.[18]

Southover House: County Council offices 1938–1998

When first created the council met at the old County Hall in Lewes, now known as Lewes Crown Court, which had been built in 1812 as a courthouse and had served as the meeting place for the quarter sessions which preceded the county council.[19]

The council outgrew the space available there and in 1928 it purchased a large sixteenth century house called Pelham House to use as additional offices.[20] In 1938 the council extended Pelham House to include a council chamber and committee rooms and also built a large office block called Southover House in the former gardens of Pelham House, with the two neighbouring buildings then serving as the council's main offices and meeting place, and the old County Hall reverting to being purely a judicial facility.[21]

By the 1960s the council again needed more space and so the current County Hall was built. Southover House was sold to

Lewes District Council in 1998.[22] Full council meetings continued to be held in the council chamber at Pelham House until 2003 when a new council chamber was created in the 1968 County Hall and Pelham House was sold.[18]

Elections

Main article: East Sussex County Council elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2017 the council has comprised 50 councillors representing 50 electoral divisions. Elections are held every four years.[23]

Notable members

References

  1. ^ Also serving as chief executive for neighbouring West Sussex County Council from January 2020.[1][2]
  1. ^ "East Sussex County Council to share its chief executive with West Sussex County Council". Sussex World. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  2. ^ Golding, Nick (16 December 2019). "Shaw to replace Elvery at West Sussex". Local Government Chronicle. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  3. ^ "East Sussex County Council". Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  4. ^ See List of civil parishes in East Sussex
  5. ^ "Connection" (PDF). Sussex Newsroom. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2013.
  6. ^ "County of Sussex Act 1865". A Compendious Abstract of the Public General Acts. London: Law Journal Reports. 1865. pp. 91–94. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  7. ^ "Local Government Act 1888", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1888 c. 41, retrieved 19 August 2023
  8. ^ "Eastbourne Municipal Borough / County Borough". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  9. ^ "East Sussex County Council". Mid Sussex Times. Haywards Heath. 2 April 1889. p. 5. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  10. ^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 31 May 2023
  11. ^ "The East Sussex (Brighton and Hove) (Structural Change) Order 1995", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1995/1770, retrieved 19 August 2023
  12. ^ "Lieutenancies Act 1997", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1997 c. 23, retrieved 3 August 2023
  13. ^ "East Sussex County Council: Tories lose overall control after by-election". BBC News. 4 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  14. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  15. ^ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  16. ^ "Council minutes". East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Councillors by party". East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  18. ^ a b "History of East Sussex County Council: Meetings and buildings". East Sussex County Council. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  19. ^ Historic England. "Law Courts, Lewes (1043780)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  20. ^ "County Council Offices: Pelham House to be purchased". Sussex Express. Lewes. 3 August 1928. p. 6. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  21. ^ "Lewes Notes and Comments". Sussex Express. Lewes. 26 August 1938. p. 12. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  22. ^ Land Registry title ESX225351, Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes, change of ownership 9 January 1998
  23. ^ "The East Sussex (Electoral Changes) Order 2016", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2016/1225, retrieved 19 August 2023

External links

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