Mid Sussex District | |
---|---|
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Constituent country | England |
Region | South East England |
Non-metropolitan county | West Sussex |
Status | Non-metropolitan district |
Admin HQ | Haywards Heath |
Incorporated | 1 April 1974 |
Government | |
• Type | Non-metropolitan district council |
• Body | Mid Sussex District Council |
• MPs | Andrew Griffith Jeremy Quin Mims Davies |
Area | |
• Total | 128.97 sq mi (334.02 km2) |
• Rank | 111th (of 296) |
Population (2021) | |
• Total | 152,949 |
• Rank | 138th (of 296) |
• Density | 1,200/sq mi (460/km2) |
• Ethnicity | 95.3% White 1.6% S.Asian 1.0% Black 1.2% mixed race |
Time zone | UTC0 (GMT) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
Mid Sussex is a local government district in West Sussex, England. The largest town is Haywards Heath, where the council is based. The district also contains the towns of Burgess Hill and East Grinstead plus surrounding rural areas, including many villages. The district includes part of the South Downs National Park and part of the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of High Weald, including sections of Ashdown Forest. The district contains most headwaters of the River Ouse. Its largest body of water is Ardingly reservoir which is used by watersports clubs. At the 2021 census the district had a population of 152,949.
The neighbouring districts are Crawley, Horsham, Brighton and Hove, Lewes, Wealden and Tandridge.
The name "Mid Sussex" was occasionally used for various parts of central Sussex prior to 1974, including as an alternative name for the Lewes constituency created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and as a joint water district established in 1907. [1]
The modern district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 as one of seven districts within West Sussex. The new district covered the whole area of three former districts and most of a fourth, which were all abolished at the same time: [2] [3]
The new district was named Mid Sussex, reflecting its position within the historic county. [4] All of the areas which made up Mid Sussex were in East Sussex prior to 1974; as part of the reforms that year they were transferred to West Sussex. The change of county was not without controversy; the government's rationale for the change was that it brought the projected major economic area centred on Crawley and Gatwick Airport under the supervision of one county council. [5]
Mid Sussex District Council | |
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Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Kathryn Hall since 2010 [7] | |
Structure | |
Seats | 48 councillors |
Political groups |
|
Elections | |
First-past-the-post | |
Last election | 4 May 2023 |
Next election | 6 May 2027 |
Meeting place | |
Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 1SS | |
Website | |
www |
Mid Sussex District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by West Sussex County Council. [8] The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government. [9]
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. [10]
The council has been under no overall control since the 2023 election, being run by a minority administration of the Liberal Democrats and some of the independent councillors, led by Liberal Democrat councillor Robert Eggleston. [11]
The first elections to the council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: [12]
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
No overall control | 1974–1979 | |
Conservative | 1979–1995 | |
Liberal Democrats | 1995–1999 | |
Conservative | 1999–2023 | |
No overall control | 2023-present | |
The leaders of the council since 2006 have been: [13]
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Christine Field | Conservative | 17 May 2006 | ||
Patrick Shanahan | Conservative | 17 May 2006 | 6 May 2007 | |
Gordon Marples | Conservative | 16 May 2007 | 31 Oct 2009 | |
Garry Wall | Conservative | 18 Nov 2009 | 5 May 2019 | |
Jonathan Ash-Edwards [14] | Conservative | 22 May 2019 | 7 May 2023 | |
Robert Eggleston [15] | Liberal Democrats | 24 May 2023 |
Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was: [16]
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | 20 | |
Conservative | 18 | |
Independent | 5 | |
Green | 4 | |
Labour | 1 | |
Total | 48 |
Four of the five indepdendent councillors sit together as the "Independent Group", which forms the council's administration with the Liberal Democrats. [17] [11] The next election is due in 2027.
Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 48 councillors representing 27 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years. [18]
The district straddles three parliamentary constituencies; most of the district is in the Mid Sussex constituency, but north-western parts of the district are in the Horsham constituency and southern parts of the district are in the Arundel and South Downs constituency. [9]
The council is based at Oaklands, in Haywards Heath, which was originally a large Victorian house and had served as the headquarters of the old Cuckfield Urban District Council (which had included Haywards Heath) since 1934. The building has been substantially extended. [19]
The district is divided into 24 civil parishes. The parish councils for Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take the style "town council". The small parish of Newtimber has a parish meeting rather than a parish council. [20] Hassocks is a post town but has a parish council rather than a town council.
Homes owned by their occupants, with or without a loan, make up more than 85% of Mid Sussex housing. Mid Sussex's residents had the lowest burden of social housing, at 0.5% of housing stock, at the time of the census, a district which is approximately 30 minutes by its fast railway services from the area with the highest such proportion covering London Bridge station, the London Borough of Southwark (having 31.2% social housing) and from a creative and self-declared, progressive authority with 9.8% social housing and 28% of its housing privately rented, Brighton and Hove.
In terms of rented housing Mid Sussex at the 2011 census ranked 216th out of in terms of 327 local authorities in England. The proportion of homes which were rented as investments by non-occupants was higher than several other semi-rural districts of Sussex, with 11.7% of housing stock speculatively acquired in this way or to provide for those unable to obtain mortgage finance and 1.0% was let out to residents on either public or private shared ownership schemes, close to the national average. These figures are those of the 2011 census. [21]
West Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley, and the county town is the city of Chichester.
Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, 39 mi (63 km) south of London, 10 mi (16 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 29 mi (47 km) northeast of the county town, Chichester. It had an area of 3.7 sq mi (9.6 km2) and a population of 30,635 at the 2011 Census, making it the fourth most populous parish in the county and the most populous in the Mid Sussex District. Other nearby towns include Haywards Heath to the northeast and Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, to the southeast.
Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, 36 miles (58 km) south of London, 14 miles (23 km) north of Brighton, 13 miles (21 km) south of Gatwick Airport and 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawley northwest and East Grinstead northeast. With only a relatively small number of jobs available in the immediate vicinity, mostly in the agricultural or service sector, many residents work "remotely" or commute daily via road or rail to London, Brighton, Crawley or Gatwick Airport for work.
Wealden is a local government district in East Sussex, England. Its council is based in Hailsham, the district's largest town. The district also includes the towns of Crowborough, Polegate and Uckfield, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. The district's name comes from the Weald, the landscape and ancient woodland which occupies much of the centre and north of the area.
Lewes is a local government district in East Sussex, England. The district is named after the County town of Lewes. The largest town is Seaford. The district also includes the towns of Newhaven, Peacehaven and Telscombe and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. The Council is based at Marine Workshops a former industrial building in Newhaven which it shares with East Sussex Colleges Group.
Horsham is a local government district in West Sussex, England. It is named after the town of Horsham, which is its largest settlement and where the council is based. The district also includes the surrounding rural area and contains many villages, the largest of which are Southwater and Billingshurst. The district includes part of the South Downs National Park and part of the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of High Weald. At the 2021 census the district had a population of 147,487.
Winchester, or the City of Winchester, is a local government district with city status in Hampshire, England.
Cuckfield is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies 34 miles (55 km) south of London, 13 miles (21 km) north of Brighton, and 31 miles (50 km) east northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Haywards Heath to the southeast and Burgess Hill to the south. It is surrounded on the other sides by the parish of Ansty and Staplefield formerly known as Cuckfield Rural.
Mid Sussex is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2019 by Mims Davies, a Conservative. She is currently a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Ardingly is an English village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. The village is in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty about 33 miles (53 km) south of London and 33 miles (53 km) east-north-east of the county town of Chichester. The parish covers an area of 3,974 acres (1,608 ha). The 2011 Census recorded a population of 1,936 an increase from 1,833 in 2001.
The Mid Sussex Football League is an association football league formed in 1900. The league is headed by the Premier Division which is at level eleven of the English football league system and member clubs are based in East Sussex, West Sussex and south-eastern Surrey. Current sponsors are Gray Hooper Holt LLP and the league is currently known as the Gray Hooper Holt LLP Mid Sussex League.
Ansty and Staplefield, previously Cuckfield Rural, is a civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, covering an area from the north-west side of Burgess Hill, the whole lying around but mostly to the west of Cuckfield civil parish, from which it was created in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894. It includes the settlements of Ansty in the south, Staplefield to the north-west and Brook Street to the north-east. It is the largest civil parish in West Sussex, covering an area of 3,869 hectares (14.94 sq mi), and has a population of 1574, increasing to 1,756 at the 2011 Census.
East Grinstead was a parliamentary constituency in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. It first existed as a Parliamentary borough from 1307, returning two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons elected by the bloc vote system. The borough was disfranchised under the Reform Act 1832, but the name was revived at the 1885 election when the Redistribution of Seats Act created a new single-member county division of the same name.
Mid Sussex District Council is elected every four years.
West Sussex County Council is the upper tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex in England.
St Wilfrid's Church is an Anglican church in the town of Haywards Heath in the district of Mid Sussex, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. It is Haywards Heath's parish church, and is the mother church to two of the town's four other Anglican churches. Designed in the Decorated Gothic style by George Frederick Bodley, it was built between 1863 and 1865 as the town began to grow rapidly, and stands in a prominent position on the highest ground in the area. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
The Borough of Warrington is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The borough is centred around the town of Warrington, and extends out into outlying villages of Lymm and Great Sankey and the town of Birchwood.
The history of local government in Sussex is unique and complex. Founded as a kingdom in the 5th century, Sussex was annexed by the kingdom of Wessex in the 9th century, which after further developments became the Kingdom of England. It currently corresponds to two counties, East Sussex and West Sussex.