East Sussex County Council is the local authority for the

non-metropolitan county A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term ''shire county'' is, however, an unoffi ...

of East Sussex. East Sussex is divided into five

local government districts The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

. Three are larger, rural, districts (from west to east: Lewes; Wealden; and

Rother Rother may refer to: General *Rother (surname) (also sometimes spelled Röther) *Rother District, a local government district in East Sussex, England *Rother FM, an independent local radio station for Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England *Rother Kup ...

). The other two,

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

and

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, are mainly urban areas. The rural districts are subdivided into

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

es. The County Council meets at

East Sussex County Hall East Sussex County Hall is a modern building in St Anne's Crescent, Lewes, East Sussex. It is the headquarters of East Sussex County Council. History After being based at County Hall in the High Street in Lewes since its formation in 1889, Eas ...

, the authority's headquarters; there are a number of other administrative buildings located throughout the county.

History

Sussex was historically divided into six sub-divisions known as

rapes Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, Abusive power and control, ...

. From the 12th century the three eastern rapes and the three western rapes had separate

quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

: the county town of the three eastern rapes was Lewes. This position was formalised by Parliament in 1865, and the two parts were made into

administrative counties An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

, each with distinct elected

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irel ...

s, in 1889 under the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

. Within East Sussex there were also three self-administered

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

s: Brighton,

and

. In 1974 East Sussex was made a

, and the three county boroughs became districts within the county. At the same time the western boundary was altered, so that the Mid Sussex area (including Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath) was transferred to the county of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. In 1997,

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

became a self-administered

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

; it was granted

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...

in 2000, whilst remaining part of the ceremonial county of East Sussex.

Elections

In common with all shire counties, the whole of East Sussex County Council is elected every four years. The first election to the reconstituted council took place in 1973, to prepare for the handover of services in April 1974. The 1997 election was the first at which no representatives from Brighton and Hove were elected, as a result of that area acquiring a unitary council. The Conservative Party has always held the largest number of seats on the council, though among the existing divisions of the council (excluding wards from Brighton & Hove), in 1993 the Liberal Democrats won 23 of the 44 seats, which would on current boundaries have given them overall control. Since the removal of Brighton and Hove, the Labour Party influence has been reduced although the party retains the majority of seats in

. An election was held in May 2013. The

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

made gains here as elsewhere in the rural parts of England where elections were held. There was a more recent election in 2021.

Notable members

Lord Rupert Nevill Lord Rupert Charles Montecute Nevill (29 January 1923 – 19 July 1982) was Chairman of the British Olympic Association from 1966 to 1977 and then its President until his death. As a courtier, he was treasurer and later private secretary to Prin ...

(1954–1967)

References

External links

East Sussex County Council
– Official website {{Local authorities in East Sussex County councils of England 1889 establishments in England Local government in East Sussex Local education authorities in England Local authorities in East Sussex Major precepting authorities in England Leader and cabinet executives