Crawley | |
|---|---|
| Borough of Crawley | |
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2555359.jpg) .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) The High Street, Queen's Square, Goff's Park House and the Memorial Gardens with the centre in the background | |
 Coat of Arms of the Borough Council | |
| Motto: "I Grow and I Rejoice" | |
  Location of Crawley within West Sussex | |
| Coordinates:51°6′33″N0°11′14″W / 51.10917°N 0.18722°W /51.10917; -0.18722 | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Constituent country | England |
| Region | South East England |
| Ceremonial county | West Sussex |
| Historic county | Sussex (Town centre and outlying areas) Surrey (Gatwick Airport) |
| Admin HQ | Crawley Town Hall |
| Founded | 5th century |
| Town charter | 1202; 823 years ago (1202) |
| Borough status | 1974; 51 years ago (1974) |
| Government | |
| • Type | Borough |
| • Body | Crawley Borough Council |
| • Leadership | Leader and cabinet |
| • Council Leader | Cllr Michael Jones (L) |
| • Mayor | Cllr Sharmila Sivarajah (L) |
| • MPs | Peter Lamb (L) |
| Area | |
• Borough | 17.36 sq mi (44.96 km2) |
| Elevation | 260 ft (80 m) |
| Population (2024) | |
• Borough | 124,008 (ranked 198th) |
| • Density | 5,750/sq mi (2,221/km2) |
| Ethnicity(2021) | |
| • Ethnic groups | |
| Religion(2021) | |
| • Religion | List
|
| Time zone | UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time) |
| Postcode | |
| Area code | 01293 |
| ISO 3166-2 | GB-WSX (West Sussex) |
| ONS code | 45UE (ONS) E07000226 (GSS) |
| OS grid reference | TQ268360 |
| NUTS 3 | UKJ24 |
| Website | crawley |
Crawley (ⓘ) is a town andborough inWest Sussex,England. It is 28 miles (45 km) south ofLondon, 18 miles (29 km) north ofBrighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) north-east of the county town ofChichester. Crawley covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km2) and had a population of 118,493 at the time of the2021 Census. Southern parts of the borough lie immediately next to theHigh Weald National Landscape.
The area has been inhabited sincethe Stone Age,[2] and was acentre of ironworking in theIron Age andRoman times. The area was probably used by thekings of Sussex for hunting.[3] Initially a clearing in the vast forest of theWeald, Crawley began as a settlement on the boundary of two of the sub-regions particular to Sussex, known asRapes, theRape of Bramber and theRape of Lewes. Becoming amarket town in 1202, Crawley developed slowly, serving the surrounding villages in theWeald. In the medieval period, its location on the main road from London to the port ofShoreham helped the town to grow; and whenBrighton became a fashionable seaside town in the 18th century, the passing trade encouraged the development ofcoaching inns. A rail link to London and Brighton opened in 1841, encouraging further development.
AfterWorld War II, the British Government planned to move large numbers of people and jobs out ofLondon and intonew towns aroundSouth East England. TheNew Towns Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 68) designated Crawley as the site of one of these.[4] A master plan was developed for the establishment of new residential, commercial, industrial and civic areas, and rapid development greatly increased the size and population of the town over a few decades. The town expanded further in 1974 to includeGatwick Airport, Britain's second busiest international airport and, in 2024, thetenth busiest in Europe.[5]
The town contains 14 residential neighbourhoods radiating out from the core of the old market town, and separated by main roads and railway lines. The nearby communities ofIfield,Pound Hill andThree Bridges were absorbed into the new town at various stages in its development. Established in 2019, the south-western suburb ofKilnwood Vale lies outside of the borough boundary in the neighbouring district ofHorsham.[6] Economically, the town has developed into the main centre of industry and employment between London and Brighton. Its large industrial area supports manufacturing and service companies, many of them connected with the airport. The commercial and retail sectors continue to expand.[4] In the late 20th century and early 21st century, the town has attracted a diverse and multicultural population. It is home to about two-thirds of the UK's population ofChagossians.[7]
The area may have been settled during theMesolithic period: locally manufacturedflints of the Horsham Culture type have been found to the southwest of the town.[2] Tools andburial mound from theNeolithic period, and burial mounds and a sword from theBronze Age, have also been discovered.[8][9] Crawley is on the western edge of theHigh Weald, which produced iron for more than 2,000 years from theIron Age onwards.[10] Goffs Park—now a recreational area in the south of the town—was the site of two late Iron Age furnaces.[11] Ironworking and mineral extraction continued throughoutRoman times, particularly in theBroadfield area where many furnaces were built.[8][12]
.JPG)
Passing through the north of the modern borough, the historic Sussex–Surrey border follows ridges and a trackway, in contrast to the Sussex–Kent border to the east, which follows waterways.[13] According to Mark Gardiner, the border dates at least as far back as the Saxon period, although may in fact be earlier and represent the border between Roman cantons or Iron Age kingdoms.[13] In the 5th century,Saxon settlers named the area Crow's Leah—meaning a crow-infested clearing, or Crow's Wood.[14] This name evolved over time, and the present spelling appeared by the early 14th century.[8] By this time, nearby settlements were more established: the Saxon church atWorth, for example, dates from between 950 and 1050 AD.[15]
Although Crawley itself is not mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086,[16] the nearby settlements of Ifield and Worth are recorded.[17] Crawley's High Street was built on part of the route from London to the port ofNew Shoreham, a major port in the 12th and 13th centuries that was on the most direct route between London and Normandy, used by the king and his knights and soldiers. The first written record of Crawley dates from 1202, when King John issued a licence for a weekly market on Wednesdays.[18] As a smallmarket town, Crawley grew slowly in importance over the next few centuries and as the Wealden iron industry declined, the town became an important centre for smuggling between the Sussex coast and London. Later in the 18th century, Crawley was boosted by the construction of theturnpike road between London andBrighton. When this was completed in 1770, travel between the newly fashionable seaside resort of Brighton and London became safer and quicker, and Crawley (located approximately halfway between the two) prospered as a coaching halt.[19] By 1839 it offered almost an hourly service to both destinations.[20][21] The George, atimber-framed house dating from the 15th century, expanded to become a large coaching inn, taking over adjacent buildings. Eventually an annexe had to be built in the middle of the wide High Street; this survived until the 1930s.[22] The original building has become theGeorge Hotel, with conference facilities and 84 bedrooms; it retains many period features including an ironfireback.[23][24]
Crawley's oldest church isSt John the Baptist's, between the High Street and the Broadway. It is said to have 13th-century origins,[25] but there has been much rebuilding (especially in the 19th century) and the oldest part remaining is the south wall of thenave, which is believed to be 14th century. The church has a 15th-centurytower (rebuilt in 1804) which originally contained four bells cast in 1724. Two were replaced by Thomas Lester of London in 1742; but in 1880 a new set of eight bells were cast and installed by the Croydon-based firm Gillett, Bland & Company.[26][27][28]
TheBrighton Main Line was the first railway line to serve the Crawley area. A station was opened atThree Bridges (originally known as East Crawley)[29] in the summer of 1841.Crawley railway station, at the southern end of the High Street, was built in 1848 when theHorsham branch was opened from Three Bridges to Horsham. A line was built eastwards fromThree Bridges to East Grinstead in 1855. The village ofThree Bridges had become the hub of transport in the area by this stage: one-quarter of its population was employed in railway jobs by 1861, mainly at theLondon, Brighton and South Coast Railway's railway works near the station.[30] The Longley company—one ofSouth East England's largest building firms in the late 19th century, responsible for buildings includingChrist's Hospital school andKing Edward VIISanatorium inMidhurst—moved to a site next to Crawley station in 1881.[31] In 1898 more than 700 people were employed at the site.[32]
There was a major expansion in house building in the late 19th century. An area known as "New Town" (unrelated to the postwar developments) was created around the railwaylevel crossing and down the Brighton Road;[30][33] theWest Green area, west of the High Street on the way to Ifield, was built up; and housing spread south of the Horsham line for the first time, into what is nowSouthgate. The population reached 4,433 in 1901, compared to 1,357 a century earlier.[34] In 1891, a racecourse was opened on farmland at Gatwick, to the north of Crawley. Built to replace asteeplechase course atWaddon nearCroydon inSurrey, it was used for both steeplechase and flat racing, and held theGrand National during the years ofWorld War I.[8] The course had its own railway station on the Brighton Main Line.[35]
In the early 20th century, many of the largecountry estates in the area, with theirmansions and associated grounds and outbuildings, were split up into smaller plots of land, attracting haphazard housing development and small farms.[36] By the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Crawley had grown into a small but prosperous town, serving a wide rural area and those passing through on the London–Brighton road (the presentA23). Three-quarters of the population had piped water supplies, all businesses and homes had electricity, and piped gas and street lighting had been in place for 50 years.[30] An airfield was opened in 1930 on land near the racecourse. This was a private concern until theSecond World War when it was claimed by theRoyal Air Force.[8]
In May 1946, the New Towns Act of 1946 identified Crawley as a suitable location for aNew Town;[4] but it was not officially designated as such until9 January 1947.[37] The 5,920 acres (2,396 ha) of land set aside for the new town were split across the county borders betweenEast Sussex,West Sussex andSurrey. ArchitectThomas Bennett was appointed chairman ofCrawley Development Corporation. Members of the working group developing a master plan included Lawrence Neal,Alwyn Sheppard Fidler,Caroline Haslett,Molly Bolton, SirEdward Gillett, Eric Walter Pasold and Alderman James Marshall.[38] A court challenge to the designation order meant that plans were not officially confirmed until December 1947. By this time, an initial plan for the development of the area had been drawn up byAnthony Minoprio.[39] This proposed filling in the gaps between the villages of Crawley,Ifield andThree Bridges.[40] Bennett estimated that planning, designing and building the town, and increasing its population from the existing 9,500 to 40,000, would take 15 years.[41]
Work began almost immediately to prepare for the expansion of the town. A full master plan was in place by 1949. This envisaged an increase in the population of the town to 50,000, residential properties in nine neighbourhoods radiating from the town centre, and a separate industrial area to the north.[39] The neighbourhoods would consist mainly of three-bedroom family homes, with a number of smaller and larger properties. Each would be built around a centre with shops, a church, apub, a primary school and acommunity centre.[40] Secondary education was to be provided at campuses atIfield Green, Three Bridges andTilgate.[42] Later, a fourth campus, in Southgate, was added to the plans.[43]
At first, little development took place in the town centre, and residents relied on the shops and services in the existing high street. The earliest progress was in West Green, where new residents moved in during the late 1940s. In 1950 the town was visited by the then heir to the throne,Princess Elizabeth, when she officially opened theManor Royal industrial area. Building work continued throughout the 1950s in West Green,Northgate and Three Bridges, and later inLangley Green, Pound Hill and Ifield. In 1956, land at "Tilgate East" was allocated for housing use, eventually becoming the new neighbourhood ofFurnace Green.[39] From the mid-1950s, expanded shopping facilities to the east of the existing High Street were provided. The first stage to open was The Broadwalk in 1954, followed by the opening of the Queen's Square development by the recently crowned Queen Elizabeth II in 1958.Crawley railway station was moved eastwards towards the new development.[39]
.JPG)
Expectations of the eventual population of the town were revised upwards several times. The 1949 master plan had allowed for 50,000 people, but this was amended to 55,000 in 1956 after the Development Corporation had successfully resisted pressure from the Minister for Town and Country Planning to accommodate 60,000. Nevertheless, plans dated 1961 anticipated growth to 70,000 by 1980, and by 1969 consideration was given to an eventual expansion of up to 120,000.[39] By April 1960, when Thomas Bennett made his last presentation as chairman of the Development Corporation, the town's population had reached 51,700; 2,289,000 square feet (212,700 m2) of the factory and other industrial space had been provided; 21,800 people were employed, nearly 60% of whom worked in manufacturing industries, and only seventy people were registered as unemployed. The corporation had built 10,254 houses, and private builders provided around 1,500 more. Tenants were by then permitted to buy their houses and 440 householders had chosen to do so by April 1960.[41]
A new plan was put forward byWest Sussex County Council in 1961. This proposed new neighbourhoods atBroadfield andBewbush, both of which extended outside the administrative area of the thenUrban District Council. Detailed plans were made forBroadfield in the late 1960s; by the early 1970s building work had begun. Further expansion atBewbush was begun in 1974, although development there was slow. The two neighbourhoods were both larger than the original nine: together, their proposed population was 23,000. Work also took place in the area now known asIfield West on the western fringes of the town.[44]
By 1980, the council identified land atMaidenbower, south of the Pound Hill neighbourhood, as being suitable for another new neighbourhood, and work began in 1986. However, all of this development was undertaken privately, unlike the earlier neighbourhoods in which most of the housing was owned by the council.[44] In 1999, plans were announced to develop the fourteenth neighbourhood on land atTinsley Green to the northeast of the town; this was given the go-ahead in 2011 and has been namedForge Wood after theancient woodland that is enclosed within the development. After the proposals were temporarily halted while a possible expansion atGatwick Airport was announced,[45] construction started in 2015.[46]Forge Wood is to have a maximum of 1,900 homes.[47] Another major residential development,Kilnwood Vale, began in 2012 adjacent to the western side of Crawley but separate from it, indistrict of Horsham. A plan for a new railway station fell through.[6]
.jpg)
Theborough is part of a two-tier arrangement, with service provision shared withWest Sussex County Council.[48] Since 2018 the borough has partnered with other local authorities as part of theGreater Brighton City Region.[49] The authority is divided into 13 wards, each of which is represented by two or three local councillors, forming a total council of 36 members. Most wards are coterminous with the borough's neighbourhoods, but Northgate and West Green are combined into one ward;Broadfield is divided across three; andPound Hill is split across "Pound Hill North andForge Wood" and "Pound Hill South and Worth". The council is elected in thirds.[50] Crawley Borough Council has had aLabour majority since 2022.[51]
Crawley became aparish in the 16th century, having previously been achapelry in theparish ofSlaugham. Crawley's position straddling the Rapes ofBramber andLewes, with the High Street, London Road and Brighton Road forming the boundary, led to the town being divided, falling under the administration of bothEast Sussex County Council andWest Sussex County Council whenadministrative counties were first formed in 1889. Whendistrict andparish councils were established under theLocal Government Act 1894, Crawley was given aparish council; it was included in theHorshamRural district and was administered by West Sussex County Council. Theparish was significantly enlarged in 1933, when it absorbed the neighbouringparish ofIfield.[52]
Following the designation as a New Town in 1947, theparish of Crawley was enlarged in 1953 to take in territory to the east, from the parishes ofSlaugham andWorth. Three years later, on 1 April 1956, the parish of Crawley was made anurban district, making it independent from Horsham Rural district.[53][52] TheLocal Government Act 1972 led to thedistrict being reformed as aborough in April 1974,[54] gaining a mayor for the first time.[55] The newborough in 1974 also saw its boundaries enlarged, gaining other areas which had been included in the designated area of the New Town as well as the area north of the town includingGatwick Airport, which had previously been inSurrey.[56]
The Urban district council received itscoat of arms from theCollege of Arms in 1957. After the change toborough status a modified coat of arms, based on the original, was awarded in 1976 and presented to the council on 24 March 1977. It features a central cross on a shield, representing the town's location at the meeting point of north–south and east–west roads. The shield bears ninemartlets representing both the county ofSussex and the new town's original nine neighbourhoods. Supporters, of an eagle and a winged lion, relate to the significance of the airport to the locality. The motto featured isI Grow and I Rejoice—a translation of a phrase from theEpistulae ofSeneca the Younger.[54] Despite a petition to save it,[57] the old Crawley Town Hall, which was built in 1964, was demolished in 2020[58] and a newCrawley Town Hall was completed in 2023.[59]
Initially, thedistrict (and thenborough) council worked with theCommission for New Towns on many aspects of development; but in 1978 many of the commission's assets, such as housing and parks, were surrendered to the council. The authority's boundaries were extended in 1983 to accommodate theBewbush andBroadfield neighbourhoods.[60]
Crawley has had its own MP since 1983, and theparliamentary constituency of Crawley shares the same boundaries as the borough.Peter Lamb of theLabour Party won the seat at the2024 general election,[61] replacingConservativeHenry Smith who was MP from 2010 to 2024.[62] Previously,Laura Moffatt, a member of the Labour Party, had been the MP for Crawley from 1997 to 2010; she was theParliamentary private secretary to theSecretary of State for Health,Alan Johnson.[63][64] In the2005 general election, the winning margin was the slimmest of anyUK constituency: Moffatt won by just 37 votes.[65] Crawley was previously in the constituencies ofHorsham and Crawley (1974–1983) and before thatHorsham (to 1918, 1945–1974) andHorsham and Worthing (1918–1945).
Twoimmigration detention centres–Brook House andTinsley House–are situated within the grounds ofGatwick Airport in Crawley.[66]
At51°6′33″N0°11′14″W / 51.10917°N 0.18722°W /51.10917; -0.18722 (51.1092, −0.1872), Crawley is in the north-east ofWest Sussex inSouth East England, 28 miles (45 km) south of London and 18 miles (29 km) north ofBrighton and Hove. Theborough of Crawley is bordered by thedistricts ofMid Sussex andHorsham inWest Sussex as well as thedistricts ofMole Valley andTandridge and theborough ofReigate and Banstead inSurrey. Nearby towns includeHorsham,Haywards Heath,Burgess Hill andEast Grinstead as well as the Surrey towns ofHorley,Redhill,Reigate,Oxted andDorking.[67][68]
Crawley lies in the Low Weald, on the edge of the High Weald between theNorth andSouth Downs. The town centre lies on a gentle slope 67 metres (220 ft) above sea level where the High Street meets Kilnmead, rising to 77 metres (253 ft) above sea level where the High Street meets the railway line.[69] The highest point in the borough is 148 metres (486 ft) above sea level.[70] This forms part of the Forest Ridge of the High Weald, which extends eastwards through the north of Sussex into Tunbridge Wells and Cranbrook in Kent. Two beds ofsedimentary rock meet beneath the town: the eastern neighbourhoods and the town centre lie largely on thesandstone Hastings Beds, while the rest of the town is based onWeald Clay.[71][72] Ageological fault running from east to west has left an area of Weald Clay (with a ridge oflimestone) jutting into the Hastings Beds aroundTilgate.[72] The town has no major waterways, although theRiver Mole rises nearRusper. meeting the Ifield Stream in the north of Crawley, and theGatwick Stream nearGatwick Airport, before continuing northwards to theRiver Thames atHampton Court Palace. There are several lakes atTilgate Park and a mill pond at Ifield which was stopped to feed theIfield Water Mill.[73] To the south-west of the town liesSt Leonard's Forest, including Buchan Country Park; to the south-east isTilgate Forest, originally part of Worth Forest. This area forms part of the Weald to Waveswildlife corridor, providing a key link betweenKnepp Wildland andAshdown Forest, which connects further to coast via the RiversAdur,Arun andOuse.[74]
In 1822Gideon Mantell, an amateur fossil collector andpalaeontologist, discovered teeth, bones and other remains of what he described as "an animal of the lizard tribe of enormous magnitude", inTilgate Forest on the edge of Crawley. He announced his discovery in an 1825 scientific paper, giving the creature the nameIguanodon.[75] In 1832 he discovered and named theHylaeosaurus genus ofdinosaurs after finding a fossil in the same forest.[76]
Crawley has atemperate climate: itsKöppen climate classification isCfb. The nearestMet Officeweather station is at Charlwood, directly northwest of Gatwick Airport. For the period 1991–2020 this weather station recorded average annual maximum and minimum temperatures of 15.09 °C (59.16 °F) and 6.12 °C (43.02 °F) respectively—a greater range than for southeastern and central southern England as a whole (14.7 °C (58.5 °F) and 6.58 °C (43.84 °F) respectively) and somewhat higher than the equivalent averages for the United Kingdom as a whole 12.79 °C (55.02 °F) and 5.53 °C (41.95 °F) respectively). Total sunshine hours, 1,628.44, and rainfall, 833.69 millimetres (32.822 in), at Charlwood compared unfavourably to the regional averages of 1,670.78 and 805.99 millimetres (31.732 in) respectively, but the United Kingdom averages of 1,402.61 hours and 1,162.70 millimetres (45.776 in) respectively indicate that Crawley is much sunnier and drier on average.[77]
Generally, Crawley's inland and southerly position within the United Kingdom means temperatures in summer are amongst the highest in the British Isles. Charlwood recorded 36.3 °C (97.3 °F)[78] and Gatwick recording 36.4C (97.5F)[79] on 19 July 2006, just 0.2 °C (32.4 °F) and 0.1 °C (32.2 °F) lower, respectively, than the UK monthly record for that day set atWisley, 20 miles (32 km) to the west. The overall maximum stands at 36.5 °C (97.7 °F)[80] at Charlwood, set on 10 August 2003. The absolute record for Gatwick Airport is 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) Before this, the highest temperature recorded there was 35.6 °C (96.1 °F) also in August 2003.[81] In the period 1971–2000 the maximum temperature was 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or higher on 15.9 days of the year[82] on average, and the warmest day typically rose to 29.4 °C (84.9 °F).[83]
The overall minimum for Gatwick Airport for the period from 1960 was −16.7 °C (1.9 °F), set in January 1963. More recently, Charlwood fell to −11.2 °C (11.8 °F),[84] and Gatwick to −11.1 °C (12.0 °F),[85] on 20 December 2010. Typically the coldest night at Gatwick will fall to −8.9 °C (16.0 °F).[86] Across the period 1971–2000, air frost was recorded on 58.2 nights per year at Gatwick on average,[87] and 1 millimetre (0.039 in) of rain or more fell on 116.7 days of the year on average.[88]
| Climate data for Gatwick, elevation 62 metres (203 ft), 1971–2000, Sunshine 1961–1990, extremes 1960–date | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.0 (57.2) | 17.0 (62.6) | 22.2 (72.0) | 24.5 (76.1) | 30.0 (86.0) | 33.8 (92.8) | 36.4 (97.5) | 35.6 (96.1) | 31.6 (88.9) | 24.7 (76.5) | 18.3 (64.9) | 15.2 (59.4) | 36.4 (97.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.3 (45.1) | 7.6 (45.7) | 10.4 (50.7) | 12.8 (55.0) | 16.7 (62.1) | 19.5 (67.1) | 22.2 (72.0) | 22.1 (71.8) | 18.9 (66.0) | 14.8 (58.6) | 10.5 (50.9) | 8.2 (46.8) | 14.3 (57.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) | 0.8 (33.4) | 2.3 (36.1) | 3.7 (38.7) | 6.8 (44.2) | 9.6 (49.3) | 11.9 (53.4) | 11.5 (52.7) | 9.2 (48.6) | 6.5 (43.7) | 3.2 (37.8) | 2.0 (35.6) | 5.8 (42.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −16.7 (1.9) | −14.5 (5.9) | −11.3 (11.7) | −5.7 (21.7) | −4 (25) | −1.6 (29.1) | 2.8 (37.0) | 1.6 (34.9) | −0.7 (30.7) | −4.7 (23.5) | −8.6 (16.5) | −12 (10) | −16.7 (1.9) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 83.85 (3.30) | 51.84 (2.04) | 59.89 (2.36) | 50.84 (2.00) | 49.30 (1.94) | 58.80 (2.31) | 42.36 (1.67) | 52.66 (2.07) | 65.29 (2.57) | 82.14 (3.23) | 78.86 (3.10) | 84.36 (3.32) | 746.97 (29.41) |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 52.4 | 71.3 | 113.4 | 153.0 | 204.3 | 204.3 | 204.5 | 195.3 | 148.1 | 110.5 | 69.3 | 47.8 | 1,574.2 |
| Source 1: YR.NO[89] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: NOAA[90] | |||||||||||||
There are 14 residential neighbourhoods,[91] each with a variety of housing types: terraced, semi-detached and detached houses, low-rise flats and bungalows. There are no residential tower blocks, apart from the eight-storey Milton Mount flats at the north end of Pound Hill.[92] Many houses have their own gardens and are set back from roads. The hub of each neighbourhood is a shopping parade, community centre and church, and each has a school and recreational open spaces as well.[44]Crawley Development Corporation's intention was for neighbourhood shops to cater only to basic needs, and for the town centre to be used for most shopping requirements. The number of shop units provided in the neighbourhood parades reflected this: despite the master plan making provision for at least 20 shops in each neighbourhood,[93] the number actually built ranged from 19 in the outlyingLangley Green neighbourhood to just seven inWest Green, close to the town centre.[41]
Population figures are now calculated by ward, and not all wards are coterminous with their neighbourhood. In 2007, the last year for which population figures by neighbourhood are available, the most populous neighbourhoods—and the only two with more than 10,000 residents—were Pound Hill (14,716) and Broadfield (12,666). Northgate and West Green had 4,407 and 4,404 residents respectively; the populations of the other neighbourhoods varied between approximately 5,000 and 9,000.[94]
Each of the 14 residential neighbourhoods is identified by a colour, which is shown on street name signs in a standard format throughout the town: below the street name, the neighbourhood name is shown in white text on a coloured background.[95]
| Number on map | Name | Colour | Construction commenced[44] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Langley Green | Grey | 1952 |
| 2 | Northgate | Dark green | 1951 |
| 3 | Pound Hill | Orange | 1953 |
| 4 | Maidenbower | Blue | 1987 |
| 5 | Furnace Green | Light green | 1960 |
| 6 | Tilgate | Red | 1955 |
| 7 | Broadfield | Sky blue | 1969 |
| 8 | Bewbush | Light brown | 1975 |
| 9 | Ifield | Purple | 1953 |
| 10 | West Green | Dark blue | 1949 |
| 11 | Gossops Green | Maroon | 1956 |
| 12 | Southgate | Brown | 1955 |
| 13 | Three Bridges | Yellow | 1952 |
| 14 | Forge Wood | Pink | 2014 |
There are areas which are not defined as neighbourhoods but which are closely associated with Crawley:
Neighbouring areas | |
|---|---|
| Year | Population[34] |
|---|---|
| 1901 | 4,433 |
| 1921 | 5,437 |
| 1941 | 7,090 |
| 1961 | 25,550 |
| 1981 | 87,865 |
| 2001 | 99,744 |
| 2011 | 106,597 |
| 2021 | 118,493 |
The growth in population of the new town (around 1,000% between 1951 and 2001[34]) has outstripped that of most similar-sized settlements. For example, in the same period, the population of the neighbouring district ofHorsham grew by just 99%.[107] At that time the population was 99,744; this increased to 106,597 by the 2011 census.[108] and to 118,493 in 2021[109] (out of a total population of 882,674 in West Sussex).[110] White people made up 73.4% of the population in Crawley in 2021, of those 61.8% identified asWhite British,[111] a decrease from 84.5% in 2001,[112] while those who identified as "Other White" were 10.5%. Asians made up 15.4% of the population, withIndians andPakistanis making up 6.2% and 5.2% of the population respectively, whileSri Lankans (mostly ofTamildescent/background) make up the majority of "Other Asian" write-ins.[113]
Those who recorded their main language asEnglish made up 84.3% of the population.[114] Other languages wereRomanian (2.1%),Polish (1.7%),Portuguese (1.4%),Tamil (1.3),Gujarati (1.1%) andHindustani (Hindi/Urdu) (1.1%). The town has a Tamil learning centre which was established in 2006.[115] ManyChagossians expelled from theChagos Archipelago in theIndian Ocean settled in Crawley in the 1960s and 1970s, and it was reported in 2016 that the town'sChagossian community numbered approximately 3,000 people.[116] Former Crawley MPHenry Smith stated that Crawley "is home to perhaps the largestChagossian population in the world".[117]
The town has a population density of around 2,635 persons per square kilometre,[118] making it the second most densely populated district inWest Sussex, afterWorthing. In 2021, around 28.6% were in managerial, administrative or professional occupations,[119] although this varied by ward, with just 19.5% inBroadfield West, compared to 45.7% inMaidenbower. The proportion of people in the town with higher education qualifications is lower than the national average. Around 27.5% have a qualification atlevel 4 or above, compared to 33.9% nationally.[120]
At the 2021 census the largest religious affiliation wasChristianity at 42.6%, followed by those with no religion at 35.1%,Islam at 9.7%,Hinduism at 5.1%,Sikhism at 0.7%,Buddhism at 0.4%,Judaism at 0.1% and any other religion at 0.5%.[121]
Like the rest of Sussex, Crawley'sChurch of England churches fall within theDiocese of Chichester. These churches includeSt John the Baptist's Church's in Crawley town centre andSt Margaret's Church, both of which date from the 13th century.[122][123] Parts ofSt Nicholas Church in Worth date to the 10th century.[124]Ifield Friends Meeting House dates from 1676 and is one of the oldest purpose-builtQuaker meeting houses in the world.[125][126]
Crawley is home to threemosques.[127][128] AGurjar Hindu community became established in Crawley in 1968 and opened amandir (temple) and community centre in a building in West Green in 1998.[129][130] A Hindu temple in Ifield opened in 2010,[131] the largest such temple inSouth East England, at 230 m2 (2,500 sq ft), with a 1,216 m2 (13,090 sq ft)community centre, offices, gardens and sports facilities.[132]
| Job | Number | % |
|---|---|---|
| Total employee jobs | 79,700 | — |
| Full-time | 58,100 | 72.9% |
| Part-time | 21,600 | 27.1% |
| Manufacturing | 7,500 | 9.4% |
| Construction | 1,800 | 2.2% |
| Services | 70,100 | 87.9% |
| Distribution, hotels & restaurants | 19,600 | 24.6% |
| Transport & communications | 23,900 | 30.0% |
| Finance, IT, other business activities | 15,400 | 19.3% |
| Public admin, education & health | 9,600 | 12.1% |
| Other services | 1,600 | 2.0% |
| Tourism-related | 6,600 | 8.3% |
Crawley traded as a market town. TheDevelopment Corporation intended to develop it as a centre for manufacturing and light engineering, with an industrial zone.[93] The rapid growth of Gatwick Airport provided opportunities for businesses in the aviation, transport, warehousing and distribution industries. The significance of the airport to local employment and enterprise was reflected by the formation of the Gatwick Diamond partnership. This venture, supported by local businesses, local government andSEEDA, South East England'sRegional Development Agency, aims to maintain and improve the Crawley and Gatwick area's status as a region of national and international economic importance.[134]
Since the Second World War, unemployment in Crawley has been low: the rate was 1.47% of the working-age population in 2003.[135] During the boom of the 1980s the town boasted the lowest level of unemployment in the UK.[136] Continuous growth and investment have made Crawley one of the most important business and employment centres in theSouth East England region.[4]
In April 2020, theCentre for Citiesthinktank identified Crawley as the place inBritain at the highest risk of widespread job losses due to theCOVID-19 recession; classing 56% of jobs in the town as either vulnerable or very vulnerable of beingfurloughed or lost.[137]
Crawley was already a modest industrial centre by the end of the Second World War. Building was an important trade: 800 people were employed by building and joinery firms, and two—Longley's and Cook's—were large enough to have their own factories.[138] In 1949, 1,529 people worked in manufacturing: the main industries were light andprecision engineering and aircraft repair. Many of the jobs in these industries were highly skilled.[93][138]
Industrial development had to take place relatively soon after the new town was established because part of the corporation's remit was to move people and jobs out of an overcrowded and war-damaged London. Industrial jobs were needed as well as houses and shops to create a balanced community where people could settle.[139] The Development Corporation wanted the new town to support a large and mixed industrial base, with factories and other buildings based in a single zone rather than spread throughout the town. A 267-acre (108 ha)[139] site in the northeastern part of the development area was chosen. Its advantages included flat land with no existing development; proximity to the London–Brighton railway line, the A23 and the planned M23; space for railway sidings (which were eventually built on a much smaller scale than envisaged); and an adjacent 44-acre (18 ha) site reserved for future expansion, on the other side of the railway line (again, not used for this purpose in the end).Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) opened the first part of the industrial area on 25 January 1950;[18] its main road was named Manor Royal, and this name eventually came to refer to the whole estate.[93]
The Corporation stipulated that severalmanufacturing industries should be developed, rather than allowing one sector or firm to dominate. It did not seek to attract companies by offering financial or other incentives; instead, it set out to create the ideal conditions for industrial development to arise naturally, by providing large plots of land with room for expansion, allowing firms to build their own premises or rent ready-made buildings, and constructing a wide range of building types and sizes.[93][140]
Despite the lack of direct incentives, many firms applied to move to the Manor Royal estate: it was considered such an attractive place to relocate to that the Development Corporation was able to choose between applicants to achieve the ideal mix of firms, and little advertising or promotion had to be undertaken.[140] One year after Manor Royal was opened, eighteen firms were trading there, including four with more than 100 employees and one with more than 1,000.[93] By 1964, businesses which had moved to the town since 1950 employed 16,000 people; the master plan had anticipated between 8,000 and 8,500. In 1978 there were 105 such firms, employing nearly 20,000 people.[93][141]
Thales Group opened a new manufacturing and office complex in Crawley in 2009. The site consolidated manufacturing and offices in the Crawley area and the south-east of England.[142]
While most of the jobs created in the new town's early years were in manufacturing, thetertiary sector developed strongly from the 1960s. TheManor Royal estate, with its space, proximity to Gatwick Airport and good transport links, attracted airport-related services such as logistics, catering, distribution and warehousing; and the corporation and private companies built offices throughout the town. Office floorspace in the town increased from 55,000 square feet (5,100 m2) in 1965 to a conservative estimate of 453,000 square feet (42,100 m2) in 1984.[93] Major schemes during that period included premises for theWestminster Bank,British Caledonian andThe Office of the Paymaster-General.[93] The five-storey Overline House above the railway station, completed in 1968, is used by Crawley's NHSprimary care trust and various other companies.[143][144]
Companies headquartered in Crawley includeDoosan Babcock Energy,[145]WesternGeco,[146]Virgin Atlantic,[147] Virgin Atlantic's associated travel agencyVirgin Holidays,William Reed Business Media,[148]Dualit[149] and the Office of the Paymaster-General.[93] Danish companyNovo Nordisk, which manufactures much of the world'sinsulin supply, has its UK headquarters at the Broadfield Business Park,[150] andBDO Global has an office in Crawley.[151] The UK headquarters ofNestlé is in the Manor Royal area of Crawley.[152] In addition the registered offices of TUI UK andThomson Airways are located in Crawley.[153][154]
British Airways took overBritish Caledonian's former headquarters near the Manor Royal estate, renamed it "Astral Towers" and based its British Airways Holidays andAir Miles divisions there.[155][156] Other companies formerly headquartered in Crawley includeAstraeus Airlines,[157]British United Airways,[158]CityFlyer Express,[159]CP Ships,[160]First Choice Airways,[161]GB Airways,[162]Laker Airways,[163]Tradewinds Airways,[164] andAir Europe.[165]
Crawley has numerous hotels, includingThe George Hotel, dated to 1615. It is reputedly haunted.[166]
.jpg)
.JPG)
Even before the new town was planned, Crawley was a retail centre for the surrounding area: there were 177 shops in the town in 1948,[138] 99 of which were on the High Street.[93] Early new town residents relied on these shopping facilities until the Corporation implemented the master plan's designs for a new shopping area on the mostly undeveloped land east of the High Street and north of the railway line.[139] The Broadwalk and its 23 shops were built in 1954, followed by the Queen's Square complex and surrounding streets in the mid-1950s.[44] Queen's Square, a pedestrianised plaza surrounded by large shops and linked to the High Street by The Broadwalk, was officially opened in 1958 by Queen Elizabeth II.[167] The town centre was completed by 1960, by which time Crawley was already recognised as an important regional, rather than merely local, shopping centre.[93]
In the 1960s and 1970s, large branches ofTesco,Sainsbury's andMarks & Spencer were opened (the Tesco superstore was the largest in Britain at the time). The shopping area was also expanded southeastwards from Queen's Square: although the original plans of 1975 were not implemented fully, several large shop units were built and a new pedestrianised link—The Martlets—was provided between Queen's Square and Haslett Avenue, the main road to Three Bridges.[93] The remaining land between this area and the railway line was sold for private development by 1982;[93] in 1992 a 450,000 square feet (41,800 m2)[168] shopping centre named County Mall[note 1] was opened there.[170] As originally designed, the mall had 91[171] shops and 1,800 parking spaces, and was anchored by a 1,250,000-square-foot (116,100 m2)Owen Owen department store and a 1,250,000-square-foot (116,100 m2)British Home Stores outlet.[172] Other major retailers includedThe Entertainer,Boots,WHSmith andSuperdry as well as over 80 smaller outlets.[173] The town's main bus station was redesigned[169] and roads including the main A2220 Haslett Avenue were rerouted.[174]
A regeneration strategy for the town centre, "Centre Vision 2000", was produced in 1993.[175] Changes brought about by the scheme included 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of additional retail space in Queen's Square and The Martlets, and a mixed-use development at the southern end of the High Street on land formerly occupied by Robinson Road (which was demolished) and Spencers Road (shortened and severed at one end). An ASDA superstore, opened in September 2003, forms the centrepiece.[176] Robinson Road, previously named Church Road, had been at the heart of the old Crawley: a century before its demolition, its buildings included two chapels, a school, a hospital and a post office.[177]
Policing in Crawley is provided bySussex Police; theBritish Transport Police are responsible for the rail network. The borough is the police headquarters for the West Sussex division,[178] and is itself divided into three areas for the purposes of neighbourhood policing: Crawley East, Crawley West, and Crawley Town Centre.[179] A separate division covers Gatwick Airport.[178] There is a police station in the town centre; it is open 24 hours a day, and the front desk is staffed for 16 hours each day except Christmas Day.[180]Statutory emergency fire and rescue services are provided by theWest Sussex Fire and Rescue Service which operates a fire station in the town centre.[181] TheSouth East Coast Ambulance Service is responsible for ambulance and paramedic services.[182]
Crawley Hospital in West Green is operated by West SussexPrimary Care Trust. Some services are provided by the Surrey and Sussex HealthcareNHS Trust, including a 24-hour Urgent Treatment Centre for semi-life-threatening injuries.[183] The Surrey and Sussex was judged as "weak" by theHealthcare Commission in 2008,[184] however in 2015 both the hospital[185] and the Surrey and Sussex Trust[186] were rated good by theCare Quality Commission.
Thames Water is responsible for all waste water and sewerage provision. Residents in most parts of Crawley receive their drinking water fromSouthern Water; areas in the north of the town around Gatwick Airport are provided by Sutton & East Surrey Water; and South East Water supplies Maidenbower.[187]
UK Power Networks is thedistribution network operator responsible for electricity.[188] Gas is supplied bySouthern Gas Networks who own and manage the South East Local Distribution Zone.[189]
The provision of public services was made in co-operation with the local authorities as the town grew in the 1950s and 1960s. They oversaw the opening of a fire station in 1958, the telephone exchange, police station and town centre health clinic in 1961 and an ambulance station in 1963. Plans for a new hospital on land at The Hawth were abandoned, however, and the existing hospital in West Green was redeveloped instead.[190] Gas was piped from Croydon, 20 miles (32 km) away, and a gasworks at Redhill, while the town's water supply came from theWeir Wood reservoir south of East Grinstead and another atPease Pottage.[39][191]
In December 2008, a new three-storey library was opened in new buildings at Southgate Avenue, replacing the considerably undersized establishment formerly at County Buildings.[192]
TheCivil Aviation Authority Regulation Safety Group is in the Aviation House inGatwick Airport in Crawley.[193]
Crawley's development as a market town was helped by its location on the London–Brighton turnpike. The area was joined to therailway network in the mid-19th century; and since the creation of the new town, there have been major road upgrades (including a motorway link), aguided bus transit system and the establishment of an airport which has become one of Britain's largest and busiest.
The London–Brighton turnpike ran through the centre of Crawley, forming the High Street and Station Road. When Britain's major roads were classified by the British government's Ministry of Transport between 1919 and 1923, it was given the numberA23.[194] It was bypassed by a new dual carriageway in 1938[195] (which forms the A23's current route through the town), and then later to the east side of the town by theM23 motorway, which was opened in 1975. This connects London's orbital motorway, theM25, to the A23 atPease Pottage, at the southern edge of Crawley's built-up area. The original single-carriageway A23 became the A2219. The M23 has junctions in the Crawley area at the A2011/A264 (Junction 10) and Maidenbower (area of Crawley) (Junction 10A). The end of the motorway at Pease Pottage is Junction 11. The A2011, another dual-carriageway, joins the A23 in West Green and provides a link, via the A2004, to the town centre.[196]
The main east–west links are provided by the A2220, which follows the former route of the A264 through the town, linking the A23 directly to the A264 atCopthorne, from where it then runs toEast Grinstead. The A264 also connects Crawley toHorsham to the south-west.[196]
.JPG)
The first railway line in the area was theBrighton Main Line, which opened as far asHaywards Heath on 12 July 1841 and reached Brighton on 21 September 1841. It ran through Three Bridges, which was then a small village east of Crawley, anda station was built to serve it.[197]
A line toHorsham, now part of theArun Valley Line, was opened on 14 February 1848.A station was provided next to Crawley High Street from that date.[198] A new station was constructed slightly to the east, in conjunction with the Overline House commercial development, and replaced the original station which closed on 28 July 1968. The ticket office and Up (London-bound) platform waiting areas form the ground floor of the office building.[199]
The urban area of Crawley is served by a total of three rail stations includingIfield railway station. Due to Crawley's expansion this station is now surrounded by the town's western areas. Opened asLyons Crossing Halt on 1 June 1907 to serve the village of Ifield, it was soon renamedIfield Halt, dropping the "Halt" suffix in 1930.[200]
Regular train services run from Crawley, and also Ifield, toLondon Victoria andLondon Bridge stations,Gatwick Airport,East Croydon,Horsham,Bognor Regis,Chichester,Portsmouth andSouthampton. Three Bridges has directThameslink trains toBedford andBrighton.[201][202]
Crawley was one of several towns where the boundaries ofSouthdown Motor Services andLondon Transport bus services met. In 1958 the companies reached an agreement which allowed them both to provide services in all parts of the town.[203] When theNational Bus Company was formed in 1969, itsLondon Country Bus Services subsidiary took responsibility for many routes, includingGreen Line Coaches cross-London services which operated to distant destinations such asWatford,Luton andAmersham. A coach station was opened by Southdown in 1931 on the A23 at County Oak, near Lowfield Heath: it was a regular stopping point for express coaches between London and towns on the Sussex coast. This traffic started to serve Gatwick when the airport began to grow, however.[203] When the National Bus Company was broken up, local services were provided by the newSouth West division of London Country Bus Services, which later became part of theArriva group.Metrobus acquired these routes from Arriva in March 2001, and is now Crawley's main operator.[204] It provides local services between the neighbourhoods and town centre, and longer-distance routes toHorsham,Redhill,Tunbridge Wells,Worthing andBrighton.[205]
In September 2003 aguided bus service,Fastway, began operating betweenBewbush andGatwick Airport.[206] A second route, from Broadfield to the Langshott area ofHorley, north of Gatwick Airport, was added on 27 August 2005.[207]
Gatwick Airport was licensed as a private airfield in August 1930.[209] It was used during the Second World War as anRAF base, and returned to civil use in 1946. There were proposals to close the airport in the late 1940s, but in 1950 the government announced that it was to be developed as London's second airport.[210] It was closed between 1956 and 1958 for rebuilding.Her Majesty The Queen reopened it on 9 June 1958. A second terminal, the North Terminal, was built in 1988.[211]An agreement existed betweenBAA and West Sussex County Council preventing the building of a second runway before 2019. Nevertheless, consultations were launched in 2002 by theDepartment for Transport, at which proposals for additional facilities and runways were considered. It was agreed that there would be no further expansion at Gatwick unless it became impossible to meet growth targets atLondon Heathrow Airport within existing pollution limits.[212]
TheWorth Way is a 7-mile (11 km) long bridleway that connects Three Bridges with the town of East Grinstead to the east. It opened in July 1979 and follows the trackbed of the formerThree Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central railway line. The section between Three Bridges and the M23 motorway is within the borough.[213] In the north of the borough the 150-mile (240 km)Sussex Border Path runs east–west on a route approximately following Sussex's borders fromThorney Island toRye.[214]
Crawley Town F.C. is Crawley's mainfootball team. Formed in 1896, it moved in 1949 to a ground at Town Mead adjacent to theWest Green playing fields. Demand for land near the town centre led to the club moving in 1997 to the newBroadfield Stadium, now owned by the borough council.[215] As of the 2025–26 season, Crawley Town F.C. are playing inLeague Two, the fourth tier of English football.[216] Since 2018, Broadfield Stadium has also been home toWomen's Super League teamBrighton & Hove Albion.[217]
Three Bridges F.C. play in theIsthmian League South East Division, the eighth tier of English football, while other lower-league clubs includeOakwood F.C. and Ifield Galaxy F.C.Crawley Rugby Club is based in Ifield,[218] and a golf course was constructed in 1982 atTilgate Park.[219] Crawley Hockey Club plays their home matches atHazelwick School,Three Bridges.[220] Cricket has been played in Ifield since 1721, and Ifield Cricket Club was formed in 1804. Three Bridges Cricket Club is a founding member of theSussex Cricket League[221] and in 2018 were promoted back to the Premier Division.[222]
The new town's original leisure centre was in Haslett Avenue in the Three Bridges neighbourhood. Building work started in the early 1960s, and a large swimming pool opened in 1964. The site was extended to include an athletics arena by 1967, and an additional large sports hall was opened by the town mayor, Councillor Ben Clay and Prime MinisterHarold Wilson in 1974.[223] However, the facilities became insufficient for the growing town, even though an annexe was opened in Bewbush in 1984.[224] AthleteZola Budd had been asked to take part in a 1,500-metre race as part of the opening celebrations, but her invitation was withdrawn at short notice because of concerns raised by council members about possible "political connotations and anti-apartheid demonstrators".[225]
In 2005, Crawley Leisure Centre was closed and replaced by a new facility, theK2 Leisure Centre, on the campus ofThomas Bennett Community College near the Broadfield Stadium.[226] Opened to the public on 14 November 2005,[223] and officially byLord Coe on 24 January 2006, the centre includes the only Olympic-sized swimming pool inSouth East England.[227] In March 2008 the centre was named as a training site for the2012 Olympics in London.[228]
Crawley Development Corporation made little provision for the arts in the plans for the new town, and a proposed arts venue in the town centre was never built. Neighbourhood community centres and the Tilgate Forest Recreational Centre were used for some cultural activities,[224] but it was not until 1988 that the town had a dedicated theatre and arts venue, at theHawth Theatre.[229] Crawley's earliest cinema, the Imperial Picture House on Brighton Road, lasted from 1909 until the 1940s; the Embassy Cinema on the High Street (opened in 1938) replaced it.[18][230] A largeCineworld cinema has since opened in the Crawley Leisure Park, which itself also includesten-pin bowling, various restaurants and bars and a fitness centre.[231] The Moka nightclub on Station Way opened in October 2012 and closed in 2019.[232][233]
Crawley is home to No6 detachment of the SussexArmy Cadet Force,[234] a volunteer youth organisation, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, which accepts cadets aged between 12 and 18 years of age.[235]
Each neighbourhood has self-contained recreational areas, and there are other larger parks throughout the town. The Memorial Gardens, on the eastern side of Queen's Square, feature art displays, children's play areas and lawns, and a plaque commemorating those who died in two Second World War bombing incidents in 1943 and 1944.[18] Goffs Park in Southgate covers 50 acres (20 ha), and has lakes, boating ponds, a model railway and many other features.[236]Tilgate Park and Nature Centre has walled gardens, lakes, large areas of woodland with footpaths andbridleways, a golfing area and a collection of animals and birds.[237]
Crawley Museum[238] is based in the town centre. Stone Age and Bronze Age remains discovered in the area are on display, as well as more recent artefacts including parts of Vine Cottage, an old timber-framed building on the High Street which was once home to formerPunch editorMark Lemon and which was demolished when the ASDA development was built.[18]
Crawley has threeGrade I listed buildings (the parish church of St Margaret in Ifield,the parish church of St Nicholas, Worth, and theFriends Meeting House in Langley Lane, Ifield), 12Grade II* listed buildings and 85Grade II listed buildings.[239] The borough council has also awardedlocally listed building status to 58 buildings.[240]
The high street becomes an annual focus of motoring heritage in November as one of the official stops on theLondon to Brighton Veteran Car Run.[241]
.jpg)
Maintained primary and secondary schools were reorganised in 2004 following theLocal Education Authority's decision to change the town'sthree-tier system offirst,middle and secondary schools to a more standard primary/secondary divide.[242] Since the restructuring, Crawley has had 17 primary schools (including twoChurch of England and two Roman Catholic) and four pairs ofinfant andjunior Schools. Most of these were opened in 2004; others changed their status at this date (for example, from a middle to a junior school). Secondary education is provided at one of six secondary schools:
All six of these have asixth form, the newest opening at Oriel High in September 2008.
There is also a primary / secondary School called The Gatwick School, which is a Free School that opened in 2014. It currently has 4 years, R, 1, 7 and 8.[243] The schools at Ifield and Thomas Bennett are also bases for theLocal Authority'sadult education programmes.[244]Pupils withspecial needs are educated at the twospecial schools in the town, each of which covers the full spectrum of needs: Manor Green Primary School and Manor Green College.
Desmond Anderson, based inTilgate converted to Academy status in February 2017 and is now part of the University of Brighton Academies Trust.[245] The Atelier 21 Future School for up to 120 pupils aged 4 to 14 years, based inBroadfield House, opened on 24 August 2020.[246]
Further education is provided byCentral Sussex College. Opened in 1958 as Crawley Technical College,[247] it merged with other local colleges to form the new institute in August 2005.[248] The college also provides higher education courses in partnership with the universities atChichester andSussex. In 2004, a proposal was made for an additional campus of theUniversity of Sussex to be created in Crawley, but as of 2008 no conclusion has been reached.[249]
Crawley has three local newspapers, of which two have a long history in the area. TheCrawley Observer began life in 1881 asSimmins Weekly Advertiser, became theSussex & Surrey Courier and then theCrawley and District Observer, and took its current name in 1983.[250] The newspaper is now owned byJohnston Press.[citation needed] TheCrawley News was first published in 1979, and later took over the operations of the olderCrawley Advertiser which closed in 1982.[224] The newspaper was taken over by theTrinity Mirror group in 2015 as part of the purchase ofLocal World[251] but its last edition was published on 26 October 2016.[252] In September 2008 Johnston Press launched a new weekly broadsheet newspaper called theCrawley Times based on the companies paper produced in Horsham, theWest Sussex County Times.[253]
Crawley is served by the London regional versions ofBBC andITV television from the Crystal Palace or Reigate transmitters. Alternatively the town is also well served byBBC South East andITV Meridian on the Heathfield transmitter andFreesat. This means the town is served by news and television programmes from both London and Tunbridge Wells (where the BBC South East Today studios are situated).[254]
Radio Mercury began broadcasting on 20 October 1984 fromBroadfield House in Broadfield.[255] The station, now owned byGlobal Radio, broadcasts asHeart South from Brighton, with the studios in Kelvin Way in Crawley closed in August 2010.[citation needed] On 1 February 2011, the localGold transmitter on 1521 AM closed and listeners were advised to retune to 1548 AM (Gold London) or 1323 AM (Gold Sussex).[citation needed] Local BBC radio was provided by BBC Radio Sussex from 1983; this became part ofBBC Southern Counties Radio following a merger withBBC Radio Surrey in 1994.[citation needed] From March 2009, BBC Southern Counties Radio becameBBC Sussex on 104.5FM andBBC Surrey on 104FM. Due to the positioning of their transmitters, when broadcasting separately both stations cover Crawley stories.
Crawley istwinned with:
_crop.jpg)
.jpg)
_2018-6-69_Gareth_Southgate.jpg)
[Paragraph] 2.16. Crawley is an area within the two-tier local government system. Crawley Borough Council provides the local services for the borough and West Sussex County Council provide the strategic services.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
