Mid Sussex District | |
|---|---|
 Muster Green atHaywards Heath, the district's largest town. | |
 Mid Sussex shown within West Sussex | |
| 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 John Milne (British politician) Alison Bennett |
| Area | |
• Total | 128.97 sq mi (334.02 km2) |
| • Rank | 111th(of 296) |
| Population (2024) | |
• Total | 161,755 |
| • Rank | 135th(of 296) |
| • Density | 1,254.2/sq mi (484.27/km2) |
| Ethnicity(2021) | |
| • Ethnic groups | |
| Religion(2021) | |
| • Religion | List
|
| Time zone | UTC0 (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
Mid Sussex is alocal government district inWest Sussex, England. The largest town isHaywards Heath, where the council is based. The district also contains the towns ofBurgess Hill andEast Grinstead plus surrounding rural areas, including many villages. The district includes part of theSouth Downs National Park and part of the designatedArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty ofHigh Weald, including sections ofAshdown Forest. The district contains most headwaters of theRiver Ouse. Its largest body of water isArdingly reservoir which is used by watersports clubs. At the2021 census the district had a population of 152,949.
The neighbouring districts areCrawley,Horsham,Brighton and Hove,Lewes,Wealden andTandridge.
The name "Mid Sussex" was occasionally used for various parts of centralSussex prior to 1974, including as an alternative name for theLewes constituency created under theRedistribution of Seats Act 1885, and as a joint water district established in 1907.[2]
The modern district was formed on 1 April 1974 under theLocal 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:[3][4]
The new district was named Mid Sussex, reflecting its position within the historic county.[5] All of the areas which made up Mid Sussex were inEast Sussex prior to 1974; as part of the reforms that year they were transferred toWest 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 andGatwick Airport under the supervision of one county council.[6]
Mid Sussex District Council | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Kathryn Hall since 2010[8] | |
| 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 providesdistrict-level services.County-level services are provided byWest Sussex County Council.[9] The whole district is also covered bycivil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.[10]
In the parts of the district within the South Downs National Park,town planning is the responsibility of theSouth Downs National Park Authority. The district council appoints one of its councillors to serve on the 27-person National Park Authority.[11]
The council has been underno overall control since the2023 election, being run by a minority administration of theLiberal Democrats and some of the independent councillors, led by Liberal Democrat councillor Robert Eggleston.[12]
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:[13]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| No overall control | 1974–1979 | |
| Conservative | 1979–1995 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 1995–1999 | |
| Conservative | 1999–2023 | |
| No overall control | 2023–present | |
Theleaders of the council since 2006 have been:
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christine Field[14] | Conservative | 17 May 2006 | ||
| Patrick Shanahan[14][15] | Conservative | 17 May 2006 | May 2007 | |
| Gordon Marples[16][17] | Conservative | 16 May 2007 | 31 Oct 2009 | |
| Garry Wall[17][18] | Conservative | 18 Nov 2009 | May 2019 | |
| Jonathan Ash-Edwards[19][20] | Conservative | 22 May 2019 | May 2023 | |
| Robert Eggleston[21][22] | Liberal Democrats | 24 May 2023 | ||
Following the2023 election, the composition of the council was:[23]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | 20 | |
| Conservative | 18 | |
| Independent | 5 | |
| Green | 4 | |
| Labour | 1 | |
| Total | 48 | |
Four of the five independent councillors sit together as the "Independent Group", which forms the council's administration with the Liberal Democrats.[24][12] The next election is due in 2027.[25]
Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 48councillors representing 27wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.[26]
The district straddles three parliamentary constituencies; most of the district is in theMid Sussex constituency, but north-western parts of the district are in theHorsham constituency and southern parts of the district are in theArundel and South Downs constituency.[10]
The council is based at Oaklands, inHaywards 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.[27]
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 ofNewtimber has aparish meeting rather than a parish council.[28] Hassocks is apost 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 itsfast railway services from the area with the highest such proportion coveringLondon Bridge station, theLondon 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.[29]
In terms of television, Mid Sussex is served byBBC South East andITV Meridian with television signals received from theHeathfield TV transmitter.[30] Northern parts of the district aroundEast Grinstead can also receiveBBC London andITV London from theCrystal Palace TV transmitter.[31]
Radio stations for the area are:
Local newspapers are theMid Sussex Times and The Sussex Newspaper.
51°1′14.4″N0°8′14.38″W / 51.020667°N 0.1373278°W /51.020667; -0.1373278
