Worthing Borough Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Mayor	Ibsha Choudhury, Labour since 21 May 2024[1]
Leader	Sophie Cox, Labour since 23 July 2024
Chief Executive	Catherine Howe since 2021[2]
Structure
Seats	37 councillors
Political groups	Administration (21)  Labour (21) Opposition (15)  Conservative (11)  Independent (3)  Green (2)
Joint committees	Various joint committees ofAdur and Worthing Councils Greater Brighton City Board
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	2 May 2024
Next election	7 May 2026
Motto
"Ex terra copiam e mari salutem" (Latin for "From the land plenty and from the sea health")
Meeting place
Town Hall, Chapel Road, Worthing, BN11 1HA
Website
www.adur-worthing.gov.uk

Worthing Borough Council is the local authority forWorthing inWest Sussex, England. Worthing is anon-metropolitan district withborough status. It forms the lower tier of local government in Worthing, responsible for local services such as housing, planning, leisure and tourism. The council is currently led by theLabour Party. It is based atWorthing Town Hall.

Worthing was historically ahamlet in theancient parish ofBroadwater. Until 1803 it was administered by the Broadwater parishvestry, in the same way as most rural areas.^[3]

Worthing's first form of urban local government was a body ofimprovement commissioners, established in 1803 with responsibility for street paving and lighting, sewerage and policing.^[4] The first chairman of the commissioners wasTimothy Shelley.^[5] The commissioners' responsibilities were gradually expanded by subsequent Acts of Parliament.^[6][7] The commissioners initially met at hotels in the town until 1835 when they built Worthing's first town hall at the northern end of South Street.^[8][5]

The commissioners were replaced in 1852 when Worthing was made alocal board district.^[9][10] A separate body of improvement commissioners was established in 1865 coveringWest Worthing, which was being developed as a new town in the neighbouring parish ofHeene.^[11]

In 1890 Worthing and West Worthing were merged and incorporated as amunicipal borough called Worthing. The borough was governed by a body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Worthing", generally known as the corporation, town council or borough council. The first mayor was Alfred Cortis.^[12] The borough initially covered the whole of the parish of Heene and the part of the parish of Broadwater which had been the old local board district. The part of Broadwater within the borough became a separate parish called Worthing in 1894, which was enlarged to cover the whole borough in 1902. The borough was enlarged on several occasions, notably in 1902 whenWest Tarring and the residual parish of Broadwater were abolished, and in 1929 when the borough absorbedGoring-by-Sea andDurrington.^[3]

In 1910Ellen Chapman became Worthing's first woman councillor and one of the first women councillors in the UK. She subsequently became the first female mayor of Worthing in 1920.^[12]

TheLabour Party first put up candidates in Worthing in 1919, and its first councillor, Charles Barber, was elected in 1922.^[13] Worthing was the first town in the UK to establish a branch of theMiddle Class Union, which in Worthing was largely made up of retired army personnel. An MCU candidate, Colonel Connolly, was elected in 1921. The elections of Connolly and Barber brought about an end to the tradition in Worthing of non-party participation in elections.^[14]

In 1933, Charles Bentinck Budd, who had been elected as anindependent councillor to both Worthing Borough Council and West Sussex County Council in 1930, joined theBritish Union of Fascists. He was subsequently re-elected to the borough council in the 1933 elections, and the national press reported that Worthing was the first town in the country to elect a fascist councillor.^[15][16] Over the next few months tensions rose, culminating on 9 October 1934 whenanti-fascist protesters met outside a blackshirt rally at thePavilion Theatre, in what became known as theBattle of South Street.^[17]

Between 1933 and 1939 the Worthing Corporation purchased 1,000 acres (405 ha) of downland to the north of Worthing, which forms theWorthing Downland Estate.^[18] In 1939 the Worthing Corporation purchased 72 acres (29 ha) acres of land at High Salvington. This land adjoined another 59 acres (24 ha) acres that were purchased around the same time.^[19]

Worthing was reformed to become anon-metropolitan district in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972. It kept the same boundaries, but there were changes to its responsibilities.^[20] Worthing retained its borough status, allowing the chair of the reformed council to take the title of mayor, continuing Worthing's series of mayors dating back to 1890.^[8][21]

Since 2008 Worthing Borough Council has worked in partnership withAdur District Council, asAdur and Worthing Councils, sharing a joint management structure, with a single Chief Executive.^[22] In 2014 the council also became a constituent member of theGreater Brighton City Region.^[23]

On 18 July 2019,^[24] Worthing Borough Council declared aclimate emergency, which aims to see the council becomecarbon-neutral by 2030.^[25]

Worthing Borough Council providesdistrict-level services.County-level services are provided byWest Sussex County Council. There are nocivil parishes in the borough, which has been anunparished area since 1974.^[26][27]

The council has been underLabour majority control since 2022.^[28]

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:^[29][30]

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Worthing. Political leadership is instead provided by theleader of the council. The leaders since 2002 have been:

Following the2024 election, and three Labour Worthing councillors resigning from the party^[42] three days later, plus 2 by-elections Since, in Marine Ward and Heene ward where the Conservatives made gains from the Labour Party, the composition of the council is:

The three independents sit as the "Worthing Community Independents" group. The next election is due 7 May 2026.^[43]

Since the last boundary changes in 2004 the council has comprised 37councillors representing 13wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with roughly a third of the council being elected each time for a four-year term of office.West Sussex County Council elections are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections.^[44]

The council is based atWorthing Town Hall on Chapel Road. The building was purpose-built for the council and opened in 1933.^[45][46]

The borough'scoat of arms includes three silver mackerel, aHorn of Plenty overflowing with corn and fruit on a cloth of gold, and the figure of a woman, considered likely to beHygieia, the ancient Greek goddess of health, holding a snake. The images represent the health given from the seas, the fullness and riches gained from the earth and the power of healing. Worthing'smotto is theLatinEx terra copiam e mari salutem, which translates as 'From the land plenty and from the sea health'. The design was created in 1890 shortly after the town's incorporation as a borough, to serve as itsofficial seal.^[47] The design was formally granted as a coat of arms by theCollege of Arms in 1919.^[48][49]

• Adur & Worthing Councils
• Worthing Borough Council elections
• History of local government in Sussex
• West Sussex County Council
• Worthing Rural District

• Worthing
• Local authorities in West Sussex
• Non-metropolitan district councils of England

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2018