Adur District

Adur is a local government district in West Sussex, England. It is named after the River Adur which flows through the area. The council is based in the town of Shoreham-by-Sea, and the district also contains the town of Southwick, the large village of Lancing and a modest rural hinterland inland. The district had a population of 64,626 at the 2021 census.

Sompting, Lancing, Shoreham and Southwick form a strip of settlements on the south coast, between Worthing and Brighton collectively known as the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. Shoreham Airport is located in the Adur district, west of Shoreham-by-Sea and just east of Lancing.

The Adur Festival is held in the first two weeks of June every year.

The district lies on the south coast, and parts of its area lie within the South Downs National Park. The neighbouring districts are Worthing, Arun, Horsham and Brighton and Hove.

History
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district covered the whole area of two former districts and parts of a third, which were all abolished at the same time: The new district was named Adur after the River Adur which flows through the area and reaches the sea at Shoreham.
 * Shoreham-by-Sea Urban District
 * Southwick Urban District
 * Worthing Rural District (parishes of Coombes, Lancing and Sompting only, rest went to Arun)

Since 2008 Adur District Council has worked in partnership with neighbouring Worthing Borough Council, as Adur and Worthing Councils, sharing a joint management structure, with a single chief executive.

Governance
Adur District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by West Sussex County Council. Parts of the district are covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government for their areas.

Political control
In 2024, Labour won overall control of the council. The council had been under Conservative majority control since 2002.

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:

Leadership
The leader of the council since 2000 has been:

Composition
Following the 2024 election the composition of the council was:

Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2004 the council has comprised 29 councillors representing 14 wards, with each ward electing two councillors except Widewater, which elects three. Elections are held in alternate years for roughly half the council each time to serve a four year term of office.

Premises
The council is based at the Shoreham Centre on Pond Road, which was built in the 1970s as a community centre but was substantially extended in 2015 to also serve as the council's meeting place and offices. Prior to 2015 the council was based at the Civic Centre on Ham Road, Shoreham, which was subsequently demolished.



Towns and parishes
There are three civil parishes in the district, being Coombes, Lancing, and Sompting. Coombes has a parish meeting rather than a parish council due to its low population. The rest of the district, corresponding to the area of the pre-1974 urban districts of Shoreham-by-Sea and Southwick, is an unparished area.

Sports clubs

 * Lancing F.C.
 * Shoreham F.C.
 * Southwick F.C.
 * Lancing Utd F.C.

Media
In terms of television, Adur is served by BBC South East and ITV Meridian broadcasting from the Whitehawk Hill transmitter.

Radio stations for the area are BBC Radio Sussex, Heart South, Capital Brighton, More Radio Worthing and Seaside Hospital Radio that broadcast from the Southlands Hospital in Shoreham.

Local newspapers are the Shoreham Herald, West Sussex Gazette and The Argus.

Twin towns
Adur is twinned with
 * 🇵🇱 Żywiec, Poland
 * 🇫🇷 Riom, France

Climate
Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).