Horsham District

Horsham is a local government district in West Sussex, England. It is named after the town of Horsham, which is its largest settlement and where the council is based. The district also includes the surrounding rural area and contains many villages, the largest of which are Southwater and Billingshurst. The district includes part of the South Downs National Park and part of the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of High Weald. At the 2021 census the district had a population of 147,487.

The neighbouring districts are Crawley, Mid Sussex, Brighton and Hove, Adur, Arun, Chichester, Waverley and Mole Valley.

History
Horsham itself had been an ancient borough from the thirteenth century, but lost its borough status in the 1830s. The town had been made a local government district in 1875, which became Horsham Urban District in 1894.

The modern district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 as one of seven districts within West Sussex. The new district covered the whole area of three former districts, which were all abolished at the same time: The new district was named Horsham, after its largest settlement.
 * Chanctonbury Rural District
 * Horsham Rural District
 * Horsham Urban District

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

In the parts of the district within the South Downs National Park, town planning is the responsibility of the South Downs National Park Authority. The district council appoints one of its councillors to serve on the 27-person National Park Authority.

Political control
The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since the 2023 election.

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 leaders of the council since 2001 have been:

Composition
Following the 2023 election and two by-elections in February 2024 the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in 2027.

Elections


Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 48 councillors representing 22 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

Premises
The council is based at Parkside on Chart Way in Horsham, a modern office building shared with West Sussex County Council; the district council moved into the building in 2015. Previously the council was based across several buildings, including Park House, an eighteenth century house on North Street which had served as the headquarters of the old Horsham Urban District Council since 1928.

Towns and parishes
The central part of the Horsham urban area, roughly corresponding to the pre-1974 Horsham Urban District, is an unparished area. The rest of the district is divided into civil parishes. None of the parishes has been formally designated a town by its parish council, although Billingshurst, Henfield, Pulborough and Steyning are post towns.

Within the Horsham District are the following civil parishes:

Education
The Rikkyo School in England, a Japanese boarding school, is located in the Rudgwick community in Horsham District.