West Sussex County Council

West Sussex County Council is the upper tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex in England.

The county also contains seven district and borough councils, and 158 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. The county council has 70 elected councillors. The chief executive and directors are responsible for the day-to-day running of the council.

Since 1997, West Sussex County Council has been controlled by the Conservative Party.

History
Sussex was historically divided into six sub-divisions known as rapes. From the 12th century the practice arose of holding the quarter sessions separately for the three eastern rapes and the three western rapes, with the courts for the western rapes of Arundel, Bramber and Chichester being held at Chichester. This position was formalised by the County of Sussex Act 1865, with the eastern and western divisions of Sussex treated as separate counties for the purposes of taxation, law enforcement, asylums and highways, whilst still deemed to be one county for the purposes of lieutenancy, militia and the coroner.

Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 to take over the administrative business of the quarter sessions. The eastern and western divisions of Sussex therefore became the administrative counties of East Sussex and West Sussex with separate county councils. The two administrative counties were still treated as one county for certain ceremonial purposes, notably sharing the Lord Lieutenant of Sussex and Sheriff of Sussex.

The first elections were held in January 1889 and West Sussex County Council formally came into its powers on 1 April 1889. It held its first official meeting on 4 April 1889 at the Assembly Rooms in the Council House, Chichester. Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond, a Conservative peer, was appointed the first chairman of the council.

Local government was reformed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, which made West Sussex a non-metropolitan county. As part of the 1974 reforms it gained the Mid Sussex area (including Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath) from East Sussex and Gatwick Airport from Surrey. East Sussex and West Sussex also became separate ceremonial counties, with West Sussex gaining its own Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff. The lower tier of local government was rearranged at the same time, with the county being divided into seven non-metropolitan districts.

In 2019, the council's Children Services department was described in a Children's Commissioner's report as "clearly failing across all domains in the strongest terms" leading to the resignation of then council leader Louise Goldsmith.

Governance
West Sussex County Council provides county-level services, such as education, transport, strategic planning, emergency services, social services, public safety, the fire service and waste disposal. District-level services are provided by the area's seven district councils:
 * Adur District Council
 * Arun District Council
 * Chichester District Council
 * Crawley Borough Council
 * Horsham District Council
 * Mid Sussex District Council
 * Worthing Borough Council

Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

Political control
The council has been under Conservative majority control since 1997.

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:

Leadership
The leaders of the council since 1985 have been:

Composition
Following the 2021 election and by-elections up to September 2022, the composition of the council was:

The Green, Local Alliance and independent councillors sit together as the "Green and Independent Alliance" group. The next election is due in 2025.

Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2017 the county has been divided into 70 electoral divisions, each electing one councillor. Elections are held every four years.

Premises
The council is based at County Hall, Chichester, which was purpose-built for the council between 1933 and 1936, with various extensions having been added to the complex since. It also has offices in Horsham and smaller area offices or customer service centres in Worthing, Bognor Regis and Crawley.

Having held its first few meetings at the Council House in Chichester, the council resolved in November 1889 to hold meetings alternately there and at Horsham Town Hall. This pattern continued until 1916 when the council bought a large seventeenth century house called Wren House (since renamed Edes House) on West Street in Chichester, converting it to be their meeting place and main offices. Wren House was purchased with a view to later building a new headquarters in the grounds of the house, which ultimately came to fruition when County Hall opened in 1936.

Chairmen and chairwomen
Since 2011 most chairs of the council serve a two-year term, previously the term was more usually four years though before 1962 the position could essentially last almost a lifetime. Peter Mursell was the only individual to serve two non-consecutive terms, the second being after his 1969 knighthood. Cliff Robinson (died 2009 ) was the only chairman elected as a Liberal.