Horsham District

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.

Horsham District
Non-metropolitan district
Carfax in Horsham, the district's main town
Horsham 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	Horsham
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Body	Horsham District Council
• MPs	Andrew Griffith Jeremy Quin
Area
• Total	204.73 sq mi (530.26 km2)
• Rank	74th (of 296)
Population  (2021)
• Total	147,487
• Rank	149th (of 296)
• Density	720/sq mi (280/km2)
Ethnicity (2021)
• Ethnic groups	List 93.6% White 2.7% Asian 2.1% Mixed 0.9% Black 0.6% other
Religion (2021)
• Religion	List 49.3% Christianity 42.1% no religion 6.1% not stated 0.9% Islam 0.6% Hinduism 0.4% other 0.4% Buddhism 0.2% Judaism 0.1% Sikhism
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)

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

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:

• Chanctonbury Rural District
• Horsham Rural District
• Horsham Urban District

The new district was named Horsham, after its largest settlement.

Horsham District Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Chair	David Skipp, Liberal Democrat since 24 May 2023
Leader	Martin Boffey, Liberal Democrat since 24 May 2023
Chief Executive	Jane Eaton since April 2022
Structure
Seats	48 councillors
Political groups	Administration (27)   Liberal Democrats (27) Other parties (21)   Conservative (12)   Green (9)
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Parkside, Chart Way, Horsham, RH12 1RL
Website
www.horsham.gov.uk

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.

 

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:

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