| West Sussex | |
|---|---|
Shown within England |
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| Geography | |
| Status | Ceremonial & Non-metropolitan county |
| Origin | 1974 (Local Government Act 1972) |
| Region | South East England |
| Area - Total - Admin. council |
Ranked 30th 1,991 km2 (769 sq mi) Ranked 27th |
| Admin HQ | Chichester |
| ISO 3166-2 | GB-WSX |
| ONS code | 45 |
| NUTS 3 | UKJ24 |
| Demography | |
| Population - Total (2010 est.) - Density |
Ranked 27th 799,800 402 /km2 (1,040 /sq mi) |
| Ethnicity | 96.6% White 1.7% S.Asian |
| Politics | |
West Sussex County Council http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/ |
|
| Executive | Conservative |
| Members of Parliament |
|
| Districts | |
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex (with Brighton and Hove), Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972. Also at this time the Mid Sussex region (including Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and East Grinstead) was transferred from East Sussex.
West Sussex is a diverse county; it is well known for its stately homes and castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle. Over half of the county is protected countryside, offering popular walking and cycling ground for visitors and residents alike.[1]
Chichester is the county town of West Sussex, and the highest point of the county is Black Down, at 280 metres (919 ft, grid reference SU919296).
In June 2011 West Sussex was officially proclaimed the sunniest county in Britain.
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Most settlements in West Sussex are either along the south coast or in Mid Sussex, near the M23/A23 corridor. The town of Crawley is the largest in the county with an estimated population of 101,300. The coastal settlement of Worthing closely follows with a population of 100,200 . The seaside resort of Bognor Regis and market town Horsham are both large towns. Chichester, the county town, has a cathedral and city status, and is situated not far from the border with Hampshire. Other towns of a similar size are Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath in the Mid Sussex district, Littlehampton in the Arun district, and Lancing, Southwick and Shoreham in the Adur district.
Rustington and Southwater are the next largest settlements in the county. There are several more towns in West Sussex, although they are of similar size to other villages. The smaller towns of the county are Arundel, Midhurst, Petworth, and Steyning. The larger villages are Billingshurst, Copthorne, Crawley Down, Cuckfield, Henfield, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint, Lindfield, Pulborough, and Storrington.
The M23 Motorway runs from London to the south of Crawley. The A23 and A24 roads run from London to Brighton and Worthing respectively with the A29 a little further west ending in Bognor Regis. Other major roads are the A272 which runs east to west through the middle of the county and the A27 which does the same but closer to the coast. The A259 is a local alternate route to the A27 in the eastern coastal strip.
Gatwick Airport, which handled over 32 million passengers in 2005, is located within the borders of Crawley, and is the second largest airport in the United Kingdom. There is also a considerably smaller local airport at Shoreham and a grass airfield handling light aircraft and helicopters at Goodwood. There are three main railway routes: the Brighton Main Line, the Arun Valley Line and the West Coastway Line.
West Sussex is officially the sunniest county in the United Kingdom according to Met Office records over 29 years with an average 1902 hours per year. This compares with 1710 hours per year for Devon which is in second place.[2]
West Sussex County Council, based at County Hall Chichester, provides a large range of services including education, social services, fire and rescue, libraries, town and country planning, refuse disposal and consumer services. In addition, there are seven local government districts within the county of West Sussex:
| West Sussex Youth Cabinet | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | WSYC |
| Headquarters | Chichester, England |
| Region served | West Sussex |
| Membership | 48 |
| Parent organization | West Sussex County Council |
| Affiliations | UK Youth Parliament and West Sussex County Council |
| Website | [1] |
The West Sussex Youth Cabinet is a group of local representatives and the 4 UK Youth Parliament representatives, who are elected by young people in West Sussex. The Youth Cabinet represents the views of the young people in their areas at county level.
West Sussex Youth Cabinet Runs elections every year in March. The elections for West Sussex Youth Cabinet are run along side the elections for UKYP. Elections in 2012 run from the 1st March 2012 at 8 am to the 30th March 2012 at 8pm.
West Sussex elects 4 representatives for UKYP With constituencies being divided as follows-
Chichester and West Arun
Crawley and East Grinstead and
West Sussex Youth Cabinet runs campaigns which aim to better the lives of young people in West Sussex.
Some campaigns that have been run by the West Sussex Youth Cabinet are:
SRE Campaign- a campaign to include more adequate sex and relationships education in schools and to raise general awareness among young people about various ways to stay safe and healthy whilst having a sexual relationship.
Pol-Ed campaign- A campaign to have Politics introduced into the curriculum. Run alongside UKYP's own Pol-Ed campaign.
Safe Card Scheme- a scheme designed to help young people with disabilities if they ever get into trouble, weather that be with the law or in other situations.
West Sussex County Council introduced a card called the 3-in-1 card which allows young people to receive subsidized bus fares and other subsidized services. The 3-in-1 card was designed and created by the West Sussex Youth Cabinet in order to help young people to cope with excessive fees and prices. Several other Local Education Authorities have also piloted similar schemes throughout the UK
The foundation of the Kingdom of Sussex is recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year AD 477, it says that Ælle arrived at a place called Cymenshore in three ships with his three sons and killed or put to flight the local inhabitants, the foundation story is regarded as somewhat of a myth by most historians, however the archaeology suggests that Saxons did start to settle in the area in the late 5th century.[5][6] The Kingdom of Sussex became the county of Sussex, and the county of Sussex eventually was split into the counties of East and West Sussex. Although the name Sussex is derived from the Saxon period between AD 477 to 1066, the history of human habitation in Sussex goes back to the Old Stone Age.[7] Sussex has been occupied since those times and has succumbed to various invasions and migrations throughout its long history.[7]
This is a table of trend of regional gross value added of West Sussex at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.[8]
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added[9] |
Agriculture[10] | Industry[11] | Services[12] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 8,564 | 208 | 2,239 | 6,116 |
| 2000 | 10,576 | 162 | 2,545 | 7,869 |
| 2003 | 12,619 | 185 | 2,520 | 9,915 |
The following are some of the companies based in West Sussex:
West Sussex has a comprehensive education system, with 36 county-maintained secondary schools, one Academy and over 20 independent senior schools. In addition, primary education is provided through a mix of around 240 infant, junior, primary, first and middle schools.
West Sussex County Council has 70 councillors; the majority of them being Conservative. There are 47 Conservative councillors, 16 Liberal Democrats, and 7 Labour Party councillors.[13]
As of the 2010 general election, West Sussex is represented entirely by Conservative MPs, after the only Labour Party seat in the county in 2005, Crawley swung to the Conservatives.
| Hampshire | Surrey | Kent | ||
| Hampshire | East Sussex | |||
| West Sussex | ||||
| The Solent | English Channel | English Channel |
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