Your council

West Sussex: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

West Sussex County Council: County (upper tier), England, South East. GOV.UK lists it as a county council. ONS code E10000032.

Council website · Publication scheme

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by West Sussex for 2026–27: £1,890.36. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 8 opened (6 academy converter, 2 new provision), 9 closed (6 academy converter, 3 closure)

Ashurst Wood Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 30 June 2026
Littlehaven Educational Trust — closed; reason recorded: closure, 30 September 2025
Sompting Abbotts School — closed; reason recorded: closure, 31 July 2026
St Mary's Catholic Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 January 2026
St Philip's Catholic Primary School, Arundel (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 30 November 2025
St Richard's Catholic Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 January 2026
Turners Hill CofE Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 October 2025
Twineham CofE Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: closure, 31 August 2026
West Hoathly CofE Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 October 2025
Amberley Court School — open; reason recorded: new provision, 15 October 2025
Ashurst Wood Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 July 2026
Conifers House School — open; reason recorded: new provision, 5 February 2026
St Mary's Catholic Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 February 2026
St Philip's Catholic Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 December 2025
St Richard's Catholic Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 February 2026
Turners Hill Church of England Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 November 2025
West Hoathly CofE Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 November 2025

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as West Sussex reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

West Sussex: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	£838.0 million
Highways and transport services	£67.6 million
Children's social care	£234.6 million
Adult social care	£379.3 million
Public health	£50.5 million
Housing services (general fund only)	£1.8 million
Cultural and related services	£12.9 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£84.6 million
Planning and development services	£7.7 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	£44.3 million
Central services	£7.6 million
Other services	£10.9 million
Total service expenditure	£1,739.8 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

West Sussex in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 915,037 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 44 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £29,048 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £644 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 21.6% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 3.0% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £373,740 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 9.7 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 64.5 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for females born in the given year
Male healthy life expectancy: 63.1 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for males born in the given year
Greenhouse gas emissions: 3.5 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 83.0% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 192.6 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 38,800 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

70 seats in 2026. Run by: a coalition or arrangement of Liberal Democrats and Greens. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Reform UK 23, Liberal Democrats 23, Conservative and Unionist 11, Green Party (E&W) 7, Labour Party 5, Local Alliance 1.

Next scheduled council election: 2 May 2030.

All 70 councillors, by ward

Deborah Urquhart (Conservative and Unionist) — Angmering & Findon
Frank Bonfield (Reform UK) — Arundel & Courtwick
Gary Markwell (Reform UK) — Bersted
Grainne Conway (Reform UK) — Bewbush & Ifield West
Mark Baynham (Liberal Democrats) — Billingshurst
Elizabeth Meadows (Reform UK) — Bognor Regis East
Giuliano Pinnelli (Reform UK) — Bognor Regis West & Aldwick
Tracie Bangert (Liberal Democrats) — Bourne
Victoria Finnegan (Green Party (E&W)) — Bramber Castle
Colin Minto (Liberal Democrats) — Broadbridge
Brian Quinn (Labour Party) — Broadfield
Jimi Taylor (Green Party (E&W)) — Broadwater
Richard Cherry (Liberal Democrats) — Burgess Hill East
Jane Davey (Liberal Democrats) — Burgess Hill North
Matt Hedge (Liberal Democrats) — Chichester East
Jack Lovejoy (Liberal Democrats) — Chichester North
Nicholas Russell (Liberal Democrats) — Chichester South
Richard Bates (Liberal Democrats) — Chichester West
Elizabeth Sparkes (Conservative and Unionist) — Cissbury
Lauren Lloyd (Liberal Democrats) — Cuckfield & Lucastes
Charles James (Reform UK) — Durrington & Salvington
Lorraine Carvalho (Conservative and Unionist) — East Grinstead Meridian
Jacquie Russell (Conservative and Unionist) — East Grinstead South & Ashurst Wood
Roger Elkins (Conservative and Unionist) — East Preston & Ferring
David Darling (Reform UK) — Felpham
Sue Wallsgrove (Green Party (E&W)) — Fontwell
Ian Davey (Green Party (E&W)) — Goring
Erika Woodhurst-Trueman (Liberal Democrats) — Hassocks & Burgess Hill South
Kirsten Sutton (Liberal Democrats) — Haywards Heath East
Caroline Ward (Liberal Democrats) — Haywards Heath Town
Roger Noel (Conservative and Unionist) — Henfield
Steve Makin (Liberal Democrats) — Holbrook
Jay Mercer (Liberal Democrats) — Horsham East
Nigel Dennis (Liberal Democrats) — Horsham Hurst
Louise Potter (Liberal Democrats) — Horsham Riverside
Rodney Jackson (Liberal Democrats) — Hurstpierpoint & Bolney
Gary Dowsett (Reform UK) — Imberdown
Mike Mendoza (Reform UK) — Lancing
Oliver Pickstock (Reform UK) — Langley Green & Ifield East
Cavan Wood (Liberal Democrats) — Lindfield & High Weald
Paul Cornford (Reform UK) — Littlehampton East
Ricky Borrett (Reform UK) — Littlehampton Town
Riszard Rzepa (Reform UK) — Maidenbower & Worth
Alison Littleboy (Reform UK) — Middleton
Yvonne Gravely (Liberal Democrats) — Midhurst
Rob Venn (Reform UK) — Northbrook
Callum Johnson (Reform UK) — Northgate & West Green
Trevor Bence (Reform UK) — Nyetimber
Janet Duncton (Conservative and Unionist) — Petworth
James Tidy (Reform UK) — Pound Hill
Tom Crofts (Conservative and Unionist) — Pulborough
Tom Richardson (Conservative and Unionist) — Rother Valley
Alison Cooper (Conservative and Unionist) — Rustington
Donna Johnson (Local Alliance) — Selsey
Adrienne Lowe (Labour Party) — Shoreham North
Gerry Thompson (Green Party (E&W)) — Shoreham South
Jim Doubtfire (Reform UK) — Sompting & North Lancing
Tim Charters (Reform UK) — Southgate & Gossops Green
Alex Jeffery (Liberal Democrats) — Southwater & Nuthurst
Nigel Corston (Labour Party) — Southwick
Sam Raby (Liberal Democrats) — St. Leonard's Forest
Paul Marshall (Conservative and Unionist) — Storrington
Henna Chowdhury (Labour Party) — Tarring
Izabela Mayne (Liberal Democrats) — The Witterings
Emma Whiteoak (Reform UK) — Three Bridges
Sarah LeTissier (Reform UK) — Tilgate & Furnace Green
Mel Winn (Reform UK) — Worth Forest
Katie Thornton (Green Party (E&W)) — Worthing East
Natasha Davie (Green Party (E&W)) — Worthing Pier
Martin McCabe (Labour Party) — Worthing West

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.