Lewes Town Council is one of the 300 largest of the 9,800-or-so Parish Councils in England and Wales, with a council tax precept for 2012/13 of £782,000 and expenditure budgeted at nearly £926,000. It is the successor to Lewes Borough Council, which was incorporated in 1881.  We are based at the Town Hall, in the High Street, which has been the home of Lewes’ local Council since 1893.

Please explore our website; the menus above offer a variety of information and we  add to this all the time.  If you can't find what you are looking-for; please let us know.

The Council comprises eighteen elected members – six representing each of three electoral wards (Bridge, Castle, and Priory), and it employs fifteen staff (7 full-time).  Council meets approximately every five weeks and often creates working-parties for large projects or short tasks.  These can co-opt additional members from the community.

There are four “lead members”:   Finance & Policy - Environment & Tourism - Youth & Community; and Communications, who usually act as Chairmen for any working parties set-up within those areas of responsibility, and as our official spokesperson as required.  Planning applications are considered by a standing committee that meets every three weeks, and there are functional panels for internal matters: Personnel, and Internal Audit/Corporate Governance. A third; the financial Grants Panel, assesses grant applications from voluntary & community sector organizations, and agrees an annual total of over £50,000 in amounts ranging between £50 and £2,000.

We own The Pells, where the open-air pool is operated for us each summer by a local community charity, and Lewes Priory (let to a tenant Trust). We own and operate the Town Hall and the All Saints Centre - run as venues for hire, and offering activities ranging from dance-classes; tai-chi; cinema, and a toy-library, to world-class sculpture exhibitions (Auguste Rodin, Anthony Caro, Henry Moore, David Nash); weddings; and musical and theatre events of all types. We also own the Bridgeview (Malling) Community Centre, which is let to a tenant (the Malling Community Association). We influence town planning and tourism, and provide various local amenities such as litter bins; bus-shelters and other street furniture.  We offer more than 200 allotment plots over our seven sites across the town, and are joint owners of the 44 hectares (approx 110 acres) of open downland at Landport Bottom.

We can financially support or enhance the local functions of other tiers of government, and other public services, such as financing additional environmental cleansing or providing funds for local Police Community Support Officers or CCTV (we pay for the cameras in the town).  All our expenditure is financed either direct from our precept on Council Tax, from reserves or from third-party funds such as National Lottery schemes.  Borrowing for our sector of government is strictly-controlled and requires the consent of the Secretary of State.

This is a time of change in local government, and Parish Councils face an even busier future with the latest initiatives focussed upon localism.  We are recognized as the tier closest to the community, whilst District and County Councils play a more strategic role (transport; health; housing; education etc.).  Elements of the recently-enacted Localism Act 2011 offer parishes a more active role, if they want it, than at any time since the last “big” local government reorganization in 1974.

In 2012, with the economic climate forcing reviews of the mechanisms and funding of local government at Principal Authority level (County; District and Unitary councils), it is likely that many non-statutory (often called “discretionary”) services; land and property assets etc may be devolved to Parish Councils.  Lewes Town Council considers itself well-placed to address any additional responsibilities or duties, and we look forward to the next few years with interest!

Community Cinema Project for All Saints

..and more comfortable seats too...!

The Town Council has decided to directly manage popular cinema at its much-loved All Saints Centre, in the town centre.

Councillors hope to reduce the costs for operating the council-owned community arts and youth centre, based in a characterful old decommissioned church, in the centre of town.  A private limited company currently shows films fortnightly at the Friars Walk venue, and a local film club  also operates there, showing mainly art-house and foreign-language films. 

There are also plans to install 100 retractable, tiered seats on the ground floor, the replacement of seats on the balcony and the replacement of other seats – a response to the long-acknowledged complaints from users of All Saints that it wasn’t all that comfortable!

By taking over popular film screenings itself, the town council envisages a potential annual benefit of more than £20,000 assuming average audiences of only half the venue's capacity, and with no increase in ticket prices.  Movies will continue on a regular basis for a wide variety of audiences, as now, including the latest releases.

The council is also to join with local disability group The Oyster Project to run a traditional kiosk service, selling confectionery and drinks for each screening.

The plan was approved at a recent Council meeting, after hearing the recommendations of a steering group of seven councillors, which had been asked to look at reducing the current cost of operating the All Saints Centre.

Councillor Dr Mike Turner, a former Mayor of Lewes and the chairman of the steering group, said: “Lewes Town Council sees the main benefits of this move as feeding profits back into the community, while maintaining the role of All Saints as a much-loved place to watch popular films – saving filmgoers from travelling to Uckfield; Brighton; Eastbourne, or Hailsham - and reinforcement of the Centre as a community asset- as originally stipulated by the church authorities when the building was given to us.  We also listened to the customers who find the seats uncomfortable!”

Film programming, hire, publicity and screenings will be organised for the council by Lewes Film Club, a local voluntary organization that is celebrating its 25^th birthday this year, who will continue with their complementary programme of classic and Art House films.

UPDATE   The Council has become aware of various public concerns since announcing its intention to directly manage popular cinema at the All Saints Centre.  Regrettably, much of the communication we have observed on the internet in recent days is inaccurate, ill-informed and sometimes extremely misleading.  We hope that the facts available here will help to clarify any misunderstanding, and explain the Council’s position.

Landport Bottom consultation - the results..

Just over a year ago, public concerns about possible conflict between different groups of users of Landport Bottom, and their physical effects upon the site itself, led to a lively public meeting of the joint Town and District Council Landport Bottom Management Committee; attended by many interested residents. It was agreed to set up a year-long public consultation, as well as seeking the views of local organisations and carrying out a variety of surveys on the site.

On 23^rd January 2012, the results of this exercise were reported back to another public meeting of the management committee. More than 250 people had responded to the online consultation, while others had emailed, telephoned, or attended consultation events held on the site through the year. It would be fair to say that the management committee had originally thought it should restrict horse-riding activities on the site because of possible conflicts with other users and damage to the turf.  The survey results indicated that these problems were less than originally supposed, (although two “dry” winters may have helped there!) though members of the public at the meeting were particularly concerned about churning up of access paths to the site not directly within the jurisdiction of the councils.

The committee therefore resolved:-

1.      To agree relaxation of restrictions for horse-riding, cycling and other non-vehicular recreation pursuits at Landport Bottom.

2.      To reserve the option to reinstate any restriction should it be deemed necessary for health and safety or ecological issues that may arise.

3.      To continue appropriate Monitoring (for example fixed point photography) and consultation in order to review this policy after one year.

4.      To liaise with neighbouring landowners to improve access route to the site.

We look forward to seeing many people continuing to enjoy the delights of Landport Bottom, but please do contact the District Ranger, on 01273 484408 or the Town Hall on 01273 471469 if you have any concerns.