Wealden District

Wealden is a local government district in East Sussex, England. Its council is based in Hailsham. The district's name comes from the Weald, the remnant forest which was once unbroken and occupies much of the centre and north of the area.

Wealden District
Non-metropolitan district
Wealden shown within East Sussex
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Non-metropolitan county	East Sussex
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Hailsham
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Wealden District Council
• Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (Conservative)
• MPs	Caroline Ansell (Cons) Maria Caulfield (Cons) Nusrat Ghani (Cons) Huw Merriman (Cons)
Area
• Total	322.4 sq mi (835.0 km^2)
Area rank	44th (of 317)
Population  (mid-2019 est.)
• Total	161,475
• Rank	120th (of 317)
• Density	500/sq mi (190/km^2)
• Ethnicity	98.3% White
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	21UH (ONS) E07000065 (GSS)
OS grid reference	TQ5519524567
Website	www.wealden.gov.uk

History

Wealden District was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by the merger of the Hailsham and Uckfield Rural District Councils (RDCs), both set up under the Local Government Act 1894, which also revived the parish councils.

Governance

Wealden District Council is elected every 4 years, with the Conservative party having had a majority on the council since the first election in 1973, apart from a couple of years after 1995 when no party had a majority. As of the last election in 2019 the council is composed of the following councillors:- [1]

Wealden District Council after the 2019 election.

  Conservative: 34 seats

  Independent Democrat: 4 seats

  Liberal Democrat: 4 seats

  Green Party of England and Wales: 2 seats

  Independent: 1 seat

The district is second-level in local government, responsible for town and country planning and domestic rubbish and recycling collections, for example. There are 45 members of the Council, representing 41 wards.[2][3] The towns have more than one ward: Crowborough has six; Hailsham, seven; Heathfield and Waldron, five; Uckfield, five; and Polegate, three.[4] The ward boundaries are regularly redrawn in an attempt to maintain a standard number of electors per councillor. They are at 2007:

Ward	Population (2007)	Councillors	Electors per councillor
Alfriston	2481	1	2481
Buxted and Maresfield	5052	2	2526
Chiddingly and East Hoathly	2934	1	2934
Cross in Hand/Five Ashes	2291	1	2291
Crowborough East	5202	2	2601
Crowborough Jarvis Brook	2698	1	2698
Crowborough North	5035	2	2517
Crowborough St. Johns	2262	1	2262
Crowborough West	4791	2	2395
Danehill/Fletching/Nutley	5003	2	2501
East Dean	2186	1	2186
Forest Row	5356	2	2678
Framfield	2611	1	2611
Frant/Withyham	4767	2	2383
Hailsham Central and North	5591	2	2795
Hailsham East	2769	1	2769
Hailsham South and West	8401	3	2800
Hartfield	2606	1	2606
Heathfield East	2349	1	2349
Heathfield North and Central	7832	3	2610
Hellingly	5117	2	2558
Herstmonceux	2826	1	2826
Horam	2583	1	2583
Mayfield	2615	1	2615
Ninfield and Hooe with Wartling	2362	1	2362
Pevensey and Westham	8981	3	2993
Polegate North	4811	2	2405
Polegate South	2245	1	2245
Rotherfield	2402	1	2402
Uckfield Central	2984	1	2984
Uckfield New Town	2604	1	2604
Uckfield North	5317	2	2658
Uckfield Ridgewood	2968	1	2968
Wadhurst	5085	2	2542
Willingdon	7121	3	2373
Total Wealden	142238	55	2586

This district is entirely civil parished, enabling all farms and outlying homes to have an established community and influencing civic body, into:[5][6]

Parish	Type	Area (sq mi)	Population (2007)	Pop Density /sq mi
Alciston	Parish Meeting	2.7	146	53.7
Alfriston	Parish Council	3.6	774	214.2
Arlington	Parish Council	7.1	490	69.2
Berwick	Parish Council	1.9	289	149.4
Buxted	Parish Council	8.4	3145	376.4
Chalvington with Ripe	Parish Council	4.3	1082	252.0
Chiddingly	Parish Council	6.8	1006	147.9
Crowborough	Town Council	5.2	19988	3812.1
Cuckmere Valley	Parish Council	6.8	197	28.9
Danehill	Parish Council	8.7	1927	220.3
East Dean and Friston	Parish Council	3.3	1577	474.9
East Hoathly with Halland	Parish Council	5.8	1343	229.9
Fletching	Parish Council	9.9	1041	104.7
Forest Row	Parish Council	12.6	5054	402.4
Framfield	Parish Council	7.6	1855	243.3
Frant	Parish Council	12.3	1367	110.9
Hadlow Down	Parish Council	6.6	715	109.1
Hailsham	Town Council	7.5	19836	2652.3
Hartfield	Parish Council	16.2	2157	132.9
Heathfield and Waldron	Parish Council	20.4	11514	564.5
Hellingly	Parish Council	7.6	1552	205.1
Herstmonceux	Parish Council	9.5	2598	272.8
Hooe	Parish Council	3.9	446	115.4
Horam	Parish Council	4.0	2583	643.3
Isfield	Parish Council	3.0	564	190.7
Laughton	Parish Council	7.3	585	79.7
Little Horsted	Parish Meeting	4.1	168	40.8
Long Man	Parish Council	6.2	412	66.2
Maresfield	Parish Council	10.1	3246	319.9
Mayfield and Five Ashes	Parish Council	16.4	3562	217.6
Ninfield	Parish Council	4.1	1520	371.7
Pevensey	Parish Council	6.8	3152	463.8
Polegate	Town Council	2.8	8021	2853.6
Rotherfield	Parish Council	17.8	3151	177.0
Selmeston	Parish Meeting	2.6	190	73.1
Uckfield	Town Council	2.9	13873	4810.0
Wadhurst	Parish Council	15.5	4818	311.0
Warbleton	Parish Council	11.2	1262	112.3
Wartling	Parish Council	4.3	396	92.7
Westham	Parish Council	5.5	5829	1066.9
Willingdon and Jevington	Parish Council	4.1	6156	1511.3
Withyham	Parish Council	14.2	2651	186.7
Total Wealden		321.7	142238	442.2

Geography

Wealden District covers two main upland areas: the section of the High Weald within East Sussex; and the eastern end of the South Downs, between which lies the Vale of Sussex, the lowlands of which are named the Pevensey Levels. The River Ouse, some of the tributaries of which originate in the district, is the border with the Lewes District; and the River Cuckmere is wholly in Wealden. The English Channel to the south is interrupted by Eastbourne. The River Rother rises on the Weald and flows easterly to the east of Rye Bay. The Wealden basin contains significant reserves of shale oil, totalling 4.4 billion barrels of oil in Wealden and surrounding areas according to a 2014 study, which then Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said "will bring jobs and business opportunities" and significantly help with UK energy self-sufficiency. Fracking in the area is required to achieve these objectives, which has been opposed by environmental groups.[7]

It is the central of the three East Sussex non-borough (low density) districts: the others being Lewes to the west, and Rother to the east.

Home ownership

The district has the highest proportion of home ownership of the 37 local authorities in Surrey, Sussex and Kent: combining the social (housing association and local authority provided) and private rented sectors, Brighton and Hove's returns recorded in 2011 that its rented sector comprised 44.4% of its housing, whereas 18.8% of Wealden's residents rented their homes. Neighbouring Rother has a marginally higher proportion of homes owned outright, 3.1% greater and a greater rented sector.

Form of home ownership in Surrey, Sussex and Kent compared[8]
Local Authority	Owned	Owned with a loan	Socially rented	Privately rented	Other	Shared ownership
Wealden	42.3	36.5	7.7	11.1	0.8	1.7
Epsom and Ewell	36.8	40.2	8.1	13.3	0.9	0.8
Surrey Heath	34.8	42	9.2	12.1	0.8	1
Tandridge	36.2	39.7	10.8	11	0.9	1.4
Horsham	37.3	37.2	11.5	11.8	0.7	1.5
Mid Sussex	35.5	38.8	10.6	12.8	1	1.4
Arun	42.8	31	8.8	15.3	0.8	1.2
Adur	37.8	36	13	11.4	0.6	1.2
Waverley	37.7	36	12.4	11.3	1	1.7
Mole Valley	39.1	34.5	12.2	11.9	0.9	1.4
Rother	45.4	28.1	10.3	14.1	0.5	1.5
Reigate and Banstead	33.2	39.9	11.9	12.9	1.2	0.9
Elmbridge	34.2	38.8	9.8	15.1	0.7	1.2
Sevenoaks	37.5	35.2	13.2	10.8	1.7	1.6
Lewes	39.8	32.8	10.9	14.5	0.7	1.3
Spelthorne	33.9	38.6	12.4	12.6	1.4	1
Tonbridge and Malling	32.6	38.6	16.1	10.1	1.5	1.1
Woking	31.6	38.9	11.9	15.7	0.9	1
Maidstone	32.9	37.5	12.8	14.6	1.1	1.2
Runnymede	33.1	36.4	12.9	15.2	1	1.4
Worthing	34.8	34.5	10	19.3	0.5	0.9
Guildford	33.7	35.1	12.8	15.8	1.3	1.3
Ashford	31.8	36.6	14.4	14.3	1.3	1.5
Swale	31.4	36.9	14.3	15.2	1	1.2
Medway	28.9	38.8	13.2	17.1	1	1
Chichester	40.5	26.6	14.9	14.9	0.9	2.2
Dartford	27.5	39.4	14.8	16	1.3	1
Dover	35.3	31.3	14.3	17.1	0.5	1.7
Canterbury	35.5	30.5	12.2	19.5	0.8	1.4
Tunbridge Wells	32	33.7	15.2	16.9	0.8	1.4
Folkestone and Hythe	35.3	29.5	11.2	22.2	0.5	1.3
Gravesham	30.7	33.9	17.3	16.1	0.8	1.2
Thanet	33.4	28.6	12.7	23.8	0.3	1.2
Eastbourne	33.5	28.3	13.2	23.4	0.7	1.1
Crawley	22.2	36.9	23.8	14.5	1.4	1.2
Hastings	26.9	28.3	14.6	28.8	0.5	1
Brighton and Hove	23.4	29.9	14.9	29.5	0.9	1.3

Transport

The major trunk road is the A22, London to Eastbourne; it is crossed by the A26 Maidstone–Lewes road at Uckfield; and the A267 Tunbridge Wells to Eastbourne road. There are also three west-east roads: the A259 coastal route; next inland is the A27 Pevensey–Brighton trunk road; and further to the north the A272 cross-country route to Winchester.

The East Coastway Line, serving Eastbourne and Hastings, uses the Vale of Sussex and has two station serving different sides of Pevensey in the district, which forms a generally suburban conurbation with Westham and a largely rural holiday and visitor coastline, Pevensey Bay. The other railway line is the Uckfield Branch Line from London Bridge.

Long-distance footpaths include the:

• South Downs Way
• Monarch's Way
• Sussex Border Path
• Wealdway.

Landmarks

Major landmarks include the Seven Sisters and Cuckmere Haven along the coast; and the Long Man of Wilmington together with all of the paths over the South Downs National Park. Roman fortified hills can be found in the north of the area and Uckfield has a large architectural conservation area.

Sheffield Park Garden is an informal landscape garden now owned by the National Trust but laid out by Capability Brown. Near to this is the terminus of the Bluebell Railway, a heritage, steam railway line.

A late medieval castle construction, moated Herstmonceux Castle, was begun in 1440. It is open to visitors and there are organised tours on a few summer days.[9]

Ashdown Forest is to the north of the Weald and is the home of Winnie the Pooh.

See also

• List of current places of worship in Wealden
• List of former places of worship in Wealden

References

1. "Wealden Council: Your Councillers".
2. "Council - Wealden District Council". www.wealden.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
3. "The Wealden (Electoral Changes) Order 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
4. "The Wealden (Electoral Changes) Order 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
5. "East Sussex in Figures". East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
6. Interactive map showing locations of parishes
7. Prynn, Jonathan (23 May 2014). "Massive oil reserves lie under commuter belt in South, says report". London Evening Standard. p. 8.
8. Office for National Statistics 2011 Census Key Statistics: Tenure. Shared ownership forms the small remainder of each proportion.
9. Scheduled ancient monument: Herstmonceux Castle. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1002298)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 January 2015.