History of local government in Sussex
It is possible that the rapes represent the shires of the ancient kingdom of Sussex, especially as in the 12th century they had sheriffs of their own.
[7] Another possibility is that the rapes may derive from the system of fortifications, or burhs (boroughs) devised by Alfred the Great in the late ninth century to defeat the Vikings.
Various local folkmoots would have been held in Sussex, for instance at Ditchling,[8] Tinhale (in Bersted) and Madehurst.
[10] The early hundreds often lacked the formality of later attempts of local government: frequently they met in the open, at a convenient central spot, perhaps marked by a tree, as at Easebourne.
Dill, meaning the boarded meeting place, was one of the few hundreds in Sussex that provided any accommodation.
[11] From the 10th century onwards the hundred became important as a court of justice as well as dealing with matters of local administration.
[14] From this time onwards, Sussex was divided into—from west to east—Chichester, Arundel, Bramber, Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings rapes.
[18] The western meetings followed a geographical rotation between Chichester, Petworth, Arundel and Midhurst; the eastern sessions always took place at Lewes.
By the reign of Elizabeth I the quarter sessions for eastern and western Sussex were effectively independent and the office of the Clerk of the Peace was the sole administrative link between the two.
In Sussex the towns of Arundel, Chichester, Hastings, Rye (all 1836); Brighton 1854, Lewes 1881 were all incorporated as municipal boroughs.
In 1860 the north of parish of Frant in the Rape of Pevensey became part of the Tunbridge Wells Local Government District.
The rapes of Arundel, Bramber and Chichester comprised Sussex's western division and the rapes of Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings comprised the eastern division, with the exclusion of the large towns of Brighton and Hastings which became county boroughs.
In 1894 and 1895 minor boundary alterations between Sussex and Kent were made by the Local Government Board.
East to West Sussex land re-designation was kept with the stated aim of uniting all areas affected by the projected major Crawley and Gatwick Airport economy under one supervisory local authority.
[30] A review of local government took place during the 1990s which made a number of changes to the counties created in 1974.
[31] On 29 June 2010 a letter was sent from the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to local authority and business leaders, inviting proposals to replace regional development agencies in their areas by 6 September 2010.
The Coast to Capital LEP was created for West Sussex, Brighton and Hove and Lewes, plus parts of Surrey and south London.
[38][39][40] Two devolution proposals involving Sussex local authorities were submitted to the UK Government in 2015.
