Brighton and Hove City Council

Brighton and Hove City Council
Coat of arms
Corporate Logo
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Founded	1 April 1997
Preceded by	East Sussex County Council District councils Brighton Borough Council Hove Borough Council
Leadership
Mayor	Cllr Mo Marsh Since 18 May 2017
Leader of the council	Cllr Warren Morgan, Labour Since 21 May 2015
Leader of the opposition	Cllr Geoffrey Theobald, Conservative
Convenor of the Green Group	Cllr Phelim MacCafferty, Green
Chief Executive	Geoffrey Raw
Structure
Seats	54 councillors
Political groups	Administration      Labour (22) Other parties      Conservative (20)      Green (11)      Independent (1)
Joint committees	Greater Brighton City Board
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	First past the post, multi-member
Last election	7 May 2015
Next election	2 May 2019
Meeting place
Brighton Town Hall Hove Town Hall
Website
www.brighton-hove.gov.uk

Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority.

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. For the purposes of local government, Brighton and Hove is within a non-metropolitan area of England. As a unitary authority, Brighton and Hove City Council has the powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. In its capacity as a district council it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, it is responsible for housing, waste collection and environmental health. In its capacity as a county council it is a local education authority, responsible for social services, libraries and waste disposal.

Political control

Since the first election to the council in 1996 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:^[1]

The Green led council from 2011-2015 was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom.^[2]

Wards

When Brighton Borough Council and Hove Borough Council merged in 1996 the wards were carried over from the respective councils who had both been under East Sussex County Council.

There were originally 26 Wards each with three councillors totally 78 councillors in the newly created Brighton and Hove Borough Council: Brunswick and Adelaide, Goldsmid, Hangleton, Hanover, Hollingbury, Kings Cliff, Marine, Moulsecoomb, Nevill, North Portslade, Patcham, Portslade South, Preston, Queens Park, Regency, Rottingdean, Seven Dials, St. Peters, Stanford, Stanmer, Tenantry, Vallance, Westbourne, Westdene, Wish, Woodingdean

Ward of Brighton and Hove Borough Council 1996 - 2003

The 2001 boundary review ^[3][4][5] reduced the wards to 21 Wards with a mix of two or three councillors each totalling 54 councillors for the then city council. These boundary were used in the 2003 election for the first time with the following wards: Brunswick and Adelaide, Central Hove, East Brighton, Goldsmid, Hangleton and Knoll, Hanover and Elm Grove, Hollingbury and Stanmer (which then became Hollingdean and Stanmer in 2007), Stanford (which became Hove Park in 2007), Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, North Portslade, Patcham, Preston Park, Queen's Park, Regency, Rottingdean Coastal, South Portslade, St Peter's and North Laine, Westbourne, Wish, Withdean, Woodingdean.

Future structure

In October 2017, it was announced that the city council was to merge with Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group to form a Health and Social Care Integration Board: the merge, commencing in April 2018 and culminating in a full merger a year later, is intended to prevent the duplication of work and streamline provision of health and social care within the city.^[6]

Results of the 2003 elections with new ward boundaries

References