Lewes District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by East Sussex County Council. The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.
In the parts of the district within the South Downs National Park, town planning is the responsibility of the South Downs National Park Authority. The district council appoints one of its councillors to serve on the 27-person National Park Authority.
Political control
The council has been under no overall control since 2018. Since the 2023 election an alliance of the Greens and Labour has formed the council's administration.
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Party in control!!Years
|-
| || 1974–1991
|-
| || 1991–2011
|-
| || 2011–2013
|-
| || 2013–2015
|-
| || 2015–2018
|-
| || 2018–present
|}
Leadership
The leaders of the council since 1999 have been:
{| class=wikitable
! Councillor !! colspan=2|Party !! From !! To
|-
| Ann De Vecchi || || align=right|May 1999 || align=right|May 2011
|-
| Tony Nicholson || || align=right|25 May 2011 || align=right|20 Feb 2012
|-
| James Page || || align=right|20 Feb 2012 || align=right|26 Feb 2014
|-
| Rob Blackman || || align=right|26 Feb 2014 || align=right|Sep 2015
|-
| Andy Smith || || align=right|14 Oct 2015 || align=right|May 2019
|-
| Isabelle Linington || || align=right|20 May 2019 || align=right|15 Jul 2019
|-
| Zoe Nicholson || || align=right|15 Jul 2019 || align=right|20 Jul 2020
|-
| James MacCleary || || align=right|20 Jul 2020 || align=right|15 Jul 2021
|-
| Zoe Nicholson || || align=right|15 Jul 2021 || align=right|18 Jul 2022
|-
| James MacCleary || || align=right|18 Jul 2022 || align=right|May 2023
|-
| Zoe Nicholson || || align=right|22 May 2023 || align=right|
|}
Composition
Following the 2023 election, and changes of allegiance up to May 2025, the composition of the council was:
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan=2| Party
! Councillors
|-
|
| align=center|16
|-
|
| align=center|15
|-
|
| align=center|8
|-
|
| align=center|2
|-
! colspan=2|Total
! align=center|41
|}
The next election is due in 2027.
The wards, with their populations at the 2021 Census, are:
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Ward!!Population<br>(2021 Census)!!Number of<br>Councillors!!Population<br>per Councillor
|-
|Chailey, Barcombe and Hamsey|| align="right" |5,204|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,602
|-
|Ditchling and Westmeston|| align="right" |2,554|| align="center" |1|| align="right" |2,554
|-
|East Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs|| align="right" |7,394|| align="center" |3|| align="right" |2,461
|-
|Kingston|| align="right" |1,904|| align="center" |1|| align="right" |1,904
|-
|Lewes Bridge|| align="right" |4,834|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,417
|-
|Lewes Castle|| align="right" |3,964|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |1,982
|-
|Lewes Priory|| align="right" |7,916|| align="center" |3|| align="right" |2,639
|-
|Newhaven North|| align="right" |4,877|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,439
|-
|Newhaven South|| align="right" |7,814|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,605
|-
|Newick|| align="right" |2,446|| align="center" |1|| align="right" |2,446
|-
|Ouse Valley and Ringmer|| align="right" |6,513|| align="center" |3|| align="right" |2,171
|-
|Peacehaven East|| align="right" |5,377|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,689
|-
|Peacehaven North|| align="right" |5,186|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,593
|-
|Peacehaven West|| align="right" |4,872|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,436
|-
|Plumpton, Streat, East Chiltington<br> and St John (Without)|| align="right" |2,222|| align="center" |1|| align="right" |2,222
|-
|Seaford Central|| align="right" |5,023|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,512
|-
|Seaford East|| align="right" |4,776|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,388
|-
|Seaford North|| align="right" |5,207|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,604
|-
|Seaford South|| align="right" |4,388|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,194
|-
|Seaford West|| align="right" |4,471|| align="center" |2|| align="right" |2,236
|-
|Wivelsfield|| align="right" |2,964|| align="center" |1|| align="right" |2,964
|-class="sortbottom"
|Total Lewes|| align="right" |99,905|| align="center" |41|| align="right" |2,437
|}
The district straddles the constituencies of Lewes and Brighton Kemptown.
When created in 1974 the council inherited four sets of offices from its predecessor councils:
- Lewes House, 32 High Street, Lewes from Chailey Rural District Council.
- Lewes Town Hall and the adjoining municipal offices at 4 Fisher Street from Lewes Town Council.
- 20 Fort Road, Newhaven from Newhaven Urban District Council.
- The Downs, Sutton Road, Seaford from Seaford Urban District Council.
thumb|Southover House: Council's headquarters 1998–2022
The Downs was converted into housing and a leisure centre built behind it. The new council's offices were divided between the other three buildings. In 1998 the council acquired Southover House on Southover Road in Lewes, which had previously been offices of East Sussex County Council, to serve as its main offices, remaining there until 2023 when it moved to Marine Workshops.
Geography
The Prime Meridian passes through the district.
Sussex Police has its head office in the town of Lewes.
Towns and parishes
The whole district is divided into civil parishes. The parish councils for Lewes, Newhaven, Peacehaven, Seaford and Telscombe take the style "town council". Some of the smaller parishes have a parish meeting rather than a parish council.
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Parish!!Type!!Population <br>(2021 Census)!!Area <br>(sq km)!!Pop Density <br>per km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|Barcombe||Parish Council|| align="center" |1,491|| align="center" |17.81|| align="center" |83.7
|-
|Beddingham||Parish Council|| align="center" |273|| align="center" |15.71|| align="center" |17.4
|-
|Chailey||Parish Council|| align="center" |2,975|| align="center" |17.81|| align="center" |119.4
|-
|Ditchling||Parish Council|| align="center" |2,265|| align="center" |15.50|| align="center" |146.1
|-
|East Chiltington & St John Without ‡||Parish Council|| align="center" |458|| align="center" |13.58|| align="center" |33.7
|-
|Falmer & St Ann Without ‡||Parish Council|| align="center" |250|| align="center" |17.02|| align="center" |14.7
|-
|Firle||Parish Council|| align="center" |267|| align="center" |13.87|| align="center" |19.3
|-
|Glynde & Tarring Neville ‡||Parish Council|| align="center" |194|| align="center" |9.72|| align="center" |20.0
|-
|Hamsey||Parish Council|| align="center" |734|| align="center" |11.44|| align="center" |64.2
|-
|Iford||Parish Meeting|| align="center" |177|| align="center" |9.71|| align="center" |18.2
|-
|Kingston near Lewes||Parish Council|| align="center" |816|| align="center" |5.70|| align="center" |143.1
|-
|Lewes||Town Council|| align="center" |16,723|| align="center" |11.42|| align="center" |1,464.4
|-
|Newhaven||Town Council|| align="center" |12,693|| align="center" |7.18|| align="center" |1,767.6
|-
|Newick||Parish Council|| align="center" |2,445|| align="center" |7.80|| align="center" |313.4
|-
|Peacehaven||Town Council|| align="center" |15,442|| align="center" |5.18|| align="center" |2,979.4
|-
|Piddinghoe||Parish Council|| align="center" |234|| align="center" |3.80|| align="center" |61.5
|-
|Plumpton||Parish Council|| align="center" |1,599|| align="center" |9.66|| align="center" |165.5
|-
|Ringmer||Parish Council|| align="center" |4,765|| align="center" |25.91|| align="center" |183.9
|-
|Rodmell & Southease ‡||Parish Council|| align="center" |429|| align="center" |11.27|| align="center" |38.1
|-
|Seaford||Town Council|| align="center" |23,865|| align="center" |17.31|| align="center" |1,378.7
|-
|South Heighton||Parish Council|| align="center" |1,015|| align="center" |8.49|| align="center" |119.6
|-
|Streat||Parish Meeting|| align="center" |164|| align="center" |5.18|| align="center" |31.6
|-
|Telscombe||Town Council|| align="center" |7,392|| align="center" |4.73|| align="center" |1,563.5
|-
|Westmeston||Parish Council|| align="center" |290|| align="center" |8.48|| align="center" |34.2
|-
|Wivelsfield||Parish Council|| align="center" |2,960|| align="center" |10.79|| align="center" |274.3
|-class="sortbottom"
|Total Lewes|| || align="center" |99,905|| align="center" |292.10|| align="center" |342.0
|}
‡ St John Without, St Ann Without, Tarring Neville and Southease are separate civil parishes with parish meetings, but due to their small size population statistics are not published separately for them.