Hastings Borough Council
Logo
Type
Type
Leadership
Margi O'Callaghan,
Labour
since 24 May 2023[1]
Paul Barnett,
Independent
since 13 April 2022[2][3]
Jane Hartnell
Structure
Seats32 councillors
Political groups
Administration
  Independent (8)
  Labour (7)
Other parties
  Conservative (11)
  Green (5)
  Reform (1)
Length of term
4 years
Elections
Last election
5 May 2022
Next election
2 May 2024
Meeting place
Muriel Matters House, Breeds Place, Hastings, TN34 3UY
Website
www.hastings.gov.uk

Hastings Borough Council is the local authority for Hastings, a non-metropolitan district with borough status in East Sussex, England. The council is based at Muriel Matters House on the seafront.

The area covered by the council in East Sussex

History

Hastings was an ancient borough. It was given the right to appoint a mayor in 1589.[4] It was reformed in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 to become a municipal borough, governed by a body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Hastings", generally known as the corporation or town council. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 it was decided that Hastings was sufficiently large to provide its own county-level services and so it was made a county borough, independent from East Sussex County Council.[5]

On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the borough became a non-metropolitan district within the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, giving East Sussex County Council jurisdiction over the town as a higher-tier authority for the first time.[6][7] Hastings kept its borough status, allowing the council to take the name Hastings Borough Council and letting the chair of the council take the title of mayor, continuing Hastings' series of mayors dating back to 1589.[8]

Governance

Hastings Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by East Sussex County Council.[9] There are no civil parishes in the borough, which is an unparished area.[10]

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since the 2022 election. A Labour and Green coalition formed after that election, but separated five months later in October 2022, since when Labour has run the council as a minority administration.[11]

In December 2023, eight Labour councillors — including the Leader and Deputy Leader — resigned the party in protest at Keir Starmer's leadership and position in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, saying in a common statement that "the national Labour Party no longer provides us with the policies, the support or the focus on local government that we need"; the deputy leader added "Labour's policy position on Gaza has been completely unforgiveable".[3][12][13]

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:[14][15]

Party in controlYears
No overall control1974–1976
Conservative1976–1980
No overall control1980–1996
Liberal Democrats1996–1998
Labour1998–2004
No overall control2004–2006
Conservative2006–2007
No overall control2007–2010
Labour2010–2022
No overall control2022–present

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Hastings. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2001 have been:[16]

CouncillorPartyFromTo
Jeremy Birch[17] Labour200117 May 2006
Peter Pragnell Conservative17 May 200619 May 2010
Jeremy Birch Labour19 May 20106 May 2015
Peter Chowney Labour20 May 201518 Mar 2020
Kim Forward Labour18 Mar 202013 Apr 2022
Paul Barnett[3] Labour13 Apr 202214 Dec 2023
Independent14 Dec 2023

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent changes of allegiance in May 2023[18] and December 2023,[3] the composition of the council was:

Party Councillors
Conservative 11
Independent 8
Labour 7
Green 5
Reform UK 1
Total 32

The next election is due in 2024.

Premises

The council is based at a modern office building called Muriel Matters House on Breeds Place, overlooking the seafront.[19]

Hastings Town Hall, Queens Road: Council's headquarters until 2012.

The council was previously based at the Town Hall on Queens Road, which had been built in 1881.[20] The council met and had its offices at Town Hall until 2012.[21] Most of the council's offices then moved to Aquila House on Breeds Place, which the council initially rented. In 2016 the council purchased Aquila House, renamed it Muriel Matters House after Muriel Matters (1877–1969) who had lived in the town, and created a new council chamber in the building.[22][23]

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2018 the council has comprised 32 councillors representing 16 wards, with each ward electing two councillors. Elections are held in alternate years, with half the council (one councillor for each ward) being elected each time for a four-year term of office.[24]

References

  1. ↑ "Council minutes, 24 May 2023". Hastings Borough Council. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  2. ↑ "Council minutes, 13 April 2022" (PDF). Hastings Borough Council. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Wright, Charlotte; Lee, Shola (15 December 2023). "Hastings Borough Council: Leader and five other councillors quit Labour". BBC News Online. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  4. ↑ Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales: Appendix 2. 1835. p. 997.
  5. ↑ "Relationships and changes Hastings CB/MB through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  6. ↑ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 31 May 2023
  7. ↑ "Hastings Borough Council". The National Archives. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  8. ↑ "District Councils and Boroughs, 28 March 1974". Hansard. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  9. ↑ "Local Government Act 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1972 c. 70, retrieved 31 May 2023
  10. ↑ "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  11. ↑ Oxburgh, Huw (21 October 2022). "Labour has new cabinet at Hastings Borough Council after split with Greens". Sussex World. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  12. ↑ Mureddu-Reid, Hamish (16 December 2023). "Seventh Hastings councillor quits Labour to join new group". BBC News Online. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  13. ↑ Oxburgh, Hugh (19 December 2023). "Hastings Borough Council: Eighth councillor quits local Labour group". BBC News Online. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  14. ↑ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  15. ↑ "Hastings". BBC News Online. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  16. ↑ "Council minutes". Hastings Borough Council. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  17. ↑ "Memories of Jeremy Birch". Hastings in Focus. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2022. Jeremy Birch was leader of Hastings Borough Council between 2001 and 2006 and then again from 2010 until his death in 2015.
  18. ↑ Oxburgh, Huw (12 May 2023). "Ex-Conservative councillor in Hastings joins Reform UK Party". Sussex World. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  19. ↑ "Council office locations". Hastings Borough Council. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  20. ↑ Historic England. "Town Hall (1245060)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  21. ↑ "Council summons, 18 April 2012" (PDF). Hastings Borough Council. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  22. ↑ "Hastings council agrees to buy its seafront home". SussexWorld. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  23. ↑ "Council offices renamed after suffragist". Sussex World. 30 December 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  24. ↑ "The Hastings (Electoral Changes) Order 2016", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2016/1228, retrieved 21 August 2023
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