One third of Crawley Borough Council in West Sussex, England is elected each year, followed by one year without election. Since the last boundary changes in 2019, 36 councillors have been elected from 13 wards.[1]
From the first elections to the council in 1973 following the reforms of the Local Government Act 1972, political control of the council has been held by the following parties:[2]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| 1973–2006 | ||
| 2006 | ||
| 2006–2007 | ||
| 2007–2014 | ||
| 2014–2020 | ||
| 2020–2022 | ||
| 2022–present | ||
The leaders of the council since 1973 have been:[3]
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Waller | 1973 | 1978 | ||
| Ben Clay | 1978 | 1980 | ||
| Alf Pegler | 1980 | 1982 | ||
| Tony Edwards | 1982 | 1983 | ||
| Ben Clay | 1983 | 1986 | ||
| Alf Pegler | 1986 | 1996 | ||
| Tony Edwards | 1996 | 2000 | ||
| Chris Redmayne | 2000 | 26 May 2006 | ||
| Bob Lanzer | 26 May 2006 | Aug 2013 | ||
| Howard Bloom | 26 Sep 2013 | 13 Jun 2014 | ||
| Peter Lamb | 13 Jun 2014 | 27 May 2022 | ||
| Michael Jones | 27 May 2022 | |||
Summary of the council composition after recent council elections, click on the year for full details of each election. Boundary changes took place for the 2004 election increasing the number of seats by 5, leading to the whole council being elected in that year.[4]
| Year | Labour | Conservative | Liberal Democrats | UKIP | Notes | |||||
| 1992[7] | 22 | 9 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| 1994[8] | 23 | 7 | 2 | 0 | Borough boundary changes took place but the number of seats remained the same[9] | |||||
| 1995[10] | 26 | 4 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 1996[11] | 28 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 1998[12] | 27 | 3 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 1999[13] | 25 | 5 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 2000[14] | 24 | 6 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 2002[15] | 23 | 7 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 2003[16] | 22 | 8 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 2004 | 19 | 16 | 2 | 0 | Borough boundary changes took place increasing the number of seats from 32 to 37.[17] | |||||
| 2006[18] | 16 | 19 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 2007[19] | 12 | 22 | 3 | 0 | ||||||
| 2008[20] | 9 | 26 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 2010[21] | 11 | 26 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2011 | 13 | 24 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2012 | 16 | 21 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2014 | 20 | 16 | 0 | 1 | ||||||
| 2015[22] | 19 | 18 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2016[23] | 20 | 17 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2018[24] | 20 | 17 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2019[25] | 19 | 17 | 0 | 0 | Borough boundary changes took place reducing the number of seats from 37 to 36. | |||||
| 2021 | 17 | 18 | 0 | 0 | In addition, one existing Independent former Labour councillor remained on the council. | |||||
| 2022 | 18 | 17 | 0 | 0 | One by-election was still ongoing, subsequently won by Labour. | |||||
| 2023 | 20 | 16 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2024 | 25 | 11 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
By-elections occur when seats become vacant between council elections. Below is a summary of recent by-elections;[26] full by-election results can be found by clicking on the by-election name.
| By-election | Date | Incumbent party | Winning party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Langley Green | 28 November 1996 | ||||
| West Green by-election | 14 September 2000 | ||||
| Pound Hill South | 2 October 2003 | ||||
| Northgate | 15 October 2009 | ||||
| Tilgate | 7 October 2010 | ||||
| Southgate | 9 October 2014 | ||||
| Maidenbower | 4 May 2017 | ||||
| Pound Hill South and Worth | 8 June 2017 | ||||
| Tilgate | 26 September 2019 | ||||
| Southgate | 9 June 2022 | ||||