Brighton and Hove

City of Brighton and Hove
—  Unitary authority & City  —
Brighton and Hove shown within England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Ceremonial county	East Sussex
Administrative seat	Hove
City status	2000
Government
• Type	Unitary authority & City
• Governing body	Brighton and Hove City Council
• Local government form	Leader & Cabinet
• Control	Green (council NOC)
• MPs	Simon Kirby (C) (Brighton Kemptown) Mike Weatherley (C) (Hove) Caroline Lucas (G) (Brighton Pavilion)
Area
• Unitary authority & City	33.80 sq mi (87.54 km2)
Population (2008 est.)
• Unitary authority & City	256,600
• Density	7,880/sq mi (3,040/km2)
• Urban	461,181
• Ethnicity (Office for National Statistics 2007 Estimate)	88.6% White 4.9% South Asian 2.3% Mixed Race 2.3% Black 2.0% Chinese and other
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
Postcode span
Grid ref.
ONS code	00ML
ISO 3166-2	GB-BNH
NUTS 3

Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority area and city on the south coast of England. It is England's most populous seaside resort. The major part of the city consists of Brighton, with around 155,000 people of the total population of 251,000. Consequently, people usually refer to the city as just "Brighton". Brighton and Hove's urban area has a population of over 450,000 people. The city is famous for its history as a seaside town, and more recently for its reputation of having a large gay community. The city is also famous for its football team, Brighton & Hove Albion FC (commonly known as just "Brighton" or "Albion"). They currently play in the Football League Championship at the Amex Stadium, opened in 2011.

In 1997, the two large towns of Brighton and Hove were joined to form the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove, which was granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the millennium celebrations in 2000.

Brighton and Hove forms part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation, the 12th largest conurbation in the United Kingdom. Along this area of the south coast, there is little or no gap of countryside between these large towns and city. Directly to the west is Shoreham-by-Sea, and a short distance to the east are Peacehaven and Newhaven. The city, district and urban areas of Brighton and Hove have the biggest populations in the South East England region.

Brighton and Hove themselves were results of amalgamations:

• Brighton was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1854, later becoming a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888; it covered the parish of Brighton and part of Preston
• Hove became a local board of health in the late 19th century, originally covering the parish of Hove
• In 1893 the parish of Aldrington was added to Hove local board
• Hove became incorporated as a municipal borough in 1898
• Hangleton, Preston Rural and West Blatchington were added to Hove in 1928
• Ovingdean, Patcham and Rottingdean were added to Brighton in 1928
• Portslade-by-Sea was added to Hove in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 : both Brighton and Hove became non-metropolitan districts of East Sussex

On 15 October 2004, Brighton and Hove was granted Fairtrade City status.

City Council

Political composition

Main article: Brighton and Hove local elections

Elections are held every four years, with the last elections occurring on May 5, 2011.

Party		Councillors	Change (on 2007)
	Green	23	+10
	Conservative	18	−8
	Labour	13	No Change
	Liberal Democrat	0	−2
	Independent	0	No Change
Total		54	-
Source: Brighton & Hove City Council

This makes Brighton and Hove the first ever council in the United Kingdom where the Green Party have been the largest group and led the council.

Palace Pier, Brighton at sunset

Hove promenade facing towards Brighton

Flats in Ashton Rise, between the Hanover area and the seafront

Pétanque players at the Peace statue terrain the seafront (West pier in the distance)

Brighton Wheel

Administration and directorates

The leader of the council elected on 19 May 2011 is Councillor Bill Randall (Green Party), although the Greens only hold a minority of seats. The current mayor of Brighton and Hove is Councillor Anne Meadows. John Barradell, OBE, started as Chief Executive on 1 October 2009.

Council priorities

Updated in October 2011, the council's corporate priorities are: • Tackling inequality • Creating a more sustainable city • Engaging people who live and work in the city • Being a responsible and empowering employer • Creating a council the city deserves

Towns and districts

The city of Brighton and Hove comprises the following areas (not necessarily directly corresponding to administrative wards or parishes):

• former borough of Brighton

Bevendean

Black Rock

Brighton

Coldean

Hanover

Hollingbury

Hollingdean

Kemptown — built up around a self-contained development of 1823, Kemp Town

The Lanes

Brighton Marina

Moulsecoomb

New England Quarter — a large new mixed-use development

North Laine

Ovingdean

Patcham

Preston Park

Preston Village

Rottingdean Village

Queen's Park

Saltdean (West)

Stanmer

Westdene

Whitehawk

Withdean

Woodingdean

Saltdean

• former borough of Hove

Aldrington

Brunswick — developed 1824 in a similar manner to Kemp Town (see above)

Hangleton

Hove

Knoll (see also neighbouring Hangleton, above)

Mile Oak

Portslade by Sea

Portslade Village

Tongdean

St. Ann's Well

West Blatchington

Census

The first census of Brighton was in 1801.

The resident population of Brighton and Hove at the 2001 census was 247,817 persons, comprising 114,479 households: 48.4% male, 51.5% female.

In the same census, Brighton and Hove had the highest percentage of citizens indicating their religion as Jedi among all principal areas of England and Wales). The next census was carried out on 27 March 2011.

Wording of the Letters Patent

The Letters Patent of 2000 that confers City status is worded thus:

ELIZABETH the SECOND BY THE GRACE OF GOD OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND & OF OUR REALMS & TERRITORIES QUEEN HEAD OF THE COMMON WEALTH DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.
To all to whom these Presents shall come Greeting. Whereas We for divers good causes and considerations Us thereunto moving are graciously pleased to confer on the Towns of Brighton and Hove the status of a city Now Therefore Know Ye that We of Our especial grace and favour and mere motion do by these Presents ordain declare and direct that the TOWNS OF BRIGHTON AND HOVE shall henceforth have the status of a CITY and shall have all such rank liberties privileges and immunities as are incident to a City. In witness whereof We have caused Our Letters to be made Patent Witness Ourself at Westminster the thirty first day of January in the forty ninth year of our reign.

By Warrant under The Queens Sign Manual Phillips.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Brighton and Hove at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	2,656	3	407	2,246
2000	3,101	3	378	2,721
2003	3,952	4	476	3,472

See also

See the Brighton and Hove articles for descriptions of the twin towns, and the Brighton and Hove category for further articles about places and things in the district.

• List of Grade I listed buildings in Brighton and Hove
• List of notable Brighton and Hove inhabitants
• Brighton and Hove City Centre
• List of Brighton & Hove bus names

External links

• Brighton and Hove at the Open Directory Project
• "Brighton & Hove City Council". http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/. Retrieved 2007-08-20. 
• "Brighton & Hove in Pictures". http://www.citylibraries.info/pictures/. Retrieved 2007-08-20. 
• Map Of Brighton & Hove Interactive map of Brighton & Hove, with locations of businesses and other points of interest
• Brighton and Hove Issues Forum - Local discussion forum
• Brighton and Hove News