Sompting, Lancing, Shoreham and Southwick form a strip of settlements on the south coast, between Worthing and Brighton collectively known as the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. Shoreham Airport is located in the Adur district, west of Shoreham-by-Sea and just east of Lancing.
The Adur Festival is held in the first two weeks of June every year.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district covered the whole area of two former districts and parts of a third, which were all abolished at the same time:[2]
The first elections to the council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[10][11]
Since the last boundary changes in 2004 the council has comprised 29 councillors representing 14 wards, with each ward electing two councillors except Widewater, which elects three. Elections are held in alternate years for roughly half the council each time to serve a four year term of office.[15]
Premises
The council is based at the Shoreham Centre on Pond Road, which was built in the 1970s as a community centre but was substantially extended in 2015 to also serve as the council's meeting place and offices.[16] Prior to 2015 the council was based at the Civic Centre on Ham Road, Shoreham, which was subsequently demolished.[17]
There are three civil parishes in the district, being Coombes, Lancing, and Sompting. Coombes has a parish meeting rather than a parish council due to its low population.[18] The rest of the district, corresponding to the area of the pre-1974 urban districts of Shoreham-by-Sea and Southwick, is an unparished area.[8]
Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).[24]