West Sussex

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your West Sussex shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the West Sussex offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of West Sussex at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a West Sussex? Wrong! If the West Sussex is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about West Sussex then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling West Sussex? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about West Sussex and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your West Sussex wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your West Sussex then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the West Sussex site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about West Sussex, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your West Sussex, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=300 style=margin-left:10px|-!colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"|West Sussex|-| colspan=2 align=center||-!colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Geography|-| width="45%"|Status: || Ceremonial counties of England & Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England county|-| Region: || South East England:
- Total
- Admin. council || [List of Ceremonial counties of England by Area
1 E9 m²
List of Administrative shire counties of England by Area|-| Admin HQ: || Chichester: || GB-WSX|-| [ONS coding system: || 45|-| Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 3: || UKJ24|-!colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Demographics|-| Population:
- Total ()
- Density
- Admin. Council]

|precision=0|abbr=yes-->
List of non-metropolitan counties of England by population|-| Ethnicity: || 96.6% White
1.7% S.Asian|-!colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Politics|-| colspan=2 align=center|
West Sussex County Council
http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/|-| Executive: || |-| colspan=2 align=center|MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005|-| colspan=2|Peter Bottomley Conservative Party (UK)
Nick Gibb Conservative Party (UK)
Nick Herbert Conservative Party (UK)
Tim Loughton Conservative Party (UK)
Francis Maude Conservative Party (UK)
Laura Moffatt Labour Party (UK)
Nicholas Soames Conservative Party (UK)
Andrew Tyrie Conservative Party (UK)|-!colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Districts|-| colspan=2|

Worthing

Arun

Chichester (district)

Horsham (district)

Crawley

Mid Sussex

Adur

|}

West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex (with Brighton and Hove), Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial counties of England until 1974 and the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972. Also at this time the Mid Sussex region (including Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and East Grinstead) was transferred from East Sussex.

West Sussex is a diverse county; it is well known for its gastronomy, stately homes and castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle. Over half the county is protected countryside, offering popular walking and cycling ground for visitors and residents alike .

Chichester is the county town of West Sussex, and the highest point of the county is Blackdown, Sussex, at 280m/919 ft ().

Settlements

Most settlements in West Sussex are either along the south coast or are situated in the M23 motorway corridor. Crawley and Worthing are the largest settlements in the county, with populations of approximately 100 000 inhabitants each. Next in size order comes the market town of Horsham, and Bognor Regis, on the south coast. Chichester, the county town, boasts a cathedral and city status, and is situated not far from the border with Hampshire. Other towns in alphabetical order are Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath in the Mid Sussex district, and Littlehampton in the Arun district.

Other settlements include the towns of Arundel, Lancing and Shoreham-by-Sea, and the smaller settlements of Billingshurst, Cuckfield, Henfield, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint, Midhurst, Petworth, Rustington, Steyning, Storrington and Pulborough.

For a full list of settlements see List of places in West Sussex.

Communications and transport The M23 motorway/A23 road runs through the east of the county from Surrey all the way to Brighton in neighbouring county East Sussex. Other major roads are the A272 road which heads east to west, and the A27 road which does the same but close to the coast; the A272 goes through the middle of the county. On the majority of the coast is the A259 road, which is used as an alternate route to the A27.

Gatwick Airport, which handled over 32 million passengers in 2005, is north of Crawley, and is the second largest airport in the United Kingdom. There is also a considerably smaller airport at Shoreham. There are 3 main railway routes; the Brighton Main Line, the Arun Valley Line and the West Coastway Line.

Local government West Sussex County Council, based at County Hall Chichester, provides a large range of services including education, social services, fire and rescue, libraries, town and country planning, refuse disposal and consumer services. In addition there are seven local government districts within the county of West Sussex:

Adur
Arun
Chichester (district)
Crawley
Horsham (district)
Mid Sussex
Worthing

Places of interest Castles, houses and other buildings

Arundel Castle
Barnham, West Sussex Windmill
Christ's Hospital, an old public school notable for its archaic uniforms and picturesque campus.
Goodwood House & Goodwood airfield
High Salvington windmill
Hurstpierpoint College - a Public School, notable for its substantial Sussex flint buildings, large campus and high academic and sporting standards.
Lancing College - a Public School, notable for its substantial Sussex sandstone chapel, large campus and high academic standards.
Petworth House
Queen Victoria Hospital Grinstead - Home of the McIndoe burns centre. Pioneered reconsturctive surgery for burns patients during the Second World War.
Shipley Windmill
Standen, East Grinstead
Uppark

Museums .

Amberley Working Museum
Weald and Downland Open Air Museum of Historic Buildings at Singleton, West Sussex
Tangmere Military Aviation Museum

Nature

WWT Arundel (a nature reserve of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust)
Selsey Bill
South Downs Way - a long distance footpath
Stansted Park
Wakehurst Place

Ancient history

Bignor Roman Villa
Cissbury Ring and Chanctonbury Ring, ancient hill forts located on the South Downs
Fishbourne Roman Palace

Religious buildings

Bosham Church
St. Margaret's Church, West Hoathly - an 11th century Anglo-Saxons church
St Mary's Church, Sompting - an 11th century Anglo-Saxon church.
St Swithuns Church East Grinstead
St. Nicholas' Church, Worth - a 10th century church in Worth, Crawley
St. Marks Church, Horsham - a Anglican church in Horsham

See also :Category:Churches in West Sussex

The arts

Pallant House Gallery in Chichester houses one of the most significant collections of 20th century British art outside London. It includes a substantial body of early and mid-20th century work bequeathed by Walter Hussey (Dean of Chichester Cathedral, 1955-1977) and many later works donated by Colin St. John Wilson.
Worthing Museum and Art Gallery houses the biggest collection of Georgian & Victorian costume in South East England.

Other

London Gatwick Airport
Shoreham Airport - the world's oldest continually-operational airport.
Hickstead Showjumping
Cobnor House - home of the Beale family.

History .

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

{| class="wikitable"|-! Year || Regional Gross Value AddedComponents may not sum to totals due to rounding || Agricultureincludes hunting and forestry || Industryincludes energy and construction || Servicesincludes financial intermediation services indirectly measured|-| 1995 || 8,564 || 208 || 2,239 || 6,116|-| 2000 || 10,576 || 162 || 2,545 || 7,869|-| 2003 || 12,619 || 185 || 2,520 || 9,915|}

Virgin Atlantic Airways is based in Crawley, as is BOC Edwards.

Education West Sussex has a comprehensive education system, with 37 state schools and 20 independent schools. At GCSE, in England, on average, 45.8% of pupils gain 5 grades A-C including English and Maths; for West Sussex Local Education Authority and its 8500 pupils that take GCSE at 16, it is 47.7%. However the variation across the county is quite large, with Horsham and Mid Sussex districts producing much better results than the other districts. Mid Sussex district has the highest school population, with Adur the smallest (only having two schools). The provision of sixth-forms varies as well by district: although at least 80% of schools have sixth-forms, most schools in Worthing district do not, and only half of the schools in Mid Sussex and Horsham districts do as well. At A-level, West Sussex (similar to East Sussex, although East Sussex gets lower results) performs well under the England average. The independent schools perform the best at A level in West Sussex, but (as a comparison) only Lancing College would be better than a typical grammar school in a selective area: the area's A-level performance is disappointing. At A level, the best state school is Holy Trinity School, Crawley in Crawley, and the best independent is Lancing College.

GCSE results by district council (%) % achieving 5 grades A-C at GCSE including English and Maths.

Horsham 59.6
Mid Sussex 59.3
Chichester 52.3
Worthing 46.0
Crawley 42.2
Arun 39.3
Adur 23.5

Politics West Sussex County Council has 70 councillors; the majority of them being Conservative Party (UK). There are 47 Conservative councillors, 16 Liberal Democrats, and 7 Labour Party (UK) councillors.

As of the United Kingdom general election, 2005, West Sussex is largely represented by Conservative Member of parliament, with the exception of the Labour Party constituency of Crawley (UK Parliament constituency), where Labour held the seat by just 37 votes. The Members of Parliament, their corresponding constituencies and the percentage of the vote they received are as follows:

Arundel & South Downs - Nick Herbert, Conservative, 49.8%
Bognor Regis - Nick Gibb, Conservative, 44.6%
Chichester - Andrew Tyrie, Conservative, 48.3%
Crawley - Laura Moffatt, Labour, 39.1%
Horsham - Francis Maude, Conservative, 50.0%
Mid Sussex - Nicholas Soames, Conservative, 48.0%
Worthing East - Tim Loughton, Conservative, 43.9%
Worthing West - Peter Bottomley, Conservative, 47.6%