Explainer – What do councils do for me?

Pulborough works through a three‑tier local government system — Parish, District, and County—each handling different parts of daily life. Understanding who does what makes it much easier for you to know where decisions are made, how money flows, and who is accountable for which services.

Pulborough Parish Council (the local tier) - pulboroughparishcouncil.gov.uk

Pulborough Parish Council is the most immediate layer of government. It looks after the village’s public spaces, comments on planning, and represents residents’ views upward.

• Manages community assets such as children’s play areas, recreational fields, sports facilities, green spaces, allotments and bus shelters.
• Reviews planning applications and contributes to the Neighbourhood Plan.
• Oversees Neighbourhood Wardens and community engagement initiatives.
• Raises a precept (part of council tax) to fund local services.
• Operates through 15 councillors and a Clerk, with published agendas, minutes, and policies.

This tier is where residents can most easily influence decisions—meetings are open, and councillors are local. Check online or see local noticeboards for details of meetings and copies of minutes to find out what’s happening in your parish.

Horsham District Council (the district tier) - horsham.gov.uk

Horsham District Council covers a much wider area, including Pulborough. It handles services that are too large for a parish council but still local in nature.

• Planning decisions and development control.
• Waste and recycling collections.
• Environmental health, licensing, and housing services.
• Leisure centres, parks, and economic development.

Pulborough Parish Council feeds into many of these decisions but does not control them. It has two district councillors sitting as parish council members 

West Sussex County Council (the county tier) - westsussex.gov.uk

West Sussex County Council is responsible for the big, strategic services that affect the whole county.

• Roads, pavements, and highways.
• Schools and education.
• Social care for adults and children.
• Libraries, fire and rescue, and public health.
• Major transport and infrastructure planning.

These are high‑budget, long‑term services delivered at scale 

How the pieces fit together

Pulborough’s governance works because each tier handles a different scale of responsibility:

• Parish = hyper‑local spaces, community voice, and village‑level improvements.
• District = services that need professional teams and regulatory powers.
• County = large systems requiring major budgets and specialist expertise.

Residents often interact with all three without realising it—for example, a pothole (county), a planning application (district), and a broken piece of playground equipment (parish) all sit with different authorities.