South East England in the context of "West Coast Main Line"

Brighton and Hove (/ˈbraɪtən ... ˈhoʊv/ BRY-tən … HOHV) is a city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administered by Brighton and Hove City Council, which is currently under Labour majority control.

The two resorts, along with Worthing and Littlehampton in West Sussex, make up the second most-populous built-up area of South East England, after South Hampshire. In 2014, Brighton and Hove City Council and other nearby councils formed the Greater Brighton City Region local enterprise partnership area.

East Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement is the city of Brighton and Hove.

The county has an area of 1,792 km (692 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 844,752 in 2024. The largest settlements are located on the coast, and include Brighton and Hove in the south west, Eastbourne in the south, and Hastings in the south east. Away from the coast the county is largely rural, and its major settlements include Crowborough in the north, Halisham in the south-centre, and Lewes in the west. For local government purposes East Sussex comprises a non-metropolitan county, with five districts, and the unitary authority area of Brighton and Hove. East Sussex and West Sussex historically formed a single county, Sussex.

Surrey (/ˈsʌri/) is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the west. The largest settlement is Woking.

The county has an area of 1,663 km (642 square miles) and had an estimated population of 1,248,649 in 2024. The north of the county, which includes the towns of Staines-upon-Thames and Epsom, is densely populated and forms part of the Greater London conurbation. A second conurbation along the western border of the county includes Camberley and Farnham and extends into Hampshire and Berkshire. Woking is located in the north-west, and Guildford in the centre-west. The south of the county is rural, and its largest settlements are Horley in the south-east and Godalming in the south-west. For local government purposes Surrey is a non-metropolitan county with eleven districts. The county historically included much of south-west Greater London but did not include what is now the borough of Spelthorne, which was part of Middlesex. It is one of the home counties.

Kent is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Greater London to the north-west.

The county has an area of 3,544 square kilometres (1,368 sq mi) and had population of 1,931,684 in 2024. The north-west of Kent is densely populated, with Dartford and Gravesend belonging to the Greater London conurbation and Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester forming a second conurbation around the River Medway; the town of Maidstone is located to their south. The remainder of the county is more rural, and its principal settlements include the city of Canterbury in the north-east, the seaside resort of Margate on the north-east coast, and the ports of Dover and Folkestone on the east coast. For local government purposes Kent consists of a non-metropolitan county, with twelve districts, and the unitary authority area of Medway. The county historically included south-east Greater London, and is one of the home counties.

North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,417,397 in 2021. It is the third-most-populated region in the United Kingdom, after the South East and Greater London. The largest settlements are Manchester and Liverpool. It is one of the three regions, alongside North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber, that make up Northern England.

The Brighton and Hove Built-up area or Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation has a population of 474,485 (2011 census), making it England's 12th largest conurbation. This was an increase of around 3% from the 2001 population of 461,181. Named the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation by the Office for National Statistics for the 2001 census and Brighton and Hove Built-up area for the 2011 census, the area has also been known as Greater Brighton, although the Greater Brighton City Region that was created in 2014 from seven local authorities in Sussex covers a much larger area. The conurbation dominates West and East Sussex, with around one in three of Sussex's population living within its boundaries. It is also the second largest conurbation in the South East region of England and the second largest conurbation on the English Channel coast, in either England or France. In both of these cases the Brighton conurbation trails the Southampton and Portsmouth conurbation. The Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation was the largest on the Channel before Portsmouth and Southampton's conurbations were combined for much official data analysis after the 2011 census.

This conurbation is also the UK's most densely populated major conurbation outside London with 5,304 inhabitants per square kilometre (13,740/sq mi). This is due to its tight boundaries between the South Downs national park to the north, and the English Channel to the south together with less land devoted to domestic gardens in English seaside towns than in inland towns.

South Hampshire is a term used mainly to refer to the conurbation formed by the city of Portsmouth, city of Southampton and the non-metropolitan boroughs of Gosport, Fareham, Havant and Eastleigh in southern Hampshire, South East England. The area was estimated to have a population of over 1.5 million in 2013. It is the most populated part of South East England excluding London. The area is sometimes referred to as Solent City particularly in relation to local devolution, but the term is controversial.

West Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley.

The county has a land area of 1,991 square kilometres (769 sq mi) and an estimated population of 915,037 in 2024. The largest settlements are located on the coast, and include the towns of Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, and Worthing; the last two are part of the Brighton and Hove built-up area, which extends into East Sussex. The interior of the county is generally rural, and contains the towns of Crawley and Horsham in the north-east and the city of Chichester in the south-west. For local government purposes West Sussex is a non-metropolitan county with seven districts. West Sussex and East Sussex were historically a single county, Sussex.

Sussex (/ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English Sūþseaxe; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area of South East England that was historically a kingdom and, later, a county. The current ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex cover approximately the same area. The two ceremonial counties border Surrey to the north, Kent to the north-east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. Sussex contains the city of Brighton and Hove and its wider city region, part of the South Downs National Park and the national landscape of the High Weald, and Chichester Harbour. Its coastline is 137 miles (220 km) long.

The Kingdom of Sussex emerged in the fifth century in the area that had previously been inhabited by the Regni tribe in the Romano-British period. In about 827, shortly after the Battle of Ellendun, Sussex was conquered by Wessex. From 860 it was ruled by the kings of Wessex, and in 927 it became part of the Kingdom of England. By the Norman period, Sussex was subdivided into six administrative districts known as rapes, which were themselves divided into hundreds. By the sixteenth century, the eastern three rapes and the western three rapes had been combined for most meetings of the court of quarter sessions, a division which was reinforced when the administrative counties of East Sussex and West Sussex were established in 1889. Subsequent local government reforms maintained the division into east and west. The county retained a single lord lieutenant and sheriff until 1974, when they were replaced with separate posts for East and West Sussex and Sussex lost its status as a ceremonial county.