Your council

Rother: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Rother District Council: Non-metropolitan district (lower tier), England, South East; within the county of ESX. GOV.UK lists it as a district council, within East Sussex County Council. ONS code E07000064.

Council website · Publication scheme

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Rother for 2026–27: £234.13 of a £2,700.95 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 3 opened (1 new provision, 1 change in status, 1 academy converter), 2 closed (1 academy converter, 1 fresh start)

St Richard's Catholic College (secondary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 30 September 2025
The Workplace — closed; reason recorded: fresh start, 31 March 2026
Bexhill Independent Special School — open; reason recorded: new provision, 3 March 2026
East Sussex Skills Academy — open; reason recorded: change in status, 1 April 2026
St Richard's Catholic College (secondary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 October 2025

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Rother reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Rother: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	none budgeted
Highways and transport services	−£1.7 million
Children's social care	none budgeted
Adult social care	none budgeted
Public health	none budgeted
Housing services (general fund only)	£5.3 million
Cultural and related services	£2.2 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£6.7 million
Planning and development services	£652,000
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£5.0 million
Other services	£479,000
Total service expenditure	£18.7 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Rother in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 96,133 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 53 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £28,615 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £564 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 26.4% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 3.1% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £337,816 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 10.0 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Greenhouse gas emissions: 4.0 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 74.4% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 66.6 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 4,135 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

38 seats in 2026. Run by: a coalition or arrangement of independents, Liberal Democrats, Labour and Greens. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Conservative and Unionist 10, Liberal Democrats 9, Labour Party 6, Rother Association of Independent Councillors 6, Green Party (E&W) 3, Independent / Other 3, Reform UK 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 38 councillors, by ward

Christine Bayliss (Labour Party) — Bexhill Central
Ruairi McCourt (Labour Party) — Bexhill Central
Ashan Jeeawon (Rother Association of Independent Councillors) — Bexhill Collington
Doug Oliver (Rother Association of Independent Councillors) — Bexhill Collington
Andrew Hayward (Rother Association of Independent Councillors) — Bexhill Kewhurst
Brian Drayson (Rother Association of Independent Councillors) — Bexhill Kewhurst
Mark Legg (Labour Party) — Bexhill Old Town & Worsham
Polly Gray (Green Party (E&W)) — Bexhill Old Town & Worsham
Charles Clark (Independent / Other) — Bexhill Pebsham & St Michaels
Gareth Delany (Labour Party) — Bexhill Pebsham & St Michaels
Hazel Timpe (Rother Association of Independent Councillors) — Bexhill Sackville
Terry Byrne (Rother Association of Independent Councillors) — Bexhill Sackville
Fazlul Chowdhury (Labour Party) — Bexhill Sidley
Sam Coleman (Labour Party) — Bexhill Sidley
Connor Winter (Independent / Other) — Bexhill St Marks
Jimmy Stanger (Liberal Democrats) — Bexhill St Marks
Arren Rathbone Ariel (Green Party (E&W)) — Bexhill St Stephens
Richard Thomas (Liberal Democrats) — Bexhill St Stephens
Neil Gordon (Conservative and Unionist) — Brede & Udimore
Eleanor Kirby-Green (Conservative and Unionist) — Burwash & the Weald
John Barnes (Conservative and Unionist) — Burwash & the Weald
Nicola McLaren (Liberal Democrats) — Catsfield & Crowhurst
Lizzie Hacking (Conservative and Unionist) — Eastern Rother
Paul Osborne (Conservative and Unionist) — Eastern Rother
Mary Barnes (Conservative and Unionist) — Hurst Green & Ticehurst
Teresa Killeen (Liberal Democrats) — Hurst Green & Ticehurst
Kathryn Field (Liberal Democrats) — North Battle, Netherfield & Whatlington
Sue Burton (Green Party (E&W)) — North Battle, Netherfield & Whatlington
Tony Biggs (Conservative and Unionist) — Northern Rother
Tony Ganly (Conservative and Unionist) — Northern Rother
Susan Prochak (Liberal Democrats) — Robertsbridge
Cheryl Creaser (Independent / Other) — Rye & Winchelsea
Daniel Bradley (Reform UK) — Rye & Winchelsea
Beverley Coupar (Liberal Democrats) — Sedlescombe & Westfield
Carl Maynard (Conservative and Unionist) — Sedlescombe & Westfield
Vikki Cook (Liberal Democrats) — South Battle & Telham
Andrew Mier (Liberal Democrats) — Southern Rother
Tim Grohne (Conservative and Unionist) — Southern Rother

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.