For a full pdf copy of this service plan please email una.kane@rother.gov.uk.

1. Aims and Objectives
2. Background
3. Rother Structure
4. Food Hygiene in Rother District
5. Service Delivery
6. Resources
7. Quality Assessment
8. Agreed and Approved
9. Contacts

Aims and Objectives

This Food Service Plan is an expression of Rother District Council’s continuing commitment to Food Hygiene. The mission statement for this service is to

“Deliver an increasingly efficient and effective public health service which strives to promote and sustain a safe, prosperous community for businesses, residents and visitors.”

This plan has been prepared in accordance with paragraph 2.4 of the Food Law Code of Practice (2025).

1. The purpose of this plan is to set out how Rother DC will deliver Official Controls within its area.
2. This service plan notes paragraph 6 of The Regulators Code (published April 2014), which states that “Regulators should ensure their approach to their regulatory activities is transparent”.
3. The food hygiene service of Rother DC is informed by the principles of:
   • Proportionately (in applying the law)
   • Consistency (of approach)
   • Targeting (of enforcement action)
   • Transparency (about how we operate and what those regulated may expect)  
4. The food hygiene service supports the vision of Rother DC Corporate Plan (2020 – 2027) “to put residents at the heart of all we do” by delivering an effective public health service to promote and sustain a safe prosperous community for businesses and residents. Corporate Plan 2020-2027 – Rother District Council
5. Rother DC has adopted Equality Policies at Equalities at Rother District Council – Rother District Council. The Environmental Health Service conducts equality monitoring.
6. The Better Regulation Delivery Office placed food hygiene at Number 5 in their five priority regulatory outcomes for England (November 2011).

Background

Rother District Council – Profile

Population: 93,100 (ONS UK 2021)
Area: 511.8 Km²

Rother’s District is mainly a rural area with urban centres: Bexhill, Battle and Rye. As a District Council, Rother’s hygiene service is concerned only with food hygiene; the food standards and feeding stuffs function is delivered by East Sussex County Council (Trading Standards).

The District of Rother contains small pockets of rural, coastal and urban living. The food businesses within the District reflects this mix. The coastal areas have a significant holiday industry and seasonal influx of visitors affecting Camber and Rye in particular. Battle is a year-round tourist destination.  Bexhill, the main urban development, has a significant care industry which is reflected in the high number of residential care homes. In rural areas there are food approved establishments associated with agricultural and fisheries sectors – one dairy, two cold stores, one egg packer and three fish products.

Rother District Council Structure

flowchart TB
accTitle: Rother District Council Structure
accDescr: The structure of Rother District Council's members including committees, cabinet and the chief executive
    A[Rother District Council \n Thirty-eight Elected Members] --- B[Cabinet]
    subgraph Committees
        C[Overview and Scrutiny Commitee]
        D[Planning Committee]
        E[Licencing & General Purposes Committees]
        F[Audit and Standards]
        G[Human Resources Committee]
        H[Joint Waste and Recycling Committee]
    end
    A --- Committees
    A --- I[Lorna Ford \n Chief Executive]
    

Decisions on this plan and all food hygiene policy matters are delegated to Cllr Field
Councillor details – Councillor Kathryn Field – Rother District Council (moderngov.co.uk)

Cllr Field makes policy decisions on food hygiene and communicates these to Mr R Parker-Harding, the Head of Environmental Health, Licensing and Community Safety.

The senior management structure is under redesign, as proposed below.

%%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%%
mindmap
  root("Chief Executive Officer
  (HoPs)")
    (Head of Corporate and Strategic Services)
    ("DCEO
    (s151)")
      (Head of Housing and Strategic Assets)
      (Head of Digital and Customer Services)
      (Head of Finacial Services)
      (Development Programme Lead)
    ("Director of Governance and Community Services (MO)")
      (Head of Neighbourhood Services)
      (Head of Planning)
      (Audit Manager)
      (Democratic Services Manager)
      ("Head of Environmental Services and Community Safety (Shared WDC)")

Rother District Council – Environmental Health Structure

flowchart TB
accTitle: Environmental Health Structure
accDescr: The structure of Rother District Council's Environmental Health Department
    A[Richard Parker-Harding \n Head of Environmental Services, Licensing & Community Safety] --- B[Catherine Beaumont \n Deputy Head of Service \n Community Protection and Licensing]
    A --- C[Una Kane \n Environmental Health Manager \n Food, Safety, Pest & Dog Control and Licensing]
    B --- D[Principal Environmental Health Officer \nFour Senior Environmental Health Officers \n Three Licensing Officers \n Seven Pollution Control Officers \n Housing Aid Co Ordinator \n Four Business Support Officers \n Three Occupational Therapists]
    C --- E[Nine Senior Environmental Health Officers \n Two Pest Control Officers \n Two Business Support Clerks \n Stray Dog Control Contract]
    D --- F[Apprentice Environmental Health Officer]
    E --- F

Recruitment to all parts of Environmental health has been difficult in recent years. To address our future need for qualified Environmental Health Officers, there are five officers working fulltime, who are also Environmental Health apprentices. Each apprentice is expected to qualify in the coming four years.

The food hygiene of Rother’s District is carried out by the members of the Food Safety team (FAST), as part of the shared environmental health service and interlinks with UKHSA (United Kingdom Health Security Agency – formerly Public Health England) neighbouring local authorities, Food Standards Agency and other agencies as shown below;

The function of the team, in addition to food hygiene, is to advise on health and safety at work, investigate notifiable infectious diseases, regulate skin piercing, licence holiday and residential caravan sites, licence kennels and catteries, provide pest and dog control service and risk assess private water supplies. We do not use contractors.

The team operates from Town Hall, Bexhill-on-Sea and Vicarage Lane, Hailsham from 8.30am – 5.00pm Monday to Thursday and 4:30pm Friday. The service operates an agile working system. Planned out-of-hour work is undertaken and emergency calls are received by a standby system operated on our behalf by Cornwall Council on 01424 787868.

Any complaints can be submitted to Rother DC website at Environmental Health – Rother District Council or reported by telephone 01424 787500.

Enforcement Policy

Rother DC adopted an Enforcement Policy for the shared Environmental Health service in October 2014, cabinet minute 14/31, is available at
Rother and Wealden District Councils Shared Environmental Health Service Enforcement Policy 2014

The Environmental Health service standards and this service plan can be found at Service standards – Rother District Council

Food Hygiene in Rother District

The profile of food businesses in the Rother district on 10th April 2026:

Type of Business	Number
Caring Premises	122
Distributor	13
Hotel/Guest House	48
Importer	1
Manufacturer	33
Mobile	47
Producer	33
Pub/Club	89
Restaurant/Cafe	244
Caterer	127
Retailer	43
School/College	52
Small Retailer	141
Supermarket	12
Takeaway	43
Total	1052
Unrated	2

Each year the numbers of food businesses varies as new businesses open and others cease trading. The total of 1052 shows a steady increase from 999 in 2024.

In 2025/6, sixty-seven food businesses ceased trading, forty changed hands and another ninety-three opened their doors for the first time. Unrated food businesses are those that have applied to be registered but are awaiting their first inspection.

Demands on the Food Service

Within the profile of food businesses are eight that are different because they use specialist techniques, produce a very high volume of food or they export food. One farm dairy producing milk, yogurt and cream; one smoker of fish and meat, one egg laying flocks of chickens with packing plants and two fish processors.

These businesses must be approved before they can start to trade and require intensive input from the food service to do so.

Within the food and safety team are officers who hold specialist qualifications and experience/knowledge in the safe production of high-risk foods and actively support these approved businesses to thrive and grow.

There are other businesses which are seasonal, operating only in holiday periods – typically catering in tourist destinations of Camber and Rye, and some which work only in the time before Christmas (turkey slaughter). Many high street businesses operate only in the evenings (takeaways). The food service inspects when the business is operational and does not usually make appointments.

The overwhelming majority of food businesses are cafes, restaurants and shops, public houses, school kitchens, care homes and hospitals. The service does not inspect each of these annually, instead it inspects according to risk and performance to make sure that the highest risk and the lowest performers receive the most attention.

Food Hygiene Intervention Ratings

The Food Standards Agency sets out a numerical scheme which local authorities must use at each food hygiene inspection and this is used to determine;

1. When the next intervention will be (date)
2. What the next intervention will be (inspection/partial inspection/alternative)
3. Food hygiene rating

This numerical assessment of the business is based on the hazards, risks and controls. These figures are entered into the database and the next inspection is planned. The same information is used to create the food hygiene rating to inform customers of the general standards within a food business.

A business that produces high risk food with good controls is seen once between twelve to eighteen months. This intervention frequency will increase to once in six to twelve months if the business serves a vulnerable group (elderly/infirm/young). Any business with poor controls will require the most attention as decided by the inspecting officer. All food hygiene inspections fall into one of these categories;

1. Category A and B (92+; 72+)
   These are the highest risk food businesses and must be subject to an inspection, partial inspection or audit at least every six months (A) and every 12 months with (B). It is Rother’s policy that these businesses are fully inspected.
2.  Category C (52-71)
   These medium risk businesses will receive an inspection, at eighteen months, if they are broadly compliant it will be a partial inspection; otherwise a full inspection will be made.
3. Category D (31+)
   Category D premises are subject to an intervention every 24 months. Where they are rated 30 or 40 for “type of food”, these businesses must be subject to inspection, partial inspection or audit. Where the premises are rated less than 30 for type of food etc. It can alternate between differing types of official controls. Rother District Council inspects all category D’s, partial inspections for those that are broadly compliant.
4. Category E (0-30)
   The FSA advice on these lowest risk food businesses is that they could have an intervention every 36 months. It is Rother DC policy that these lowest risk food businesses are subject to a physical inspection or an alternative enforcement questionnaire every 36 months. It is important to retain observation of these lowest risk businesses to prevent minor issues becoming major over a long intervention interval. For 2026/7, the first time, food businesses are expected to provide evidence of their food hygiene practices with their completed questionnaire online.

Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

The food hygiene rating scheme was adopted by Rother DC in April 2011 to provide information to consumers on the hygiene, structure and management of a food business. At the end of an inspection the business is rated with one of the window stickers below. In England it is not a legal requirement to display FHR stickers, although it is in both Wales and N Ireland. Rother ratings are available at Search the Rother area | Food Standards Agency

Business with a 3, 4 or 5 are deemed to be broadly compliant with food hygiene legislation and those with ratings of 0, 1 or 2 have failed.

In April 2025, 99 % of food businesses in Rother were broadly compliant with food law. Distribution of Food Hygiene Ratings – Rother District Council

Food Hygiene Ratings April 2025 RDC

Rating	April 2026	April 2025
0	0	0
1	2	2
2	1	1
3	39	37
4	90	102
5	852	861
Broadly Compliant	99%	99%

This terrific result shows that food businesses in Rother have the highest possible compliance rate, which is remarkable especially when compared to the national picture. Research published in January 2026, named the top ten filthy takeaway hotspots in the UK.

The Daily Mail article is based on FSA research and shows that one in 17 takeaways and sandwich shops failed their food hygiene inspection in 2025 (rated 2,1 0). Out of a total of 63,500 outlets nationally, 5.7% failed. In comparison, in Rother one takeaway out of forty-five failed, giving a failure rate about one third of the national average 2.2%.

Named and shamed, Britain’s filthiest takeaways: Staggering one in 17 fail food hygiene ratings, analysis shows… so is YOUR favourite one of them? | Daily Mail Online

It is frustrating to Environmental Health Officers that businesses are not mandated to display their food hygiene rating stickers. A survey by the Food Standards Agency of consumers (February 2026) showed overwhelming support for making sticker display mandatory. Food and You 2 FHRS Wave 10: Executive Summary | Food Standards Agency

Food Hygiene Interventions – Performance 2025-2026

A total of 451 food businesses were due for an intervention in 2025-6.

Of the 451 due inspections, all were done, giving a performance of 100%.

The overall performance of the food and safety team was excellent.

Service Delivery 2026-2027

Rother DC is committed to providing a full food hygiene service as follows;

For the year 2026-7 the total number of food premises due for inspection is four hundred and fifty-six. These inspections are categorised as follows:

Category	Number
Category A	2
Category B	37
Category C	109
Category D	198
Category E	110
TOTAL	456
Carried forward from 2025-26	0

The food hygiene interventions are conducted to ensure the food business meets the requirements of food hygiene law. It is Rother DC’s policy that these planned inspections are given priority and that 98% of this planned programme will be completed.

Our Approach

It is ROTHER DC policy to make food hygiene inspections without appointment. The Environmental Health Officer will identify themselves to the food business owner (or person in charge) before starting the inspection. The intervention will be conducted in accordance with the Food Law Code 2025 in particular:

• The hazards and risks will be assessed
• The controls will be verified
• The businesses validation will be examined
• The findings will be discussed
• A report of visit form will be left
• A follow up letter may be issued

The Environmental Health Officers of Rother DC will also deal with licensing and health and safety issues during a food inspection.

Poorest Performers

In Rother DC food businesses scoring 0-2 will receive more attention and support to continue to raise standards. This means that inspectors will make compliance checks (revisit) within three months of the initial inspection. If significant improvements have not been made Inspectors will take enforcement action.

Those businesses which show little or no improvement may be advised to contact a training contractor for tailored coaching, which they will have to pay for.

Enforcement

In 2025-6 nine enforcement notices were issued to six food businesses. These hygiene improvement notices required the completion of improvement works by a specified date. Usually this involved poor conditions that needed deep cleaning and minor repairs. Sometimes out of date food was found, in fridges and freezers. In other cases, the business management of hygiene and safety was poor with little or no written records.

During a routine inspection an Environmental Health Officer discovered that foul sewage was periodically rising up into the kitchen through a manhole. The food business owner was contacted and a voluntary agreement to close the kitchen was put in place. Food production was stopped and assistance was sought.

An engineer attended promptly and discovered that the sewage pump has stopped working. The fault was remedied, so the sewage ran directly into the main sewer.
The kitchen deep cleaned, the voluntary closure lifted before the business re opened to the public.

Advice

During each inspection officers speak with business owners, and may discuss a range of subjects, not just food hygiene. Advice is given on health and safety at work and licensing. For many business owners, this is the only opportunity they get to speak to an officer of the Council, to discuss any concerns they have or to discuss how to resolve difficult hygiene and safety matters.

In the summer of 2025 environmental and food samples were taken from small food businesses. Environmental samples are swabs of surfaces and items to check if they are clean. In one business, six environmental samples were unsatisfactory for Enterobacteriaceae. The presence of these bacteria are a clear sign that cleaning is unsatisfactory, there are poor hygiene practises and low-quality raw food ingredients.

Seasonal Businesses

There are many seasonal food businesses within the Rother district who trade only between June and September or early December. These businesses are inspected according to the Food Standards Agency food hygiene intervention scheme (as 4.2 above). However, those categorised as C are scheduled for an intervention at 18 months which may fall within their closed period. In these cases, it is policy to bring these inspections forward, so they are inspected when they are trading.

Unrated Businesses

A business is unrated when it is registered with the local authority but is awaiting the first inspection. On 31 March 2026 there were two unrated food businesses on the database.

Revisits

Twenty-seven revisits were made in 2025-6. Revisits are made to any businesses where significant statutory requirements were found on the programmed inspection. Revisits are always made after the expiry of statutory notices and to any businesses rated 0-2 FHRS. The number of revisits varies every year, as can be seen below.

Service Requests

Complaints about foodstuffs, food businesses or handlers can be made directly to Rother DC by emailing foodhs@rother.gov.uk or by telephone to 01424 787550.

We do not accept anonymous complaints, full contact details will be asked for, which will be kept confidential. The team will observe the shared service complaint investigation policy, give a first response to a service request within 5 days and complete the investigation within 90 days.

In 2025-6 Rother DC investigated fifty-six requests for service regarding foods, food hygiene and food safety in food businesses. One member of the public reported the undercooking of burgers, which could cause serious food poisoning. An officer visited the business and served an enforcement notice to ensure all burgers were thoroughly cooked in future.

New Businesses

Ninety new food businesses opened in Rother in 2025-6 and another forty changed hands. Each of these businesses was given advice and guidance on both food hygiene and safety matters.

Every new food business is obliged to register with their local authority and this form is available on the Rother DC website along with full advice on starting up a new food business. Starting a food business – Rother District Council

Sampling

Rother DC samples food to ensure it is clean and safe to eat. Food samples are taken and sent to United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in Porton Down for examination.

During 2025-6 the food and safety team took samples of dried fruits, nuts and seeds, root vegetables and raw chicken as part of national studies to establish the current trends in food contamination. Rates of Salmonella and Campylobacter, the two most common food poisonings, are at the highest rate in a decade, and are associated with chicken. Root vegetables have been associated with E.coli STEC, a very serious food borne disease that can cause kidney failure. Salmonella was isolated from one sample of raw chicken – the business was advised and their cleaning routines checked for efficacy.

Foods were also sampled from local manufacturers of dairy produce, fish and meat products. Working surfaces were swabbed to check cleaning routines. Some minor failings were reported, these were discussed with the food businesses and necessary improvements made.

Primary Authority

Primary Authority allows businesses to be involved in their own regulation. It enables them to form a statutory partnership with one local authority which then provides robust and reliable advice for other local regulators to consider when carrying out inspections or addressing non-compliance. Rother DC does not act as a primary authority for any food business. Rother DC complies with the primary authority principle by checking the appropriate website before conducting food hygiene inspections and noting any assured advice or inspection plans.

Notifiable Diseases

In 2025-6 Rother DC received fifty notifications of infectious diseases from UKHSA.

This is a dramatic fall from previous years is because the reporting rules have changed, with the most common food poisoning, Campylobacter, no longer reported. UKHSA has decided to investigate cases, E.coli STEC, Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Paratyphoid and Shigella, without our assistance.

Reportable Diseases	2025/6	2024/5	2023/24	2022/23	2021/22	2020/21
Campylobacter	23	213	176	176	106	128
Covid 19	0	0	0	0	44	9
Salmonella	9	16	10	18	12	10
E. coli 0157	3	7	17	12	11	10
Hepatitis	5	4	3	–	–	–
Legionnaires	0	0	3	1	–	–
Para/Typhoid	0	0	0	0	–	–
Listeria	0	0	1	–	–	–
Shigella	2	4	4	0	4	0
Giardia	0	0	3	16	3	1
Cryptosporidium	4	4	3	0	0	1
Others	1	0	0	0	0	0
Total	50	248	220	222	180	159

Nationally, the total number of notifiable diseases is the highest in recent years.This is despite how few persons see a GP and obtain a faecal test. Cases of Salmonella and Campylobacter highest in a decade – GOV.UK

Food Alerts

In January 2026, the Food Standards Agency advised all local authorities that Nestle  issued a withdrawal of Cow & Gate and Aptamil infant milk products because of cereluide poisoning. This unusual toxin is produced by Bacillus cereus, a food poisoning rarely seen. It is heat resistant, meaning that making up the formula to the manufacturer’s instructions did not destroy the toxin. If ingested the toxin causes nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. Environmental Health Officers were asked to assist with any local reports of illness.

Advice for Food Businesses

Rother District Council is committed to supporting all food businesses through provision of food hygiene advice on the Rother District Council’s website at Food Hygiene for Businesses – Rother District Council

Business advice is provided at Support and advice – Rother District Council

Resources

Area	2025-26 Budget
TOTAL cost	£168,886.00
Employee Costs	£157,090.00
Supplies and Services	£11.796.00
Staff	2.66 FTE

Budget Area	£	Notes
Sampling Budget	15,664	With UKHSA not ROTHER DC
Legal Action	1,000,000	For general Council disasters and emergencies – not specific to food hygiene functions
	9,420	Specifically, for food hygiene matters

The number of full-time equivalent staff working on food hygiene, including supervision and management, for 2026-7 is 2.66 FTE. All the authorised food officers are named below. We do not use contractors.

Note EHORB indicates Registration with the Environmental Health Officers Registration Board.

Environmental Health Officer	Additional Qualification	Level of Authorisation Inspection	Level of Authorisation Enforcement
EDWARDS Simon	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
BINDING Amy	Env Health Degree	C-E	Full
Gatta Alek (Apprentice)	Food Control Diploma	D-E	Partial
HOYLAND Richard	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
KAMUNDA Maybee	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
KANE Una	EHORB registration Env Health Degree MSc (Applied Micro)	A-E	Full
PIPER Richard	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
POWELL Jamie	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
SIMMONDS Rachel	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
WHITCOMBE Ann	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
WRIGHT Philip	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full

Other Officers, within the Environmental Health Department (but not within the Food and Safety team), who are authorised are as follows:

Surname	First Name	Job Title
PARKER-HARDING	Richard	Head of Environmental Health
RANDOLPH	Mark	Senior Environmental Health Officer
BEAUMONT	Cathy	Deputy head of Environmental Health

The Council employs two Pest Control officers who assist officers in inspecting premises for pest activity and act as expert witnesses in prosecutions. Sadly, Graeme Marsh Pest Controller died in February 2026. Graeme had served Rother’s residents well, professional, punctual and always reliable. He is sorely missed. The pest control service has run with one officer since June 2025; a new officer has been appointed and will start shortly.

Database

The shared Environmental health service uses Idox Cloud as its database, for all inspections and service requests, including food hygiene. There are written procedures how to record inspections to make sure all is accurate and uploads Food Hygiene Ratings correctly to Search for ratings | Food Hygiene Ratings

Staff Development

The shared Environmental Health service between Rother and Wealden has created resilience, improving collective knowledge and experience. Annual appraisals are conducted to identify training needs which form an annual training programme.
Members of the team may attend external seminars to progress their professional knowledge and self-development.

During 2025-6 team meetings were held every six weeks in person. Full notes of meetings are available on the internet library FAST Team Meetings | RIAMS

Team meetings are used to keep everyone updated on developments within the council and service. Service requests and inspections are peer reviewed. Plans may be made for new work streams. Newly qualified officers are assessed using the FSA competency framework and their authorisation may be tailored accordingly.

Throughout 2025-6 new sessions were held to update skills to help everyone in Environmental Health and Licensing prepare for local government reorganisation. These sessions called “Lets Catch Up” covered private sector housing, health and safety, licensing and noise.

Sussex Food Liaison Group Meetings

Rother DC is represented on the Sussex Food Liaison Group by the Environmental Health Manager. This liaison work ensures that our enforcement activities are consistent with those of our neighbours.

In 2025-6 the food and safety team participated in two consistency exercises; these are blind tests designed to ensure that individual officers are consistent with other local authorities. The team score was generally consistent both locally and nationally.
Rother is represented on the CIEH Sussex Branch of the Food Study Group, and UKHSA meetings on infection control.

Quality Assessment

Each year Rother DC’s performance against this plan is measured, using all the specified targets, standards and any targeted outcomes within this plan. The review will specify where there has been variance from the plan and the reason for that variance. Any areas in need of improvement will be specified and an action plan put in place to implement their improvement. For 2026-7 the food programme is up to date. The target is to complete 90% of the planned programme by 31 March 2027.

The service subscribes to RIAMS, Food | RIAMS an on-line Environmental health library service, providing links to national advice and guidance for Environmental Health practitioners. In addition, there is material available on the FSA’s website and their communications hub. There is also a library of law encyclopaedias and reference books in the office.

Agreed and Approved

This Service Plan has been approved by the Head of Service, following consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder.

It is published on the Rother website and in the Member’s Bulletin.

Signed: R Parker-Harding

Mr R Parker-Harding BSc (Hons) MSc DMS CEnvH AMIOA
Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner
Head of Service-Environmental Services, Licensing and Community Safety

Date: 21 July 2026

Signed: K Field
Councillor K Field
Cabinet Portfolio Holder Environmental Health

Date: 22 August 2026

Contacts

Website: www.rother.gov.uk
Address: Town Hall, Bexhill-on-Sea
Telephone: 01424-787000
E-mail: foodhs@rother.gov.uk