I was delighted that once again Rother District Council is able to give its backing to Fairtrade Fortnight which runs until Sunday, October 4.
The choices we make when we shop can have a huge impact on producers and their ability to improve their living standards and invest in their business
Buying and using fairtrade products helps to make the world a fairer place and I would encourage residents to consider buying Fairtrade products and play their part.
Looking at our own local economy and how best we can support businesses and make sure our high streets are thriving, I was pleased to join Cabinet colleagues in agreeing to the next steps to bring long-term vacant commercial properties back into use.
New powers introduced under the government’s High Street Rental Auctions programme will allow us to intervene when buildings have stood empty for an extended periods of time and bring buildings back into use, encourage new business and increase footfall.
The decision taken by Cabinet enables our officers to identify suitable locations that could benefit from the powers and ensure we are ready to use them.
Empty shops can be a real negative for our high street, but these new powers will hopefully ensure our town and village centres continue to thrive.
I’ve mentioned our local plan in my previous columns before. The plan sets out how and where future development should take place across the district.
At our recent Cabinet meeting we approved the publication of our draft local plan for consultation. It’s important that everyone has the chance to comment on this plan before we submit it for independent examination.
It’s an important document, even more so now with Government setting us significantly higher house building targets.
Our district sits in the High Weald National Landscape and includes protected habitats, flood risk areas, and extensive ancient woodland making development particularly challenging.
The plan, which proposes the delivery of around 8,500 homes and 26.2 hectares of employment land, supporting approximately 5,100 jobs across the district up to 2042, has been developed with feedback from two previous consultations
Having a local plan in place means we can ensure that our planning policies used to assess applications balance the need for new homes, jobs, and infrastructure with the protection of the district’s valued landscapes, habitats, and heritage assets.
The public consultation on our Pre-Submission Local Plan will launch shortly. But more information can be found on our website at Draft Local Plan 2025-2042 – Rother District Council
Ends.
Published: 2nd October 2026
