Rother is a
local government district
The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...
in
East Sussex,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Its council is based in
Bexhill-on-Sea. The district is named after the
River Rother which flows within its boundaries.
History
The District of Rother was formed on 1 April 1974, under the
Local Government Act 1972, by the merger of the
Municipal Borough of Bexhill, the
Municipal Borough of Rye and
Battle Rural District. It is one of three districts within the county without
borough status and is the easternmost one: the other two being
Lewes to the west, and
Wealden in the centre. The borough of
Hastings lies surrounded by Rother.
Governance
Rother District Council is elected every four years, with currently 38
councillors being elected at each election. From 1983 until 2019, the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
have had a majority on the council, apart from between 1991 and the
1999 election when no party had a majority.
Since 2019, the 'Rother Alliance' has controlled the council, formed of a mixture of
Independent,
Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties
See also
*Liberal democracy
*Lib ...
,
Labour and
Green Party councillors.
The council is often criticised by its residents.
Premises
The council is based at
Bexhill Town Hall on London Road in Bexhill, which was built in 1895 for the Bexhill Urban District Council, which became Bexhill Borough Council in 1902. The building continued to serve as the seat of local government following the reorganisation in 1974 which created Rother District.
Wards
Bexhill has nine wards: the remaining councillors represent the other 11 wards.
Parishes
The lowest level of local government is the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
: there are 29 within the Rother District which are:
Playden and East Guldeford are merged in the statistical analysis although they are both civil parishes in their own right. Playden has a Parish Council whilst East Guldeford holds a Parish Meeting.
Ashburnham and
Penhurst are also separate parishes.
Geography
Rother District covers two areas of relief: to the south, a section of the High
Weald; and to the north the lower land, named the Rother Levels, across which flow the
River Rother, which rises on the Weald and flows easterly towards Rye Bay, and its tributaries. For much of the course of the main river it constitutes the boundary between
East Sussex and
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, and is given the alternative title of the ’’Kent Ditch’’. Tributaries of the river include the Rivers Dudwell,
Tillingham and
Brede.
The district reaches the coast in the vicinity of Bexhill, and on the shores of Rye Bay.
Climate
Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year round. The
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
subtype for this climate is "
Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/
Oceanic climate).
Demographics
Rother has one of the oldest populations (with a median age of 52 years) and the lowest per capita income
[ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2018 and data tables] in the UK.
Transport
There are several main roads crossing the district. The major trunk road is the
A21, London to Hastings road; it is joined by the
A28 road
The A28 is a trunk road in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in south east England, connecting Margate, Canterbury, Ashford and Hastings.
Starting at the seaside resort of Margate at the north-east point of Kent, the A28 runs inland and we ...
from Ashford road near Hastings; which in turn is crossed by the
A268 Hawkhurst
Hawkhurst is village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The village is located close to the border with East Sussex, around south-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells and within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Na ...
to Rye road. There is also the
A259 coastal route
The
Hastings Line,
East Coastway Line and the
Marshlink Line
The Marshlink line is a railway line in South East England. It runs from Ashford, Kent via Romney Marsh, Rye and the Ore Tunnel to Hastings where it connects to the East Coastway line towards Eastbourne. Services are provided by Southern.
Th ...
are the three railway lines in the District; The
Kent and East Sussex Railway tourist line terminates at Bodiam.
Long-distance footpaths include the
Sussex Border Path
The Sussex Border Path is a long-distance footpath around the borders of Sussex, a historic county and former medieval kingdom in southern England. The main path is long and stays close to Sussex's borders with Hampshire, Surrey and Kent, co ...
; and the
Saxon Shore Way, which links with the
1066 Country Walk.
Landmarks
Major landmarks include
Bodiam
Bodiam () is a small village and civil parish in the Rother District of East Sussex, England. It lies in the valley of the River Rother, near to the villages of Sandhurst and Ewhurst Green.
The MP of the local UK Parliament constituency is Hu ...
and
Camber Castle
Camber Castle, also known formerly as Winchelsea Castle, is a 16th-century Device Fort, built near Rye by King Henry VIII to protect the Sussex coast of England against French attack. The first fortification on the site was a small, round ...
s; and
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined Benedictine abbey in Battle, East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the site of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St Martin of Tours. It is a Scheduled Monument.
The Grade I listed site is now ...
.
References
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Non-metropolitan districts of East Sussex