My low-tax, low-staffed council - Rother chief executive

In a hard-hitting but often humorous overview of his council's role and responsibilities, chief executive Derek Stevens defined Rother's duties and deluged his audience with facts.

The medium-sized district council has a population of 86,000 but this was spread over 200 square miles with roughly half in Bexhill and half in Battle, Rye and the rural areas.

It was set in beautiful countryside. But this masked some serious social problems, including rural transport and housing.

Sidley was officially classed as one of the most deprived wards in the country. Bexhill Central also scored badly on the national index of multiple deprivation as did some wards in eastern rural Rother.

Until the 2000 Act, councils were restricted by statute. Now they had a freer hand. As a result Rother had been able to intervene to buy Rye fish market to help the local economy.

The authority provided more than 60 different services, from emergency planning to housing the homeless.

Many were "invisible" services. "If you go into a restaurant in Bexhill our officers will have been at some time to check the kitchens and make sure that the food is safe to eat."

Giving an example of the differences between services provided by Rother and those by the county council, which was the highway authority, the chief executive raised a laugh.

"We DON'T do Devonshire Square..!"

Many services had to be provided by law. With restricted resources, this meant there was little money for "discretionary" services.

He instanced the tourist information centre controversy.

Rother had a 100m turnover, a 50m budget and a 30m net budget.

In 2000 some 75% of its income came from central government. This was now down to 50%.

In addition, central government was imposing more responsibilities on local authorities without the funding to match them.

Bus passes for pensioners were a great scheme '“ "I hope to take advantage of it in 25 years' time...!" - but it cost Rother 250,000 last year.

The council was the fourth largest employer in the area. Yet it employed only 250 staff. Eastbourne and Hastings employed twice as many.

"We have the lowest staff-to-resident ratio of any area in the country. I am particularly proud of my staff. In key areas like housing they really do do beyond their limits to provide a service."

He listed some facts and figures:

*Bexhill residents paid more for the upkeep of Egerton Park than for the De La Warr Pavilion

*174 cemetery interments a year

*More than 1,700 food and safety inspections a year

*More than 1m spent on providing providing facilities for disabled people to remain in their homes

*130 homeless families given accommodation

*1.25 million visits a year to the Rother website

*590,000 telephone calls taken a year

*200 Community Help Point visits a day

"What does it cost?

"One problem that we have is that we are a collection authority. We collect Council Tax for East Sussex County Council, East Sussex Fire and Rescue and Sussex Police Authority plus the town and parish councils.

"But we have the lowest taxation of any authority in East Sussex."

The average Rother household paid 2.90 a week for district council services '“ of which 50p went on refuse collection.