What We Do
Th Parish Council is part of the three tiers of Local Government which comprises Parish Council; District (Rother)and County Council (East Sussex).
The Council meets in public on the 3rd Monday in the months of January, March, May, July, October and November and additionally when required.
A period for public questions or suggestions is allowed at the start of each meeting. Additionally, Planning Committee meetings are held on the 1st Monday of every month. Notice of meetings is displayed on the parish notice boards at least three days before the meeting and on the meetings page on this website, with agendas and supplementary documents for meetings. There is also a Parish Assembly each April which is not a Council meeting, but a meeting for the electors of the parish.
The Council has the powers to raise income by means of a precept levied on households in the parish and this is collected together with Council Tax by Rother District Council. The Council precept and expenditure is, of course, monitored annually by independent auditors. The Council is also able to borrow money (see below).
What is the money spent on?
The Parish Council precept has to cover all the expenses of the parish; this includes the staff salaries, administrative costs (including the Parish Office), public lighting, maintenance and running of the parish cemetery in Beech House Lane (this is completely separate from the Churchyard, which is the responsibility of the Church), the War Memorial Clock Tower and maintenance of public open spaces owned or leased by the Parish Council which includes the Clappers Recreation Ground, Bishops Meadow, Pipers Field and Jubilee Garden and the ‘Pocket Park‘ which adjoins the Recreation Ground.
The Council has leased the Station Road car park and toilets from Rother District Council in order to ensure that both important facilities remain available for the benefit of the parish (free of charge). Extra Christmas lighting in the village centre is provided by the Council to enhance the fantastic Christmas trees provided by householders under the Robertsbridge Enterprise Group project.
All the dog-waste bins in the village are provided by the Parish Council and grit bins in residential areas (highway ones are provided by East Sussex County Council). In addition, the council supplements the grass cutting within the village centre to improve the standard adopted by East Sussex County Council. The Village Steward is employed to deal more quickly with some of the smaller jobs which arise around the village and to keep the public areas looking nice (including regular litter picking, sign washing, repairs and tidying etc).
The Council also supports, on an ad hoc basis, other things which it considers of benefit to the parish: for example, it made a contribution to the Millennium Wood and to the Millennium celebrations, the Community College Living Garden Project and refurbishment of the Village Hall. Small donations are made to other bodies such as Battle Area Community Transport, Rural Rother Trust, Air Ambulance etc. which it considers are of benefit to the residents. The Council also gives grants to the many village clubs, groups and organisations for specific projects, such as Scouts, Guides and Brownies, football and cricket clubs. In addition, it supports the big annual village events – the bonfire celebrations and Christmas Capers, by paying the cost of the road closures. The annual Summer Event is also a Council initiative, to provide a totally inclusive, open and largely free community event; in 2025 this was Robertsbridge 800.
The Council is able to borrow money (with the approval of the Secretary of State) to pay for larger items of expenditure than are possible in one year’s precept. This has enabled us in the past to improve the children’s play equipment and build the football pavilion and provide the public toilets at the Recreation Ground. The money required to repay a loan is included in the precept. In November 2022 the Council was given approval to borrow £44,000 to upgrade all streetlights in the parish to LED. A loan from the Public Works Loan Board was subsequently received in January 2023. The aim of the upgrades was to make the lighting more environmentally friendly, with less light pollution, less maintenance and substantially reduced power consumption and costs.
