This service plan is available as a pdf please see Appendix A WDC Food Safety Service Plan 2025-6.pdf
Aims and Objectives
This Food Service Plan is an expression of Wealden 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 chapter 2 of the Food Law Code of Practice (2023).
- The purpose of this plan is to set out how Wealden will deliver Official Controls within its area.
- 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”.
- The food hygiene service of Wealden 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)
- The food hygiene service contributes to Wealden’s District Council Strategy, specifically supporting the local economy as “we enjoy the advantages of quality of place, knowledge and skills of residents, and strong business sectors such as farming and food production”. The Wealden District Council Strategy
- Wealden has adopted an Equality Policy and the Environmental Health Service conducts equality monitoring.
- The Better Regulation Delivery Office placed food hygiene at Number 5 in their five priority regulatory outcomes for England (November 2011).
Background
Wealden – Profile
Population: 160,151 (ONS UK 2021)
Area: 835 Km2
Wealden District is mainly a rural area with five urban centres: Crowborough, Hailsham, Heathfield, Polegate and Uckfield. As a District Council, Wealden is concerned only with food hygiene; the food standards and feeding stuffs function is delivered by East Sussex County Council (Trading Standards).
Wealden enjoys some of the most unspoilt countryside in Southeast: the Ashdown Forest, the High Weald, parts of the South Downs, the Seven Sister cliffs, and Pevensey Levels. The District of Wealden contains pockets of rural, coastal, and urban living. The food businesses within the district reflects this mix.Wealden is a district of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) with high rates of business ownership, lower closure rates (than the national average) and higher survival rates.
Wealden-Economic-Development-Strategy-2023-2033-FINAL.pdf
Wealden District Council Structure
For more information see our Council Service Structure webpage.
Decisions on food hygiene matters are delegated to the Cllr K Williams, Public Health, and Asset Management Portfolio Holder.
Cllr Williams makes decisions on policy matters regarding food hygiene and communicates these to the Director of Place.
The senior management structure of Wealden District Council is shown on the chart below. The Director of Place, Chris Bending, directs the Head of Environmental Health accordingly, Richard Parker- Harding.
Council and Committee Meetings
Wealden District Council Environmental Health Department Structure
This chart shows the structure for the Environmental Health service for Wealden District Council. A total of 21.75 full time officers are engaged in Environmental Health work for Wealden at an annual cost of £1,088,950.
Food Hygiene Stakeholders
The food hygiene service of Wealden District Council is carried out by the members of the Food and Safety team, as part of the shared Environmental Health service and interlinks with UKHSA (United Kingdom Health Security Agency) neighbouring local authorities, Food Standards Agency and other bodies as shown below.
The scope 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 caravan sites and residential mobile home sites, licence kennels and catteries, provide pest and dog control service and to risk assess private water supplies. We do not use contractors.
The service operates from the Civic Offices, Vicarage Lane, Hailsham from 8.30am – 5.00pm Monday to Friday. Planned out-of-hour work is undertaken and emergency calls are taken on our behalf by Cornwall Council on 01424 787868, who will contact a manager if necessary.
Any complaints can be submitted to foodhs@rother.gov.uk, or calls will be taken by customer services on 01323 443322.
Enforcement Policy and Service Standards
Wealden Council adopted an Enforcement Policy for the shared Environmental
Health Service in October 2014, Cabinet Minute 14/31 and is available at
EHEnforcementPolicy.pdf (wealden.gov.uk)
The Environmental Health service standards are at Environmental Health service standards and this service plan
Food Hygiene in Wealden District
The profile of food businesses operating within Wealden district on 1st April 2025.
| Wealden Type of Food Premises | Number of Premises |
|---|---|
| Caring Premises | 167 |
| Distributor | 31 |
| Hotel | 36 |
| Manufacturer | 82 |
| Mobile | 65 |
| Producer | 2 |
| Pub/Club | 123 |
| Restaurant/Cafe | 268 |
| Caterer | 244 |
| Retailer | 74 |
| School/College | 77 |
| Small Retailer | 150 |
| Supermarket | 24 |
| Takeaway | 75 |
| Total | 1418 |
| Plus Unrated | 15 |
Each year the numbers of food businesses varies as new businesses open, and others cease trading. The total number of food businesses in Wealden in April 2025 is slightly up from 1403 in 2024/5 to 1418.
One hundred and thirty-nine food businesses closed in 2024/5; one hundred and forty-four new food operators opened for business.
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 twenty that are different because they use specialist techniques, produce a very high volume of food or they export food. Cheesemakers, on farm dairies producing milk, yogurt and cream, smokers of fish and meat, egg laying flocks of chickens with packing plants, making of charcuterie.
These businesses must be approved before they can start to trade and require intensive input from the food service to do so.
There are other businesses which are seasonal, operating only in holiday periods – typically catering in tourist destinations 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.
New imported food controls were put in place for Great Britain in April 2024. Wealden District Council will have responsibilities for inspecting imported foods, but the detail of what will be required has yet to be announced.
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.
- When the next intervention will be (date)
- What the next intervention will be (inspection/partial inspection/alternative)
- 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 date of 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.
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 Wealden’s policy that these businesses are fully inspected.
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.
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 is rated less than 30 for type of food etc. it can alternate between official controls. We inspect all category D’s, partial inspections for those that are broadly compliant.
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 our 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.
Food Hygiene Rating Scheme
The food hygiene rating scheme was adopted by Wealden 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 issued with one of the window stickers below. In England, the display of window stickers is not required by law, despite the fact it is mandatory in both Wales and Northern Ireland.
All food hygiene ratings are published at.
Search the Wealden 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 2024 – 98% of food businesses in Wealden were broadly compliant with food law.
Food Hygiene Ratings April 2025
| FHRS Score | April 2025 | April 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 3 | 84 | 74 |
| 4 | 222 | 200 |
| 5 | 970 | 963 |
| Broad Compliance | 99% | 98% |
This terrific result shows that food businesses in Wealden have the highest possible compliance rate, which is remarkable especially when compared to the national picture.
Wealden had no zero-rated food businesses on 22 May 2025, compared to 76 in Waltham Forest, 29 in Westminster and 23 in Camden.
Food Hygiene Interventions Performance 2024-25
The number of food hygiene inspections due was seven hundred and forty-four,
we completed seven hundred and forty-two, exceeding our performance target
of 98%. We also completed the twelve inspections that were outstanding from
the previous year. The overall performance of the food and safety team was
excellent
The Food Standards Agency checked that all recommendations from their
audit of September 2023 were completed and closed the audit in early 2025.
The collated Food Standards Agency report of all audits completed in 2024,
is available at Local Authority Audit in England | Food Standards Agency
| Year | Completed inspections |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 99% |
| 2016 | 99% |
| 2017 | 98% |
| 2018 | 98% |
| 2019 | 97% |
| 2020 | 62% |
| 2021 | 77% |
| 2022 | 99% |
| 2023 | 99% |
| 2024 | 99% |
Service Delivery 2025-26
Wealden is committed to providing a full food hygiene service.
For the year 2025 – 6 the total number of food premises due for inspection is six hundred and seventy-three plus two outstanding from 2024 – 5. These inspections are categorised as follows.
| Food Rating Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Category A | 5 |
| Category B | 110 |
| Category C | 199 |
| Category D | 213 |
| Category E | 146 |
| Carry Forward | 2 |
| Total | 675 |
The food hygiene interventions are conducted to ensure the food business meets the requirements of food hygiene law. It is our policy that these planned inspections are given priority.
Our Approach
It is our policy to make food hygiene inspections without appointment. The Environmental Health Officer (EHO) 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 2023 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.
Environmental Health Officers also deal with licensing and health and safety issues during a food inspection e.g., checking premises licences are displayed in licensed premises.
Poorest Performers
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 officers will take enforcement action. Those businesses which show little, or no improvement may be subject to enforcement action.
Advice and Enforcement
When an officer visited an existing business, he found it had expanded the menu and could not safely prepare foods within the existing structure. There was a clear choice between closing the facility or improving the structure so a full menu could be offered.
Time was spent advising the business operator advising how this could be done. At the revisit, the proprietor was delighted to show the new kitchen.
The picture shows the dramatic improvement in the same dry goods store, above at the time of the officers’ inspection and below, after service of an enforcement notice.
In other circumstances enforcement notices are needed to secure improvements. In 2024 – 5 a total of sixteen such notices were issued to ten food businesses. These notices required deep cleaning, improved record keeping or minor structural works to keep pests out of the kitchen.
The picture shows the dramatic improvement in the same dry goods store, above at the time of the officers’ inspection and below, after service of an enforcement notice.
These pictures show kitchen doors, in two different businesses, both in poor condition so that mice and other pests could get into the food rooms. Both doors were repaired.
Seasonal Businesses
There are seasonal food businesses within the district who trade only between June and September or in early December. These businesses are inspected according to the Food Standards Agency food hygiene intervention scheme (as 4.1 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. In April 2025 there were fifteen unrated food businesses.
Revisits
Sixty-one revisits were made in 2024 – 5 to businesses to check that works had been completed when significant statutory requirements were found on the programmed inspection. The number of revisits varies every year, as can be seen below.
| Year | Number of Revisits |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 77 |
| 2015 | 59 |
| 2016 | 84 |
| 2017 | 47 |
| 2018 | 73 |
| 2019 | 43 |
| 2020 | 20 |
| 2021 | 54 |
| 2022 | 56 |
| 2023 | 55 |
| 2024 | 61 |
The variance is because the Food Law Code specifies when a revisit should be made, i.e.., when hygiene, structure and/or management are poorly scored. It is Wealden policy that revisits are always made after the expiry of statutory notices and to any businesses rated 0-2 FHRS. EHOs are responsible for ensuring that poorly performing businesses reach at least a three, generally satisfactory within three months.
Food Businesses with 3 or 4 who wish to improve their score may apply for a revisit without charge after a three-month period or with charge once the work has been completed.
Service Requests
Complaints about foodstuffs, food businesses or handlers can be made directly to Environmental Health by emailing foodhs@rother.gov.uk or by telephone to 01323 443322.
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 on initial response to a service request within 5 days and complete the investigation within 90 days. In 2024 – 5 we investigated fifty – one food and hygiene complaints from members of the public.
New Businesses
One hundred and forty-four (144) new food businesses opened in the Wealden district in 2023 – 4. Each of these businesses received a visit from the Environmental Health service and was given advice on food hygiene and safety matters. Every new food business is obliged to register with their local authority and this form is available on our website along with full advice on starting up a new food business at Starting a Food Business
Sampling
During 2024 – 5 the food and safety team took samples of cheese, shell eggs and fresh tomatoes as part of national studies to establish the current trends in food contamination. Cheese made from non-pasteurised and pasteurised milk were sampled for E. coli STEC and Listeria. Eggs which were not part of the Lion brand scheme were sampled for Salmonella. Fresh tomatoes were also sampled for Salmonella. One of the cheese samples showed E. coli, all other samples were negative.
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 advice for other regulators, to take into account when carrying out inspections or addressing non-compliance. Wealden acts as a primary authority for one food business. Wealden complies with the primary authority principle by checking the appropriate website before conducting food hygiene inspections, noting any assured advice or inspection plans and feeding back after the inspection.
Export of Food
There is one major company in Wealden who exports food outside the European Union every week. Environmental Health Officers must sign health certificates for this exporter weekly. In 2024 – 5 a total of 253 such certificates were issued to accompany the food consignment to its destination. Recently, a second company has begun exporting foods outside the European Union. Both food businesses pay for this service.
Notifiable Diseases
In 2023 – 4 Wealden received 363 notifications of infectious diseases from UKHSA. Once notified, each case is contacted with advice about their illness to prevent further spread. E. coli 0157, Salmonella and Shigella are the most serious food borne illnesses – we interview these cases and give advice encouraging changes in behaviour to prevent further infections. In very rare cases, we will exclude infected persons from work. There were no local outbreaks nor exclusions in 2022-3.
| Disease | 2024-25 | 2023-24 | 2022-23 | 2021-22 | 2020-21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campylobacter | 290 | 287 | 152 | 200 | 191 |
| Covid 19 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 98 | 191 |
| Salmonella | 27 | 19 | 20 | 13 | 10 |
| Cryptosporidium | 7 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Hepatitis E | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| E. coli 0157 | 14 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 10 |
| Legionnaires Disease | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Shigella sonnei | 7 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Paratyphoid | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Listeria | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Giardia | 4 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Others | 2 | 0 | 10 | 15 | 14 |
| Total | 363 | 365 | 208 | 348 | 244 |
Overall, the total number of notifiable diseases is the highest in recent years. This follows current national trends and is despite how few persons see a GP and obtain a faecal test. New research shows societal burden of foodborne illness in the UK | Food Standards Agency
Food Alerts
In March 2025, the Food Standards Agency instructed all local authorities to contact all care homes, hospitals, and nursing homes within their districts to make sure a frozen dessert was withdrawn from service and held in quarantine for tests. The desserts, with the name “Cool Delights” were found in local care homes and were withdrawn from use immediately.
This food alert was triggered by three deaths, which were linked to a nationwide Listeria outbreak.
No cases of Listeria linked to the nationwide outbreak were identified in Wealden.
Advice for Food Businesses
- Wealden Council offers a range of business advice through the website at Business Support . A business newsletter and support leaflet are available in hard copy or electronically to all and includes health and safety advice for business.
- Advice is available for those thinking of starting a new business on the website at Starting up a business Should more detailed guidance be required, Environmental Health Officers will do so on request.
- The Environmental Health service webpages provide food hygiene advice for new start-up businesses at Starting a Food Business
Resources
Budget 2025/26
- Staff: 3.6 FTE
- Total Cost: £253,324.00
- Employee Costs: £235,630.00
- Supplies and Services: £17,694
The specific monies allocated to the following areas are as below:
- Sampling Budget: £15664 With UKHSE not Wealden
- Legal Action: £1,000,000 For general council disasters and emergencies – not specific to food hygiene
The number of full-time equivalent staff working on food hygiene, including supervision and management, for 2024 – 5 is 3.6, authorised food officers are named below. Note EHORB indicates Registration with the Environmental health Officers Registration Board.
| Environmental Health Officer | Additional Qualification | Level Authorisation/Inspection | Level Authorisation/Enforcement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edwards, Simon | EHORB Registration Env Health Degree | A-E | Full |
| 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 |
| Oginni, Oladayo | EHORB Registration Env Health Degree | 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 |
| Name | Role | Authorisation | |
| Parker-Harding, Richard | Head of Environmental Health | Full Authorisation | |
| Randolph, Mark | Senior Environmental Health Officer | Full Authorisation | |
| Beaumont, Catherine | Deputy Head of Environmental Health | Full Authorisation |
There are two pest control officers who provide professional advice to Environmental Health Officers and can give expert evidence to courts if required for an emergency closure of a food business.
Database
The shared Environmental health Service uses Idox Cloud as its database for
all inspections, including food hygiene. There are written procedures how to
record food inspections and complaints to make sure all is recorded accurately.
Staff Development
The shared Environmental Health service between Wealden and Rother has created resilience, improving collective knowledge and experience.
Annual appraisals are conducted to identify training needs which form an annual training programme. For 2025 – 6 training will be updating knowledge of to ensure all team members are prepared for the reorganisation of local government in Sussex. Some training sessions are held in house, every member of the team also attends external seminars, to progress their professional knowledge and self-development.
During 2024 – 5 team meetings were held every six weeks – always in person. Senior managers have attended at least one team meeting during the year. Full notes of meetings are available on the internet library FAST Team Meetings | RIAMS
Those officers outside Food and Safety Team were invited to some meetings to learn about new working procedures, or to participate in a mock investigation. Officers from outside the team do not conduct food hygiene inspections unless they have completed the required training and are up to date with food and safety procedures and policies. Newly qualified officers are subject to competency assessment using the FSA Competency Framework.
Sussex Food Liaison Group Meetings
Wealden 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 2024 – 5 the food and safety team participated in two consistency exercises; these are blind tests designed to ensure that individual officers are consistent with scoring. The team score was generally consistent both locally and nationally.
Wealden is represented on the CIEH Sussex Branch of the Food Study Group, and UKHSA meetings on infection control.
Quality Assessment
Each year Wealden Council’s performance against this plan is measured, using all the specified targets, standards, and any targeted outcomes within this plan. It 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.
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
General Purpose and Licensing Committee
Contacts
E-mail: foodhs@rother.gov.uk
Website: Wealden District Council
Telephone: 01323 644222 or 01424 787000.
Address: Vicarage Lane Hailsham East Sussex BN27 2AX