Rother District Council has released the detailed planning applications for the Aldi supermarket, retirement flats and private homes proposed for the Winchelsea Road site.
However, RDC will also conduct a statutory consultation on the project, which may — or may not — set back the August 30 to September 5 planning decision window for the tri-partite proposal. The developers say their own consultation earlier this year garnered 85.7% local support in terms of feedback comments.
Should planning permission be granted, the 1.57-hectare site will accommodate a single-storey Aldi food store with 107 parking spaces, 16 private houses built by Decimus Property and a large 3.5-storey McCarthy Stone building housing 44 retirement apartments.
Although there has been significant pre-application communication between the developers, RDC's planning team and the Environment Agency, approval of the project is not a given. Vehicular access to the site needs to be sorted out and flood risk mitigation measures verified as the EA says the area has "a medium chance of flooding".
The current access junction connecting the site to Winchelsea Road has been "identified as being inadequate", despite its current use, and a highway engineering consultancy is designing a solution. It's unclear whether this will be an "upgraded version of a simple T-junction" or possibly a three-arm mini-roundabout similar to a design the consultant has already provided for Aldi elsewhere in the UK.
Located to the south of the River Brede, the brownfields industrial site is designated a Tidal Flood Zone 3 and it lies about 2.6 metres below the elevation of Winchelsea Road. The Aldi store will in fact be built on the highest point at the north of the site, at 3.44m above sea level. Rye Neighbourhood Plan designated the area for mixed use development.
The low-lying nature of the location has its pros and cons. An advantage is that the supermarket and the large retirement building will appear less prominent from the main road — although there has apparently been some public unease about the size and height of the latter structure, because it will also overlook the adjacent High Weald National Landscape (AONB). A downside is the flood risk and high water table, although flood defences are said to be in reasonable condition.
Flood risk will be reduced by directing excess surface water to a ditch in the southern corner of the site, building a "floodable void space" under the retirement accommodation, installing permeable paving in the car park and creating rain gardens / swales. Solar panels will be fitted to the supermarket's roof and the loading bay design is aimed at reducing noise. It appears likely that operating hours of the food store could extend from 7am to 11pm Monday to Saturday, with more restricted trading on Sunday.
Aldi will donate surplus food to charities, daycare centres, children's breakfast clubs and so forth.
While Aldi wants the 7.2-metre-high store to be visible by passing traffic on Winchelsea Road, it also aims to provide "clear vistas" from the road through to the National Landscape beyond.
Somewhat unexpectedly, Rye is classed as being at a high risk of unexploded ordnance (UXO), although this threat seems unlikely to have a major impact on the planning applications.
It's believed that pressure from Rye Town Council and others has now led to a greater percentage of one and two-bedroom homes being proposed, along with increased landscaping of the site, which will also include footpaths and cycle access. There's an additional meeting of councillors at the town hall on Monday July 15 at 6.30pm when Rye Town Council will meet to discuss it's response to the development.
One comment to the developers struck a note of urgency: "Please just make it happen. We are in desperate need of a new, affordable supermarket."
- Residents can lodge comments on the planning applications by the deadline of 2 August by going online to rother.gov.uk and following the links to Planning and Building Control. The project reference numbers are RR/2024/976/P (Aldi), RR/2024/960/P (Decimus) and RR/2024/949/P (McCarthy Stone).
