Aldi's plans for a new supermarket in Rye have been approved by Rother District Council's Planning Committee. Work could start on the site in May or June this year.
The unanimous vote in favour of the new store came just before 11am on Thursday 12 February. The same meeting heard the two other applications on the Winchelsea Road site, for homes and retirement housing, are also listed for approval.
The Aldi supermarket was given the green light subject to a number of conditions. These include commitments on employment and bio-diversity, supporting bus services, two hours free parking, and improvements on the walk to Rye town centre.
A report to the committee - spanning 68 pages - recommended approval ahead of today's vote, saying the benefits of a second supermarket in Rye outweighed the disadvantages. RDC Planning Officer Edwin Corke told councillors the decision was finely balanced, but the introduction of two hours free parking played an important role in reducing the financial impact elsewhere in Rye.
Proposals for the new supermarket were first submitted in June 2024. Since then over three hundred letters of support have been lodged, with thirty five against.
Thousands of detailed pages of research, analysis and discussion have also been submitted from public and private organisations.
The meeting at Bexhill Town Hall heard from spokespeople for both Aldi and long standing local independent supermarket Jempson's.
Jempson's/Morrisons was represented by the managing director of their planning consultant Peacock & Smith, Chris Creighton. He said approval and the new supermarket opening would have a significant impact on the company's Rye store, "It would be devastating with closure most likely." He told the meeting Rye was not big enough to support two supermarkets and explained how he believed the application went against the council's policies.
Speaking for Aldi, Real Estates Director Rob McClellan described the support from the community as "extraordinary". He said Rye lacked affordable shopping and the new store would create jobs, "There are real benefits to Rye and the support speaks for itself."
Thursday's meeting proved a fascinating example of how larger-scale development in our community is decided.
The subsequent debate among the Planning Committee councillors lasted for about an hour and there was some tension as the vote approached. In the end, however, the argument that the advantages of approving Aldi outweighed the disadvantages won the day, with all eight councillors voting to support the new supermarket.
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The two associated planning applications for the Winchelsea Road site were submitted at the same time as Aldi's. One involves a project by developer Decimus for 16 homes; the other is for a large building by McCarthy and Stone with 43 units for retired people.
These two applications have been delegated for approval by RDC's planning officers and it appears that all three decisions will be fully "signed off" and issued as soon as Section 106 legal agreements are signed, probably later this month. At that point the decision notices will appear on RDC's planning portal.
An S106 agreement is a legally binding contract between a developer and a local planning authority designed to mitigate a new development's impact on the community.
Decimus told Rye News that in May/June this year it hopes to start a six-month "enabling works" contract for the entire Winchelsea Road site. This will include site clearance, utility disconnections and diversions, demolition, site remediation and levelling, new utilities, the new access road and junction improvements.
Building work on the Aldi supermarket, the new houses and the retirement accommodation would theoretically be able to start by the end of 2026.
