Last Wednesday March 6 saw the Annual Town Meeting which alternates between the Tilling Green Community Centre and Rye Community Centre on Conduit Hill, the venue for this year's meeting. After the 6.30pm registration process opened, the meeting started promptly at 7.00 pm chaired by our mayor, Andi Rivett and with him on stage was Cllr Cheryl Creaser, Cllr Simon McGurk, Richard Farhall town clerk and head of ESCC Cllr Keith Glazier. The meeting finished at 9.00pm.
A full house guaranteed a lively meeting which opened with Andi Rivett giving his overview of the year, a year packed with numerous engagements and notable appearances representing Rye to the wider community at home and abroad. His address was followed by Barry Nealon and Cllr Rebekah Gilbert on behalf of the Rye Creation and Wellbeing CIO who are using best endeavors to ensure that the Leisure Centre and pool remain open and an operating asset for the benefit of the community. They and many others, are working tirelessly behind the scenes with what has proven to be a very complex unravelling exercise but their message to all of us was clear, the future is looking very positive and in time we will all benefit from the fruits of their labours but we need to be patient.
Next to the rostrum was Anthony Kimber who spoke in detail about various issues and initiatives around planning and social enterprise, the impact of COVID, setting up the vaccination centre and Rye Mutual Aid and the work of REACT. The recent landslide was explained in detail as well as flood risks, sewage spillages, the work of the Environment Agency and the failure of Southern Water and our sewage system in Rye.
Simon Parsons gave an update on how the Heritage Centre is continuing to flourish under extremely challenging circumstances with new exhibits about to be launched to complement the recently refurbished town model and redesigned sound and light experience, now a must see if you haven't already been. Simon Parsons encouraged people to contact him to volunteer in a variety of roles including public facing and behind the scenes.
There followed an open session for the public to raise their concerns and issues with many questions for the panel to answer. Rye News will be covering some of these issues in greater detail in due course but to give you a flavour, one of the main topics of debate was the landslide along Military Road: the responsibility for clearing it up; the legal position with land owners, insurers and local residents; road signage and vehicle movements; removal of trees and vegetation; shoring up of the cliff face; the effect on property values and future saleability; and the need for more monitoring of unauthorised alterations to land and buildings in general throughout Rye. Lack of communication between the council, its contractors and other specialists involved in this most recent landslide was the main bone of contention. In the meantime, angry and anxious local residents are having to endure a complete change to their daily lives with the road closed and concerns about further landslides, and if so what will happen next.
On a similar topic, the cliffs along South Undercliff were highlighted and are now very exposed to the elements with a lot of earth having been moved away at ground level: how secure are they and could we see a repeat of the landslides along Military Road? What plans are there in place or being worked on to address this and similar possibilities?
Proposed developments in the town are also of concern: the old school site in Ferry Road and the proposed Aldi / Decimus / McCarthy and Stone development on Winchelsea Road in particular. An open consultation meeting on the Winchelsea Road site is being held at the River Haven Hotel today, Thursday March 7 where questions can be raised and hopefully answered prior to the developers lodging their formal full planning application. Rye Town Council voted to reject the developers proposal for the Ferry Road site and the planning application is with Rother District Council for determining. In both cases there is no provision for affordable housing.
The recent rise in council tax was raised. A question was asked why is Rye paying more than most in Rother when things, such as toilets, are closing, reducing or "not as they used to be", questions which Richard Farhall tried to address but has offered to explain in greater detail in a subsequent meeting with James Stewart.
The lack of a cohesive community came up as an important issue raised by Scott who raised the pertinent question as to why residents of Tilling Green were not represented in the audience and asked the panel what the council were doing to ensure they and young people were represented. Cllr Cheryl Creaser explained some of the opportunities created and planned for young people, but discussion on how to involve Tilling Green community was without a clear solution or answer. But with no affordable housing locally, a major drug problem in the town and a lack of employment opportunities for our younger residents it's easy to see why they have no choice but to move away.
Guy Harris raised the issue of potholes, with many searching questions which Keith Glazier did his best to answer but it was obvious, that with 2023 being the wettest year on record and the volume of rain so far this year, the pothole problem may never be resolved as there are more potholes appearing far faster than can be addressed. This coupled with the severe lack of funding means the council cannot get on top of the sheer volume of work needed to alleviate the problem. We were all encouraged to keep on reporting issues and at some future point the problems may be addressed or not in many cases.
Lots of interesting additional questions arose on a host of issues, many of which remain unanswered and lots more information is needed to enable us all to understand what the future holds for Rye. Will we ever see the much needed affordable housing, what is the future for our younger generations, how can development and planning be controlled and shaped in a way which suits us and our town, rather than the bottom line of a developer's spreadsheet. How is our infrastructure going to cope in the future when it is already creaking under pressure now, how are we going to address and cope with the changing weather patterns and climate change. There were so many important issues under the spotlight at this public meeting and a distinct air of frustration and disappointment from many of those who attended.
Rye News will be campaigning on various issues and updating our readers with informative articles along the way including a lot of what was raised at this meeting but for now, if you were there and have something more to add, please send your comments to info@ryenews.org.uk and we will keep you updated with developments.
