Last week Rye News published a letter from a reader complaining about the Environment Agency containers still occupying the small car park – or more accurately, motor cycle park – at the top end of Strand Quay, and asking when were they going to be removed.
As it turns out, this is not a case of the EA being lazy and not bothering to remove their gear, but the work that has been going on at the quay is not yet complete.
Many readers will have noticed the refurbishment of access ladders and other sections on the Winchelsea Road side and this part of the job is now finished. However, as part of a general upgrade scheme to improve facilities and attract more visiting yachts, it is intended to install a floating pontoon along the length of the Strand side for both visitors and yachts permanently moored in Rye. As these pontoons will go up and down with the tide it will remove the current death-defying climb up a vertical and sometimes slippery ladder to get off or onto a moored boat at low tide.
It was intended that this section of the work would follow immediately on from the work on the opposite side, however objections raised by Natural England have been responsible for the delays in getting started.
The cause of the problem has been that the new pontoon will restrict the area for wading birds to paddle about at low tide. There are, of course, several hundred, if not thousand acres of mud along the rivers Tillingham, Brede and Rother, to say nothing of the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, but apparently this particular piece of low tide mud is important to them.
The need to resolve this and satisfy the naturalist lobby has delayed completion of the work by many months. However an arrangement has now been reached to provide an alternative wading area and thereby enable construction of the pontoon and access way to be re-scheduled. At the time of writing, the actual start date is not known, however it is intended that work will be complete and construction materials and equipment removed by March 2024, in time for the visitor season whether by land or sea.
Some readers will undoubtedly remember how busy the quay was with marine traffic and visiting yachts some years ago. However, since the arrival of the marina at Eastbourne with its access at virtually all states of the tide (albeit with up to a 30 minute wait for the entrance lock at low tide), and its first class facilities for visitors, the numbers of yachts visiting Rye have inevitably declined.
We do, however, have many obvious advantages that the somewhat impersonal environment of Eastbourne Marina does not, and it is hoped that the improvements to the quay, including modest upgrades to the boat owners' shore services (and here we must also include the excellent self-service laundry facilities recently installed at Jempson's. Anyone who has ever spent time on a small yacht will know how important this is!) will help to demonstrate that Rye is very much open for business to its marine visitors.
