A well-attended Rye Town Council meeting on Monday, September 1 discussed a wide range of topics: from flags to bikers, flower meadows to town twinning.
The meeting began with Councillor Rivett expressing strong appreciation, supported by warm applause from the public, for the service that Rebekah Gilbert has given to Rye over her time as councillor and mayor. He reminded councillors of the difficult times during COVID, and the many projects that she has contributed towards, most recently the successful re-launch of Rye Leisure Centre.
The mayor then opened the meeting to public comment, the first of which referred to the recent spray painting of several pieces of highway infrastructure with images of flags. To applause from attendees, it was pointed out that, though this is an emotive issue, vandalism is unacceptable, and a request was made to the council to speed up removal of the graffiti. The mayor commented that flag flying, when done appropriately, was perfectly acceptable but the council agreed to contact the authorities responsible for taking action.
Moving on to the main agenda items, the council agreed unanimously to provide a grant to support the project to restore the town war memorial as an important reminder, especially to younger people, of our history and sacrifice.
Simon McGurk, a Rother District councillor, was then invited to explain his proposal to make the Iron Salts, the stretch of green area from the bowls club to Rock Channel, into a wild flower meadow, supported by local land owners. This caused some controversy, with Councillor Hughes pointing out that this area was originally designated to be used as a leisure facility where children could kick a ball about or families could have picnics, and should be regularly mown to accommodate this. Councillors agreed that the current situation, as managed by Rother District Council, was completely unacceptable and unpleasant and a new management plan was needed. A note of humour was introduced when Councillor Everett suggested that putting sheep on the Salts would meet all necessary requirements! The conclusion was to encourage Councillor McGurk to continue to develop his plan, taking into account all views, for further discussion.
Counsillor Hoggart then proposed the introduction of a Public Space Protection Order (PSBO) to address anti-social bike riding in and around Strand Quay. This is a mechanism to prohibit certain activities in a defined area and could include: excessive noise, bikes on pavements, and parking restrictions, amongst others. Many councillors strongly supported the proposal, with Councillor Boyd stating that the issue had got out of hand. However councillors also recognised that it is not all who are responsible for the disruption and that visits by bikers bring business to the town, especially in the area around Strand Quay. Councillor Bookless, admitting to being an ex-biker, supported some restrictions but also suggested that some tolerance and balance was also needed. Enforcement was also discussed, with multiple agencies potentially involved in policing the PSBO, but it should still act as a deterrent. The proposal was supported and will now be taken further.
Finally, Rebekah Gilbert updated the council on the proposed informal twinning with Montreuil-sur-Mer. The process started in 2022 and so far has been a low-cost, mutually beneficial partnership, especially benefiting younger people. The mayor of Montreuil is now hoping to take things further, ideally resulting in a formal twinning of the two towns. This presented a problem for the council, as no funding is available for this type of activity, contrary to the situation in France. However, increasing collaboration between the two towns was seen as highly beneficial and discussions will continue to deepen cooperation.
