Wednesday, January 15 was the day of reckoning in terms of the existing parking arrangements, which allow for one hour free parking within designated town centre areas. East Sussex County Council had recommended scrapping the current arrangement when the new civil parking enforcement (CPE) is implemented this year which was debated during today's meeting.
Having allowed plenty of time to get from Rye to Lewes (just in case we met with heavy traffic or forced delays) the only issue, ironically, having arrived in the town centre was finding somewhere to park, it made parking in Rye look like a walk in the park!
I attended in the public gallery on behalf of Rye News with local business woman Jane Brook who owns Space coworking. Councillor Keith Glazier was also in attendance but had to leave the meeting early due to a prior engagement whilst David Nixon spoke on behalf of Rye Chamber of Commerce, Sandra Nixon spoke on behalf of Rye residents, Chris Hoggart spoke on behalf of Rye Town Council and Jonathan Dellar and David Wilson both spoke on behalf of Rye traders and residents. Our thanks go to all the speakers who made the effort to be there today and to represent their town.
Each speaker was given a strict three minute slot in which to make their voices heard and all speakers on behalf of residents and businesses in Rye put forward very credible arguments to retain the existing one hour free parking arrangements however the vote went against them and when CPE is introduced in Rye, free one hour parking will be scrapped.
The style of parking meters to be introduced is still not clear, similarly the proposed locations of the new meters is still under discussion and awaiting clarification. What is clear is that the current parking nightmare must be addressed as it is only going to get worse if nothing is done about it. Today's decision was the first stage in the process, nobody likes change but change is inevitable. Enjoy the luxury of free parking whilst you can, it wont be for much longer.
