There have been positive developments over Christmas at the Ferry Road site in Rye after months of fly-tipping. The entrance has been secured and new hoardings have been erected to prevent further waste, which has included asbestos, being dumped at the former Thomas Peacocke school site.
After visiting the site in early December, the community protection officer from the environmental and health services department at Rother Council wrote to developers Plutus (Rye) Ltd giving them seven days to secure the site. After a further inspection visit, and with the site still not deemed adequately secured or cleared, the company was issued with a community protection warning requiring them to secure the land.
Just before Christmas skips appeared and the site cleared, with the exception of the asbestos which is due to be collected by a specialist company in mid-January. The hoarding at the entrance has also been replaced and painted, and the gates blocked by further wooden hoardings.
Meanwhile, the long delayed housing development on the site faced a further setback after the Environment Agency maintained its objection to the proposals on safety grounds in a letter to planners last week.
In its letter to Rother District Council's planning department on January 2 the Environment Agency (EA) says planning permission for the proposed housing development should be refused. "We maintain our objection...as there is insufficient evidence to support that the proposed development will be safe."
The EA says it has analysed a flood risk assessment put forward by consultants working for developers Plutus (Rye) Ltd. The letter raises concerns the current plans could lead to flooding in Rye. "The proposal in its current form will result in a loss of flood storage, it is highly likely to increase flood risk elsewhere...As previously stated in our objection on the 8th March 2024, failure of Tillingham Sluice under relatively minor tidal return periods could also result in flooding to the site, so it is possible the proposal would increase flood risk elsewhere under relatively minor flood events under present day scenarios."
You can read the full letter here.
In December 2023 Plutus (Rye) Ltd submitted amended plans for 88 residential properties explaining affordable housing was no longer financially viable. In June last year an independent report concluded the developers were wrong not to include social housing in their updated planning application.
