The Friends of the Landgate will be holding a meeting on Sunday, January 21, at St Mary’s Centre, Lion Street, at 4pm. St Mary’s Centre is next door to the Kino.
The small interim committee of Heidi Foster, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Jones and myself, Gillian Roder, now need to decide exactly what role the group will play in providing support to the plans (or lack of them), for the Landgate and what to do next.
As you will know, from reading the articles in
, Rother District Council (RDC) made it clear at a meeting in November, chaired by Councillor Lord Ampthill, that no money is available to do anything other than clean the guano from the bottom of the building once or twice a year and ensure the structure remains reasonably secure. There are no funds to improve the present situation or consolidate the Landgate further. The preferred option for RDC is for the Landgate to be taken over by another organisation or person.
Rye Town Council is not prepared to take over the building, and the other organisations at the meeting, Rye Conservation Society, the Museum and the Friends of the Landgate made it clear that this was their position, too.
It was agreed that a smaller group would meet, at the suggestion of Rye Town councillors, but a date has yet to be set for this.
The Friends of the Landgate meeting on January 21 is being held to explain why we want to support this ancient building and what ideas we have about its future. We need to discuss with you all whether a local pressure group is of value. Obviously, the Conservation Society has been working on this problem for a long time, and have made its position known. The Friends of Landgate are not able to provide the solution wanted by RDC of a new owner, but there may be other things that could be done to push forward solutions.
Anyone interested is invited to attend, and all our supporters will receive an agenda shortly. We are sure there are more ideas out there that will help to move this along, and not allow it to be left yet again.
Photo: Rye News Library
