A Government White Paper, already postponed once, on the country's housing crisis is due at the end of this month and may affect Rye's Neighbourhood Plan now in its final stages before the town is asked to vote on it.
Rye Town Council set up a Steering Group to draw up the Neighbourhood Plan and the town's Planning Committee is due next Monday, January 30, to receive an update from Steering Group Vice-Chair Dr Anthony Kimber.
Whether Brexit negotiations on this country's departure from the European Union will hold up the White Paper again remains to be seen, but Rye's Neighbourhood Plan needs to take into account other events as far as it can.
The national crisis is the shortfall in building new homes in recent years, rapidly rising prices and the availability of affordable homes either to buy or rent.
The local crisis in Rye in particular is the shortfall in affordable smaller homes for young families and older people wanting to downsize while, at the same time, the number of second homes and holiday lets seems to be increasing, and the population overall is getting older - both of which have knock-on effects on all aspects of community life.
If, and when, the government's housing plans are announced, this could affect the number of homes Rother District Council is required to ensure are provided, leading to pressure in turn on Rye for sites that can be developed to be developed.
However the current draft of the Neighbourhood Plan suggests there are not that many possible sites in Rye and potential flooding is, or ought to be, a major consideration - and recently led to developers withdrawing from the former school site in Tilling Green.
On the other hand, if Rye Academy no longer plans to develop the Lower School site, developers do want to put housing there, but again possible flooding may be a concern. More than 1,000 homes are already potentially at risk.
However the Steering Group has engaged with the developers and the Neighbourhood Plan has suggested a number of uses for that site including education, housing, commercial and even additional parking. Either way, housing that meets local needs continues to be high on the Steering Group's agenda as the Plan moves slowly towards a vote despite ever changing circumstances.
As the Plan currently runs to nearly 150 pages without the appendices Rye News will be including a series of articles on different aspects of the plan and the first looks at the housing issues in more detail.
Photo: Rye News Library
