Last week we covered the address by the mayor, Cllr. Andi Rivett, at the annual town meeting held in the Tilling Green Community Centre. There were also other matters raised and as time between the meeting and our Rye News deadline for articles was insufficient for them to be covered, we can outline some of them here:
Covid and the birds
Possibly one of the biggest local volunteer efforts of recent years has been the vaccination centre at Tilling Green. Provided by Clarity Chemists and professional vaccinators and some 60 volunteers from our community, over 50,000 vaccinations were carried out from the start in May 2021. The program is now on hold, but as the government is now considering a further session of booster jabs, our volunteers could well be back at work again in due course. For those who require it, vaccinations are still available via the NHS booking site.
Having been released from the restrictions of one pandemic, we are now looking at another – although one not yet affecting humans. Bird flu is rife and the current situation is perhaps best summed up by the chairman of REACT, Col. Anthony Kimber, who said in his report: “At the time of the last Town Meeting, bird flu was spreading and affecting both migratory and commercial and domestic bird flocks.
"Since then, there have been cases of the infection passing to other animals such as foxes and otters, presumably because they have eaten infected carcasses. Scientists are assessing the risks of the disease passing to humans. We are watching developments. Meanwhile if you come across dead birds in public spaces, do not touch them and do not allow your pets to touch them. Reporting can be via: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu”.
Rye Neighbourhood Plan
Col. Kimber, the architect of the plan, also took the opportunity of advising that this was being updated and was intended to be ready for approval by the town council by the end of the year. The plan, agreed and passed by local referendum, outlines the development of the town and requires local government – both town and district – to consider this when deciding on future planning proposals.
Central government is revising its planning policy and Rother is also making changes. The Rye plan has to conform to both, hence the updating. It is felt, though, that the changes being imposed will in reality, have little effect on Rye with the government, despite the changes, mainly contained in the Levelling Up Bill, remaining largely supportive of neighbourhood plans.
Homes for Ukraine
Since the start of the Russian invasion of their country, Rye has welcomed refugees from Ukraine and there are currently 15 family units in or around the town. Some of our original guests have, for a number of reasons, returned to their country, albeit to safer areas than the war-torn parts east and south that were their original homes.
As can be imagined, with the war dragging on and no end in sight, the personal situations of some of those remaining here have produced many issues, but the volunteers at Rye Hub, working with ESCC, RDC, Rother Voluntary Action and Rye Town Council together with individual hosts are tackling and solving these as they arise. More hosts, however, are needed.
RDC Councillors
On May 18 there will be elections for both the town council and Rother District Council and Rye News will be publishing details of all those standing for both councils in due course. We will also be providing space for those who wish to publish their own election address.
Although he was not present at the meeting, RDC councillor for Rye and Winchelsea Cllr. Norton, sent in a plea in print for Rye to be less “anti Rother”. In a spirited defence of Rother he accused Rye of “latent hostility and fierce resentment” of Rother, despite councillors doing their best to “placate local opinion”.
This did not go down well and the round of applause received when one member of the audience demonstrated the strength of feeling in the room and reminded both the current and would-be Rother councillors that their job was to represent the interests of Rye at Bexhill, and not automatically to take the part of Bexhill even when decisions were taken that were not necessarily in the best interests of their own constituents, but to demonstrate that they had fought hard for those that had elected them.
