East Sussex County Council (ESCC) have published their final map (above and larger here) showing the location of parking meters and changes to on-street parking.
Rye News had previously speculated on the location of the parking meters following the appearance of pavement markings.
The application to introduce civil parking enforcement (CPE) across Rother District was submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) in July 2019. It was formally accepted in March 2020 and ESCC anticipate starting the CPE scheme in October 2020.
ESCC has said it will be writing to residents and businesses about two months before the scheme starts giving further information on how it will operate.
The council has previously said that the introduction of parking controls will help clamp down on illegal behaviour, such as parking on pavements, and will encourage a higher turnover of cars to make it easier for people to drive into the town and shop.
It is understood that residents will be encouraged to purchase an annual residents parking permit and use Rother’s car parks, specifically the under-used Gibbet Marsh. Concerns have been raised at the £320 price tag for an annual parking permit (unless you live on Watchbell Street where it’s £25 per annum) and the fact that it currently has to be paid as one lump sum and cannot be paid in monthly or weekly instalments.
The planning behind the introduction of CPE started long before the outbreak of Covid-19. While ESCC has said they will aim to get everything operational for October 1, there has been speculation that the parking bays on the High Street might be taken out of service to allow social distancing.
This has already been done in towns and cities across the UK to encourage people to return to high streets and shop.
