Rother District Council (RDC) has approved Rye tennis club’s application to build three indoor tennis courts after nearly three years of debate.
The application had received a number of objections from local residents as well as from Rye Conservation Society and Playden Parish Council, who had concerns "regarding the scale and bulk of the proposed building on the landscape and its proximity to protected countryside, the provision of sufficient parking, the extended hours of use and the effect of the lighting of the courts on the immediate environment".
While RDC have given a green light to the new tennis courts they have stipulated a number of conditions. The developers must undertake an archaeological investigation "to ensure the archaeological and historical interest of the site is safeguarded and recorded" and must also submit information on their surface water drainage scheme to ensure the new building does not cause local flooding. The full list of conditions can be read here.
The surprise approval of the scheme went against the advice of Rother’s own in-house planning experts and against local objections, with a number of residents along Military Road objecting to the development, including one from local resident Paul Osborne who is also Chair of Playden Parish Council and a Councillor at RDC. Rye Town Council had also objected back in 2017 and stated that it was a "fundamental principle" that development should not creep beyond the Parish boundary into green areas and were concerned that the development "conflicts with the views of the Rye community in respect of the future development in and around the Rye Parish boundary".
Editor's note: We understand that the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association), who are keen to see more indoor courts in the South East, are preferring 'soft' structures using fabric rather than the permanent solid structure originally envisaged (and pictured above) for this site, so there could be significant changes to the scheme that was first proposed.
