I live in the Citadel and have very often thought how nice it would be if more permanent families were to live here. Sometimes in the winter most houses are blacked out with no families and no tenants or B&B takers. So that is very sad and does not create what might be called a community.
So does Rye want to do a St Ives?
Too pretty for its own good and absolutely chockablock with second / holiday homes and houses to let, St Ives took a residents' vote which lead the council to take the unusual step of banning new builds from being sold to buyers who were not full time residents of the town. This was verified by children being registered into local schools; signing up with the local doctor’s surgery; putting their names down on the electoral roll.
However, a bit like Rye, new houses accounted for a very small percentage of houses sold in the town. The effect on the wider market has been negligible, and agents insist the regulations are hampering supply, saying: "It’s all too little too late. The policy is very idealistic and policies do not work in the real world. Business developers are not going to develop and investors are not going to invest."
Another local agent agreed the policy was too late, and had had the reverse effect to what the council wanted. Second home buyers have not been put off and are simply buying existing houses in St Ives. Last year 32% of properties sold went to to outsiders.
I have thought long and hard about this first-world problem, and also have canvassed a lot of opinion. We all agree that we would like to have more young and old families living and working in Rye, but the employment possibilities are slim, and the journey to London is not great, so our young do leave, very sadly.
Also, the minute you place this "problem" on yourself or your family, the idea that you cannot invest your hard earned cash just as you wish, and having done that, you can not do what you want with your own property, the dichotomy takes on a different hue.
So either we can be told what we can or cannot do by local councils, or we can celebrate that fact that we still just about live in a free country.
I don’t know really and truly what I think. What do you think?
