Rye Primary School, latterly, the Lower School, was built in the 1930s. This would have been paid for by the government and sustained by the ratepayers of Rye. Some thirty years ago it was closed, and twenty-five years ago burnt down. It has remained unoccupied. It belongs to Rye, though owned by, I presume, East Sussex County Council and managed by Rother.
The mayor is right to pursue the possibility of the construction of social housing. This will of course take years unless someone with gravitas can arrange to sit next to the new secretary of housing at a dinner. Until such time as the site is developed it could be cleared, so creating much needed car parking.
We will recall that a number of fields around Rye have been used and the beauty of this site is that it is hard standing. The revenue from the car park could be used toward worthy projects in Rye. Am I being horribly naive?
Image Credits: N Chadwick https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1845735 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/.
The Lower School site was sold by ESCC some considerable time ago to Sainsburys , for a while we had both Sainsburys and Tesco in competition to open a supermarket, one owned the site and the other the entrance , both have now long quit the scene , the Lower school site now belongs to a development company who is seeking to build a housing scheme. RDC have never had any involvement in the site, except as the planning authority.
This site has been effectively abandoned for years. So, a development company landbanking. Far too much of this in Rye. Companies who land bank should, within a strictly limited period of time, have the land or property sequestrated for the benefit of the community.
The lower school site which was earmarked for a new supermarket in Rye, and then our councils failed to deliver for the people of Rye,has now become an overgrown eyesore, with cars and vans parking in front of it,blocking the path for pedestrians to walk on,one wonders when those in charge, sort this out,along with the Grist Mill site,which have become blights on our town.
Yet again more talk about more car parking. There are plenty of car parks, the issue is the people who don’t want to pay to use them. What Rye needs is a supermarket which charges prices in line with other supermarkets and offers more choice. It’s cheaper to put petrol in the car and drive to Hastings, do a weekly shop, and drive back again and still have change in the pocket. The downside is adding to your carbon footprint.
Andrew, you don’t need to drive there. Just get the 100 bus leaving Rye every hour (or the 101 with a short walk at Ore) and get off at Aldi, even on Sundays. Or order online from e.g. Tesco and get all your food (huge choice, low prices) delivered for as little as £1.50. At Jempson’s parking is free for the first 30 minutes and any time after 4 pm. The meters in Rye start from a few pence for a short stop. What exactly is the problem?
You didn’t need to take my post quite so literally. I was pointing out how expensive the one local supermarket is compared to others and the fact there’s no competition or choice. BTW: I drive an Audi .. is that similar make to an Aldi ?
JOHN WYLIE ASICI FRPS retired FSAI ABIPP MSD
It is called lack of joined up thinking. Compare a boxing ring with a contestant in each corner; each shouting their idea at the other, but not listening to the others idea. The outcome is stalemate and nothing is resolved. As for traveling by bus to purchase a weeks shopping for a family: forget it! But having the weeks shopping delivered; resolves the problem. The market is an excellent example of inexpensive off street parking. (Have you noticed on a Thursday the lack of available long term on street car parking.) Sadly, if somebody comes up with a really good idea, somebody else will prevent it form happening. Finally: I feel if it would loose votes or it is cheaper to do nothing, then nothing will get done!
“There are plenty of car parks, the issue is the people who don’t want to pay to use them”. I’m not sure that’s right Andrew. Only last week I drove into Rye (I live in an outlying village) to catch a train to Ashford. There was no parking available in the cattle market or in the station car park. Neither was there on street parking that I could find within walking distance of the station. I continued to circle, looking for spaces, and watched the train I wanted to catch departing on its’ way. Shortly afterwards a space became available in the station car park, which I snapped up – and then spent the best part of an hour in the station tearoom awaiting the next train. Had my rail journey been local then I would have given up and taken my car the whole way.
I can’t say for sure but I doubt that the Gibbet Marsh car park would have been full, it depends on what you consider to be walking distance or your capabilities to walk that far.
The railway carpark is a bit unusual because 50% of it is given over to coach parties of visitors, most railway car parks are there for the benefit of their patrons but when did Rye ever do usual?
Also, some of the owners of cars in the station car park have long-term season tickets for up to a year, I believe with no obligation to use the railway. Good because it keeps local cars off the streets, but it leaves fewer spaces for train passengers.
My advice would be next time to go to Bedford Place or Lucknow Place carparks, just a few metres from each other. The walk to the train station will take about 3 to 4 minutes. Far wiser than wasting time going around in circles hoping a space might come free. Or Gibbets Marsh would also have been a good option. I honestly don’t want to sound patronising, but if you have a train to catch wouldn’t it be wise to arrive in Rye 30 minutes before the train leaves and go to one of the less obvious carparks first?