I have been a Rye and Winchelsea town councillor for 8 years, successfully representing Rye and Winchelsea town at Rother District Council.
I have devoted time to local planning and housing issues, actively attending
District / Local meetings and will continue to work for the towns’ best interests.
I was part of the team trying to save our local swimming facilities at Freedom Leisure
during my recent term, and if I’m re-elected, I will continue to re-establish facilities at Freedom Leisure and it to be one of my main priorities to reopen for residents of Rye and Winchelsea town, for local residents to enjoy the health and social benefits both physical and mental and also to ensure the younger generations gain essential life skill benefits of a local swimming pool living by the coastline.
I currently live and successfully run a public house within the town of Rye, supporting local businesses for both residents and tourists alike during my term as Councillor.
I have worked to improve the towns’ infrastructure, supporting initiatives that have helped to make Rye and Winchelsea town a more prosperous and attractive place to live and visit.
I have been supporting local sports facilities within Rye, including improving the accessibility at Rye’s Cricket Club to ensure facilities are available for all and will continue to encourage this.
Rye and Winchelsea town has been my family home for 23 year, with 2 generations attending local schools within Rye and Winchelsea town.
Rye and Winchelsea town, let’s work together to ensure that our community continues to thrive for years to come!
Image Credits: Genette Stevens .
Good morning.
Having read Genette Stevens election piece in the Rye News this morning,
I notice (unlike the other candidates ) that she doesn’t mention which party she stands for in the forthcoming election.
Is this deliberate I wonder, considering the state of this country after so many chaotic years of Conservative government or just an over sight.
Genette has been a hard-working, conscientious county councillor for 8 years. She’s not frightened of hard graft and has been successful as a mover and shaker for our town. She has Rye’s interests at heart at all times.
Ian: Genette is a Rother District Councillor, not a County Councillor
Apologies!! Of course she is.
Hi Tony
Knowing Genette personally, she is not intentionally hiding her party allegiance.
Local elections are about local issues such as the Alliance wasting £730,000 on the Bexhill Town Hall vanity project and contracted Litter wardens acting unreasonably to local businesses in Rye and Broad Oak.
Neil Gordon, Conservative Councillor Brede and Udimore.
Two issues which Cllr Stevens doesn’t mention as well as leaving out her political allegiance. Reads more like a biography, very little substance. When asked at the recent annual town meeting Cllr Stevens was unable to provide any direct examples or evidence of how Rother had fairly distributed expenditure across Rye and rural Rother as claimed by her colleague Cllr Norton.
A word of explanation in answer to Cllr Neil Gordon’s (Con) remark about the Town Hall redevelopment project. Conservative generic literature for the District election has been making the same statement as Cllr Gordon makes here.
The Town Hall at Bexhill was built 1895 to 1908 and incorporates two former Victorian “villas” It occupies part of a large, 0.58 Hectare, town-centre site. Much of the site comprises car park, former commercial buildings and the villas. The villas are a rabbit warren completely unsuited to present-day use as offices. The Town Hall itself has suffered from years of neglect, with defective stone and brickwork needing urgent attention. Crucially the buildings are hopelessly energy-inefficient, costing taxpayers a fortune in heating bills and pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Disabled access is appalling.
The present use of the site is simply a waste. This is an opportunity to develop the site as offices to be let commercially as well as for the council’s use. The Victorian / Edwardian Town Hall would be refurbished and retained. It is central government policy to encourage councils to “regenerate” their Districts while finding commercial opportunities which achieve this and give control over the future of strategic sites.
Plans for the development and refurbishment of the site were drawn up. Of course this cost money. It’s a major scheme and needed architects (an excellent Rye practice by the way) and the usual due diligence as to financial viability etc. That is hardly “a waste of money”. Nor is it a “vanity project” as has been alleged.
There is a snag in that Rother needed planning permission and (in accordance with the surprising but usual national practice, applied to itself. The matter came before Rother’s planning committee on on 13 October last year. The committee narrowly rejected the application. (I voted on balance in favour, having some reservations about the appearance and uncertainty of the proposals for the fourth floor.) There is strong local feeling in Bexhill where residents have pride in their town, as Rye residents do in theirs, and changes to the townscape are viewed with concern.
The Planning Committee is politically balanced in its composition, but does not (or should not) act politically. The committee does not adjudicate on the financial aspects of applications. The committee’s decision is an illustration (however inconvenient) of the independence of the Committee.
We shall see where we go with this after 4 May, but I have to say it is a shame that a site offering such opportunities for the town, the council and the environment was so neglected for so long.
FACT £737000 spent. Without securing planning permission.
FACT No proper consultation with residents – this wasn’t in anyone’s manifestos back in 2019
FACT The level of expenditure required to complete the project was well in excess of the previous £15m expenditure stated
FACT This project was not supported by the Conservative councillors
In my opinion this was a wildly over ambitious project which saw in excess of £700000 spent needlessly. £82000 was required to keep Rye Pool open. The council said they didn’t have the money to subsidise it. Once again Rye residents were overlooked by the Lib Dem/ Labour / Independent Alliance on Rother. It is simply a question of priorities.
We’ve had a measured and detailed account of the redevelopment project above, and regeneration is something I think we’re absolutely desperate for nationwide…
However, as a resident and a road user, I’m grateful for Cllr. Maynard’s appearance here, as I’d very much like to ask him whether he can offer any additional facts about the condition of our roads?
I spoke to a lady last week who had recently visited Morocco. She found the roads there to be rather better than ours… What assurances can Cllr. Maynard offer local road users that East Sussex County Council will make our roads fit for cars – rather than camels?
Dear Carl,
Readers should note that you are the leader of the Conservative Group at Rother and were Leader of the council until 2019.
First of all it is impossible to obtain planning permission without plans drawn up by architects. Money has to be spent upfront.
Secondly the site is already in the Local Plan (drawn up by the Conservatives) for the proposed use. Presumably you expected a scheme to come forward?
Thirdly the Conservative council was criticised by the auditors for being over-cautious in seeking commercial opportunities by way of regeneration. Schemes such as this.
I would like to think that you are not proposing to lead Rother back to a spend nothing – do nothing policy, but it looks like it. Do you have any proposal of your own for the future of the crumbling, inconvenient and grossly energy-inefficient Town Hall?
It is misleading to give the costs of a project without factoring in the income and benefits.
The planning application was fully publicised and open to comments. Residents spoke at committee. The public was engaged.
For all this Rother’s reserves are as good or better now than your own administration predicted back in 2019, and that is despite covid.
What a strange response Andrew. You well knew that your plans were indeed wildly ambitious and not properly costed …spending over £737000 without securing planning permission is simply daft. Under our watch we certainly wouldnt have embarked on such an obvious waste of public money. On a local level pragmatic sensible policies are what residents expect rather that pet schemes that simply don’t make any sense. Moreover if you proceed with this daft project it will leave Rother at the risk of serious debt. I recall one of your colleagues saying it would be a great wedding venue on the upper level…with no bar…I rest my case!
Andrew would I be correct in thinking the Alliance has burnt into £13m + of the reserves left by the Conservatives in 2019 . Have the services noticeably improved for the residents.
To answer Cllrs Carl Maynard and Neil Gordon (both Con) I’d like to add some comments.
Yes, from 2019 (when the 20-year Conservative administration was booted out by the electorate) and now Rother’s reserves have declined. But they have declined rather less than the then Conservative administration’s own 2019 forecast, and that despite the financial consequences of covid. We have a medium term financial strategy which the auditors find plausible. Which is not to deny times are hard.
Rother’s finances would have been in much better shape had the Conservative administration not frozen the Council tax for five years leading up to 2016. As increases are capped and the unused permitted percentage increase cannot be carried forward the forgone income can never be recovered.
Remember Rother’s share of your band D council tax is just £198.60
Cllr Gordon seems to imply money spent on the Town Hall project could be used to cover the running costs of the Rye Pool. He evidently doesn’t understand the difference between revenue and capital expenditure. Spending money on an asset which generates an income (lettable office space) can not be equated with spending money year on year to support a loss-making service. That is not to say a service cannot be supported, but the money needs to come from revenue and as Cllr Gordon notes the money is not there.
Now Cllr Maynard. What is your plan for the crumbling, inefficient and energy wasteful Town Hall we inherited from you? Answer came there none.
For the record I’m a Lib Dem and I live in Fairlight.
Few quick points on the above:
Firstly, Genette Stevens is a capable Rye businesswoman, so I suspect she will be perfectly able to speak for herself in due course.
Secondly, the Punch ‘n’ Judy stuff doesn’t help anyone understand the substantive issues to which Cllr. Gordon is alluding – or the context. It just disorientates people and makes them angry. Both are worthy of proper discussion, and indeed the NES (litter enforcement) debacle was rightly given a very vigorous airing at the Town Meeting and again at a recent Rye Town Council meeting where Cllr. Fiddimore raised another incident of concern. Not sure if Cllr. Gordon attended these meetings, but Cllr. Stevens did. Action was taken as a result.
Finally, Mr Parsons posed a valid question at the Town Meeting, and repeats it above. To offer some thoughts in response, hopefully the establishment of Bexhill Town Council means Rother can shift focus to a greater extent to Rye, Winchelsea and rural Rother. Around £700k in Community Infrastructure funding has been disbursed across the district already, I believe, and most recently, Rother has worked with Chapman’s to award a £170k grant to Rye Fisheries. That’s off the top of my head, there’s probably more to say.
So, whilst there’s an awful lot to do, the demoralising picture painted by Mr Gordon doesn’t really tell the whole story, and there are signs that Rye and the rural areas will start to get the attention they deserve.
Thanks Guy for partially answering a question posed to others, that in itself says something
Yes demoralising Guy , think you Andrew and the Alliance have been flushed out concerning your ideas for the Town Hall.
Carl has laid the facts out for you £730,000 wasted could have been spent on other projects. Rye swimming Pool for example!
If you are elected it is right and proper for the sake of ratepayers that questions are raised.
I refer readers again to Cllr. Meir’s latest comprehensive response, above. They may wish to judge which is the most serious appraisal of the project.
As to ‘flushing’, I guess we’ll see who has their chain yanked on 4th May!
Best of luck.
Wasting £737000 of public money is extremely serious. Consultants have had a blast with their Rother contracts over the past four years. Shameful.
Good to see the real facts of the matter coming home to Roost.well done Carl Maynard for the truth of this debacle .
Rother District Council’s attendance records from 24/12/2018 to 26/04/2023 (the period for which statistics are available) show that Councillor Stevens attended 76% of the Council meetings she was expected to attend. Whilst this might seem “hard working” to some it is far less than the attendance records of Councillor Langlands (Independent – 91%), Councillor Bayliss (Labour – 93%) and Councillor Courtel (Independent – 96%), all of whom represent Bexhill. If Rye and Winchelsea wards aren’t represented at Council meetings then no wonder funding is focused on Bexhill. And for the record Sally Ann Hart’s attendance record when she was a Councillor and before she became our MP was a dismal 47%.
Again, let’s give some context – and some credit. First, let’s remember all District Councillors are essentially volunteers. They get expenses. The Independent Bexhill councillors’ attendance records are superb, and all the more admirable in the light of the above. Representing Bexhill, I assume they live in Bexhill, which doesn’t detract from their diligence at all, but does mean its easier to reach the Town Hall. Cllr Mier’s attendance was, for the record, 85% – he , like Genette Stevens, doesn’t live in Bexhill, incidentally.
But the bottom line is, all elected PC, DC and TC councillors are taking time out of their lives to volunteer their services for their community. The same could be said for those who run the food bank, local football and cricket clubs, local magazines and events apps, the Scouts, Cadets, Chamber of Commerce, Bonfire Societies, faith groups, Rye Mutual Aid, Col. Kimber’s many and various activities, The Heritage Centre, charities, volunteers, citizen journalists… And all the others not included in that list! I do not support Mrs Hart’s politics, but even of our MP, it must be said, she has previously served as a Councillor and a JP, I believe. All these people are trying to do something to enhance the life of the community. That’s a good thing. And we need more of it.
Carl Maynard was just stating the facts of the matter,but of course we can all blame the Conservatives and quite rightly so on the state of the roads across the country, in the past we had Tony Blair and his phoney war, we had the Lib dems and Labour all reneging on the brexit vote. We need this brownie points scoring to stop,and concentrate on getting all parts of Rother and levelling up the bias that we have continously seen,over the last 4 years.
Councillor mier talks about a loss making service, shouldn’t also the del awarr pavilion also come into the equasion aswell,how much longer have the hard pressed ratepayers of Rother going too keep funding this loss making Venue,surely it’s time to cut ties and put it out to private tender, and spend the money more wisely on other services across Rother district.
Perhaps Cllr Maynard, currently leader of the Conservative group on Rother District Council, would like to make a public commitment to defunding the De La Warr Pavilion, a Grade one starred listed building owned by the council and to which his own Conservative government has recently awarded the lion’s share of £19 million of levelling up money.
I look forward to the public scandal and the opprobrium which would be justly heaped on Cllr Maynard and his group.
My commiserations, Genette.
We shall miss you on the planning committee.
Best wishes for the future.