It’s hot – and inevitably the heatwave leads to jams – and I’m not talking strawberry teas.
“Rye Hill is solid”, “A 100 bus has not been seen for an hour”, etcetera, etcetera. Yes, the sun’s out and the population of London is fleeing to cooler climes and last weekend they fled to Camber Sands yet again, with the inevitable long queues into and out of both Rye and Camber.
But surely there are some solutions in this age of social media, twitter, local radio etc – even simple blackboards. And this is no new phenomena. Last year was just the same – and the year before, and the year before that.
So this is nothing new – neither is the fact that Camber Sands can attract thousands in good weather, and the sea can be dangerous – as can all beaches where there is a big gap between high and low tide. But next Monday June 26 sees the opening of the inquests into last year’s drownings at Camber.
However my topic is not about the sea or the beach, but the roads – and the information given out by the police and Rother District Council before and during the day when it can reasonably be foreseen that Camber can and will be pulling in the crowds – until it, and sometimes Rye too, grinds to a total halt.
But one thing is for sure, once the traffic piles up the buses grind to a shuddering stop – at very least between Rye and Lydd. But once upon a time there was a tramway from Monkbretton Bridge over the Rother at the edge of Rye and round past the golf course to Camber. Maybe it should be resurrected.
In the meantime car/smartphone/etc etc owners deserve timely and regular reports about the risk of jams, car parks being full, and actual tailbacks on radio,TV and any other relevant media – and that means trying a bit harder than a notice outside the car park saying “Full” – or one even on the edge of Camber, or before they leave Rye.
Like lorry chaos at Dover this is a predictable problem, and those concerned should be proactive – and have a plan in place – but I see little evidence of one.
Photo ?
Image Credits: Rye News photographer .
The problem in Camber always has been the system of pay on entry into the car parks.
Until they reverse this and pay on exit tail backs will always mount up as there is no through lane once cars start queuing.
Coming back from the Crowborough area on Monday, we were pleased to see that there are brand new ‘Camber Full’ temporary road signs, quite big, not only at the top of Rye Hill, but at the Flimwell road Junction.
It’s all very well putting a ‘Camber Full’ sign up at East Guldeford but it defeats the object if traffic is then directed to try and access via Lydd creating grid lock both sides of Camber. Either it’s full or it’s not. Also the sign was still up on Monday around 11am when Camber was not full, so again one can understand people not paying attention to it. It’s not just the car park – but the fact that there is not enough parking and if Rother’s plans go ahead we will lose 2 car parks. Neither is there any parking enforcement – again down to Rother – all of which combines to make residents’ lives hell at weekends and during holidays. The problem has got worse and worse over the years.
Simply needs an officer stopping cars trying to turn right into Camber from the A259 – this is what gridlocks everything.