National Highways (NH) has dealt another blow to Aldi’s supermarket project, with the agency recommending that planning permission for the discount foodstore on Winchelsea Road in Rye not be granted until April 29 — and only then if “all concerns and requirements raised by National Highways are fully resolved.”
The roads agency also said that its formal recommendation did not affect Rother District Council’s ability to refuse the planning application or agree an extension of time beyond April 29. This represents a second significant delay to the planning application process.
Aldi and its two partners in the Winchelsea Road redevelopment project will have to redouble their efforts to persuade NH that their road access solution is workable and will not adversely affect traffic on the A259. If they fail, RDC may refuse the planning application in its present form. However, RDC is aware of the overwhelming public support for the proposed supermarket voiced by Rye residents.
National Highways explained that it is “concerned with proposals that have the potential to impact on the safe and efficient operation of the strategic road network … particularly within the vicinity of the A259 near Rye. We require further information to be provided by the applicant on this application in order that an informed decision can be made…”.
The battle, however, is far from over. Aldi remains a powerful, well-resourced player and it seems unlikely to give up without a fight. If Aldi loses, it will arguably be because of the constraints and difficulties in Rye’s road configuration rather than any retail-related arguments advanced by local rival Jempson’s.
Responding to the latest delay a spokesperson for Aldi told Rye News: “The project team are reviewing the latest comments from National Highways and will continue to liaise with Rother DC officers and technical consultees on this.”
Meanwhile, the government has confirmed that its new planning and infrastructure legislation planned for spring will make it easier for new building development to occur. It is not known how, or even if, this legislation might affect Aldi’s planning application for Rye.
Image Credits: David Worwood , Harris Partnership .
Once again sadly the Aldi saga will run and run, until they say enough is enough and withdraw from Rye, just like the debacle on ferry road,where Tesco and Sainsbury’s eventually withdrew, thanks to 3 councils spineless to act and resolve the problem and what is this town left with an overgrown eyesore, let’s hope the Winchelsea road site doesn’t become another legacy, which puts Rye to shame.
Not sure what the solution is. Highways is right, the access to the site for a supermarket and housing development would choke up traffic into and out of Rye for ever. The congestion would be from 8 in the morning till into the evening, seven days a week.
Any coastal town has, by definition, only have half the possible routes, in and out, that a town inland would have and anyone asking for re-development would have to acknowledge this.
I hope that’s 29th April, and not April 2029!
Why don’t the NH tell them what they can have, so they can get on with the development.
Didn’t Farnborough Engineering have cars going in and out of the plant in the past? I believe they had about 200 staff there.
If anyone reading the various comments on this subject has spent time driving a car on local roads recently they might have experienced some signs of congestion.
Putting comparisons between Aldi and Jempsons aside for a moment, getting to and from the proposed new Aldi or just passing the new entranceisn’t going to be an easy task whichever way you look at it. The roads around Rye are already very busy with day to day traffic at present and the location proposed for Aldi will cause even more congestion. These are the hard unavoidable facts of the case unless someone somewhere possesses a large magic wand!
John Jessup