The annual Town Meeting, will be held next Wednesday April 4 at 7pm in Tilling Green Community Centre in Mason Road and is expected to be lively because of long-running issues such as the Landgate and the Neighbourhood Plan.
Deputy Mayor Mike Boyd told councillors on Monday that he was very encouraged that progress was being made on the Landgate, the last remnant of the town’s medieval defences.
Rother District Council (RDC) has approved urgent repairs of £74,000 to the Landgate, but is seeking a contribution of £7,000 from the town council and the local community.
He was very grateful to the Rye Fund for agreeing to donate £3,000 of this and the town council has agreed to underwrite the rest. A report would be made to the Town Meeting about how this cost might be met.
The Neighbourhood Plan is now out for formal consultation, though work on it started in 2012 and there were previous consultations in 2014 and 2016.
The Plan’s Steering Group will be at the Tilling Green Centre between 6 and 7pm on Wednesday before the Town Meeting to hear views and answer questions.
Response forms to the consultation are available at the Tilling Green Centre, the public library in the High Street, and the Town Hall.
The photo above shows Deputy Mayor Mike Boyd by the Town Hall display of the Neighbourhood Plan and response forms.
A report on the consultation’s progress to date was made on Monday to the town’s Planning Committee by the Steering Group’s Vice Chairman Anthony Kimber.
He said that following extensive comments on the plan from British Petroleum, who want to build a filling station and mini-supermarket on Udimore Road, a number of issues need to be reviewed.
One, given that Jempsons recently completed extension to their supermarket, is whether (considering the increase in online shopping with home deliveries) another supermarket is now needed in Rye.
The Plan in its current form, since work started in 2012, now runs to 95 pages supported by 324 pages of background evidence, site assessments and papers.
Rye Conservation Society has produced a four-page document commenting on the draft and expressing concern in particular (amongst other reservations) about the Freda Gardham School and Gibbet’s Marsh sites.
Once the draft plan has gone through all the legislative requirements it will be voted on by the residents of Rye only, and can be approved by a simple majority.
The town’s Planning Committee were told on Monday that the Steering Group would have to decide what weight to give to any comments from the Conservation Society given that it had both committee and ordinary members living outside Rye, who therefore had no vote in the referendum on the plan.
Comments relevant to the Plan and expected to be made at Rye Partnership’s Annual Meeting this week may also affect the debate at what promises to be a lively Town Meeting.
Photo: Kenneth Bird
Image Credits: Kenneth Bird .
Will the future of the Tilling Green Community Centre be resolved soon, or will it be left in limbo for the foreseeable future…
Without doubt it has been more than proven that this centre is a valuable asset to the community of Rye, yet the cloud of threatened redevelopment hangs over it, preventing it from reaching its full potential.
At present the community centre is a ‘public’ owned asset, so let us see the people appointed by the public to represent our interests; protect our interests.
I am surprised to learn that there are members of the Rye Conservation Society who do not live in Rye. Surely some mistake??
If Rye Conservation Society comment as a whole on the Neighbourhood Plan, then because of this anomaly, I would suggest that its comments cannot be taken into consideration. Of course individual members who reside in Rye can and should be allowed to vote. And comment but only as residents of Rye and not as representatives of the Rye Conservation Society. This is common sense.
It’s a pity that the article doesn’t mention the proposed supermarket on Gibbet Marsh. Are the people of Rye that desperate for another supermarket?
Gibbet Marsh is a historic part of the town and a green area enjoyed by visitors and residents. I’m appalled by the proposal.
The people of Rye are desperate for a supermarket selling quality fresh food and veg.
Rye Conservation Society (of which I am a Committee member) has never limited its membership to Rye residents and bases any comments on a firm understanding of planning law underpinned by substantial professional expertise. Its comments were approved by its committee, whose members are overwhelmingly Rye residents, but if special expertise is required it would be strange if that could only be offered by local residents and not by external experts.
There is no reason to stop any individual or group commenting on the Neighbourhood Plan, or planning applications, and official regional and national bodies (Highways England, East Sussex County Council, Rother District Council, the Environment Agency and others) may well have useful comments to make also. It is, of course, only Rye residents who may vote on the plan, but that is not the same thing.
Rye (despite the loss of its Borough status) is still a market town and many of the services and facilities of the town are as important to us in the surrounding countryside as to those living in the parish of Rye.
I hope Rye residents will be happy to take account of this wider responsibility when considering their plans.
May I remind everyone that two members of the Rye Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group don’t live in Rye and seemingly can’t vote in the referendum. Exactly the same is true of Rye Town Council, where a couple of highly valued councillors don’t live in Rye parish.
Should these bodies’ comments be ‘down-weighted’ as a result?
Of coutrse not.
Or, as one of your correspondents suggests banning any comments from a body without 100% ‘qualifying’ voters, should this mean that the RNP Steering Group and Rye Town Council itself cannot comment?
Of course not and of course not.
Also, it is important to be aware that it is only after this consultation has closed that the Official Examiner decides who the actual electorate should be.
Of course every voter in the Parish of Rye (which includes second home owners) will get the vote.
But the Examiner has the ability to decide whether the electorates in one, some or even all of the neighbouring parishes should get a vote if the Examiner believes the Rye Plan affects their parish/es to a sufficient degree. This recommendation then goes to Rother to ratify.
In which case, it could be that the two non-resident in Rye Town (parish) councillors might get a vote. But this will only be known months after this consultation has closed and a formal plan is finally presented to the Independent Examiner!
Lastly, many of the Conservation Society’s comments are technical, picking up what has happened at other Neighbourhood Plans and pointing to things that have been thrown out or forcibly altered elsewhere, and are aimed at helping make sure the Rye Neighbourhood Plan successfully proceeds and is adopted.
However, one proposed objection by the Rye Conservation Society, which chimes with many Rye residents, is to the potential blighting of Gibbet’s Marsh by allocating this valuable green space for development at some stage in the future.
I am a Rye Town Councillor, a RNP Steering Group member and a committee member of the Rye Conservation Society.
The points raised here have all arisen during our numerous planning meetings. They are addressed in the Plan and its supporting documents. As the piece underscores, the next opportunity for the Neighbourhood (Community) to raise issues will be at the Town Meeting on 4 April chaired by the Mayor. Many from the 100 or so locally who have given significant time and effort to develop the Plan in a democratic framework since 2013 will be present to explain the requirements and constraints on the Steering Group. Importantly we will be prepared to justify how we have arrived at a draft to meet the requirements of the Statutory Consultees (National and District Agencies) and landowners in a way that is acceptable to Rye Town Council. If you have views on any aspect then that will be an opportunity to raise them in a Public forum
http://Www.ryeneighbourhoodplan.org.uk