The Annual Town Meeting organised by Rye Town Council will be held this year on Wednesday March 1 at the Tilling Green Community Centre in Mason Road beginning at 6:30pm, for registration and chatting with councillors and staff. It is a gathering of Rye Parish Local Government Electors that is open to the public and press.
The meeting will open officially with the Mayor’s overview of the past year followed by an open session when residents’ questions and concerns can be raised and addressed.
East Sussex County, Rother District and Rye Town Councillors will be on hand, to be quizzed on what needs doing in the Town and when and by whom. High on the list certain issues can be expected, such as the Lower School Site off Ferry Road by the level crossing which Rye Academy no longer plans to use, the repair of the Landgate where a report from Rother District Council is long overdue, and the state of our roads and pavements.
Residents will also want to know what is happening with ongoing eyesores such as the derelict former Grist Mill Pine warehouse and the boarded-up shop window and demolished signs on the traffic island at the Ferry Road/Cinque Ports Street corner. The latter incident involved a joyrider smashing into this window and occurred over five months ago as reported in Rye News
Planning permission has been applied for in order to undertake the repairs to the shop, and the highway authority’s barriers on the traffic island are recent, but with the tourist season approaching, demands for overdue action will be forthcoming. Now is the opportunity to frame meaningful questions in advance of the meeting.
Photo: Kenneth Bird
Sadly the town is becoming an eyesore again, surely time for Rye town council, to urge Rother,to put enforcement notices, on these people, who own these sites,and are giving the town a bad name.
Mr Tolhurst is right to comment on the derelict sites in Rye where nothing seems to happen. For instance one wonders what pressure is being applied by the Council to get movement on the development of the Lower School site for housing now the Rye Academy has decided not to expand on this site?