Residents and shopkeepers in Rye have received notices that surveys of under-pavement cellar areas will be made by agents acting on behalf of East Sussex County Council (ESCC) highways department.
The survey is preparatory to roadwork maintenance proposed to start later this year or early in 2020. According to Jack Griffiths of ESCC Highways, the work will comprise resurfacing of the roadway leading from Landgate arch along Hilders Cliff, the High Street and the Mint and into Wish Ward. He told your reporter that the surveys were legally necessary in respect of listed properties, because of the unlikely risk of damage resulting from the works.
The first inspections already commencing this week will be of the eastern end of the High Street and involve taking photographs and preparing a schedule of condition for each relevant building that has been identified as possessing a cellar underlying a pavement.
The surveys are being conducted by Hamson Barron Smith surveyors, from their Brighton office.
Image Credits: Kenneth Bird .