At the Cinque Ports Street end of Wish Ward is a small open space – about the size of the terraced houses either side of it. For many years the occupants of neighbouring No.7 Wish Ward have looked after it and it this time of year it is a colourful addition to the street as well as being one of the few places (along with the car park in Cinque Ports Street), where the ancient town wall can still be seen.
Now, however, along with every other open space and blade of grass in the town, it is under threat. The Bexhill bean counters at Rother District Council (RDC), determined to extract every ounce of flesh that they can from Rye have refused an offer from No.7 and, flushed with the success of the Camber Fields sale, have decided to follow that example and send this tiny parcel of land to auction. As with Camber Fields, it will doubtless be described as suitable for development and in due course some out-of-keeping building will, regardless of any objections from Rye Town Council, be given planning permission by people, 20 miles away, who neither know, nor care about our town. They are merely interested in stripping it of any assets that the well-meaning but, in practice, disastrous, local authority re-organisation of the early 1970’s put within its grasp.
And where will this money be spent? Will it come back to Rye to be spent, perhaps, on a parking warden or maybe affordable housing for first time buyers, or going towards stabilising the Landgate? The Chairman of the committee who has put in an enormous amount of work developing the Neighbourhood Plan will, I am sure, have a long list of projects on which the sale proceeds could usefully be spent.
But will Rye ever see them, or will the streets and promenade of Bexhill grow ever more lush at Rye’s expense? And what are our representatives on RDC doing about this? We have asked for Lord Ampthill’s views in the past and offered him space in these pages (and the offer still stands) to explain himself. Sadly he continues to ignore the offer. He might well argue that he is just one among many councillors and much as he might fight our corner, he will be outvoted. However, he is also a very senior member of the District Council and, not only that, but his portfolio includes decisions regarding the sale of this and other land around Rye. He would be listened to, his voice would be heard, he does have influence but does he use it? We wish he would tell us.
It is perhaps also the time to extend the offer of space in these pages to our other RDC councillor, Genette Stevens. We have never heard her views and have assumed that she has none, but maybe we are wrong, so please tell us Genette, what have you done since being elected? Are you really as silent as you seem? We would love you to prove our assumptions to be wrong and to hear how hard you have been fighting for this town in the Bexhill council chamber.
Photo: library
Image Credits: John Minter .