We need to care more about our streets, how we use them . . . and the consequences (see the article on firemen being blocked by parked cars on the Home page). And that care needs to include the lamentable repairs to cobbled areas, the cracked pavements, and the selfish, disorderly and thoughtless parking.
The evidence is there for all of us. In Market Street I frequently see a car almost permanently parked in the same spot, ignoring restrictions. And last Sunday, as I sat having a coffee and pastry in the Apothecary, I noticed, amazed, someone parking his or her car illegally – half on the pavement and half on the road – opposite a whole row of legally parked cars – making it nigh impossible for any large vehicle (like a fire engine) to get up East Street.
And those on bicycles? They often whoosh by driving in the wrong direction along the one-way streets of our town – see my photo above. One rule for cars and another for bicycles – until someone is seriously injured or killed. On one occasion I even saw a car full of youths roar up the High Street the wrong way before zooming back down Market Road.
Clearly, we need a plan, though I hope that doesn’t mean waiting for a Neighbourhood Plan. Certainly, we need our town to be policed because the parking situation in Rye is a farce.
Tony Nunn
Rye