Rother District Council (RDC) has asked its town and parish councillors to report on the main parking concerns in their areas by Friday of this week, March 31 – and a local resident has compiled his own list of the top ten black spots.
Rye’s Town Hall had no contact with our local RDC councillors last week or early this week about the report they were supposed to be preparing though elsewhere in Rother at least one councillor had turned up at the local parish council with a map to do the job properly.
Details on parking concerns have been requested because the RDC is working with East Sussex County Council (ESCC) on the Civil Enforcement of Parking, or the introduction of parking meters or permits and traffic wardens as parking is no longer a police responsibility – which has happened already in most other parts of the country.
Rye resident Nick Taylor has had parking problems literally on his doorstep in Lion Street as motorists try to squeeze past delivery vehicles at the side of the George hotel – notwithstanding that a special delivery bay has been provided in front of the hotel. Closed circuit TV is being explored as a solution to this, but parking regulation breaches still have to be enforced by either the police (barely seen in Rye) or new civilian traffic wardens. But these will have to be paid for by parking revenue from meters so Nick is telling Rother’s councillors what the problems are.
Nick’s top ten black spots include –
- The Cinque Ports Street mini-roundabout
- The Landgate
- Hilders Cliff
- Into East Street
- From East Street into Market Street
- Lion Street
- Into the High Street from Lion Street
- Outside the George hotel
- Turning into Market Road, and
- along Market Road
However no doubt there are others which can be identified by those who live in other parts of the town and are therefore more aware of them on a day to day basis – and these may include areas around Strand Quay; in Military Road, New Road and Ferry Road around the station area, and along South Undercliff.
A common issue is parking illegally on double yellow lines which may restrict vision or movement, particularly for larger vehicles like rubbish trucks or delivery vans, or indeed emergency vehicles.
A particular problem point can be the corner where Tower Street turns into the Landgate.
“Buses become stuck here regularly” says Nick in a letter to Rother councillors Lord Ampthill and Genette Stevens “because they are unable to make the sharp turn on the corner by The Landgate. This then completely closes off the High Street and town centre to all other traffic including emergency vehicles”.
The loading bay outside the George initially had some effect but, he says, “with the withdrawal of all parking enforcement by Sussex police soon after its creation the bay has just become another area of unregulated twenty-four hour parking”.
And the turning from the High Street into Market Road has even more problems. “Illegal parking makes it difficult for larger vehicles to have enough space to swing round to make the narrow turn. As a result these vehicles cut right across the pavement . . . the danger to pedestrians . . . cannot be exaggerated”.
However the introduction of parking meters and traffic wardens may affect the revenue the district council Rother gets from its car parks, so these are early days and traffic wardens may be still a long way off.
Photo: Rye News Library
Excellent summary by Nick Taylor.
As I have previously suggested, the only solution that would be understood by everyone (including the owners of blue badges) is the use of red lines in place of double-yellow lines and bars on the bends and junctions where any parking constitutes a lethal danger since it can block emergency vehicles from passing or turning.
If the East Sussex CC Highways are unable or unwilling to take this initiative, I urge the Town Council to show a bit of courage and, ignoring bylaws, take matters into their own hands. All that is required is a tin of the correct rubberised paint.
Forget about parking wardens or police surveillance. Given our indecisive Town Council, a Bexhill-obsessed District Council and an cash-strapped County Council, any solution is years away.
The Neighbourhood Plan suggests a Rye wide review as traffic and parking are issues across Rye. Parking is a post code lottery with some enjoying unlimited parking at little cost; others with no provision. There are traffic issues not just around Lion St which has attracted significant attention because of the efforts of Nick Taylor. What about West St (cashpoint alley?) the Military Road, the Grove, the Station Approach, streets in Tilling Green and the list goes on. There are also serious issues all along the A259 and Udimore Rd. The Neighbourhood Plan argues for an imaginative and holistic view. The latest technology could help. For instance, parking meters are yesteryear’s technology. Elsewhere people are using individual smart meters and number plate recognition. With so many vested interests, the big question is who is taking the strategic view, for central residents? for other residents? for traders? for visitors? Rye Town Council has a Highways Forum ; what is emerging by way of solutions?
The whole of the citadel should be a no parking area,as streets like Watchbell street, are clogged up with cars,some even parking on the narrow paths, and the whole parking problem is a disaster waiting to happen, 10 minutes unloading only, and if people wish to live there,it is up to them, to find alternative parking., just hope there never is a fire up there,as before the fire brigade could gain access, half of the street would be decimated.
People may have read recent press reports about the possibility of banning of pavement parking. It is not generally known that pavement parking is already illegal in double yellow line areas – and the Citadel area of Rye, being a “Restricted Area ” is included. However such parking will not stop unless there is enforcement, and currently the police will only ticket if a road is obstructed. The situation will not change until parking is decriminalised unless, of course, offenders, quite a few of whom are local residents, appreciate that their selfishness is unacceptable.
I am a fairly recent ‘newbie’ to living just out side Rye. I enjoy the diversity of the shops of Rye. It has occurred to me that when I drive into Rye to pick up a few things in the hight street and its environs that some vehicles seem to park far longer than the one hour allowed. Would it not be possible for shop and eateries to have cards/notices that they could put on the windscreen of any vehicle that seems to park longer than it should ? If this notice was written in an official but friendly manner, surely this would hopefully not mean offence being taken. It could also include a small map of longer term parking places and perhaps the costs. £1.50 is not too much for a whole day?
I would then be able to park for my 20 mins and spend my money. Helpful to me and others and also the shops/ eateries.
Carol Macdonald
5th April 2017
An interesting suggestion from Carol Macdonald but I have a strong suspicion that many of those who park for longer than the prescribed time limit are business owners, staff and residents themselves, I can’t see them putting notes under their own windscreens.