Aldi’s plans for a new supermarket in Rye have been approved by Rother District Council’s Planning Committee. Work could start on the site in May or June this year.
The unanimous vote in favour of the new store came just before 11am on Thursday 12 February. The same meeting heard the two other applications on the Winchelsea Road site, for homes and retirement housing, are also listed for approval.
The Aldi supermarket was given the green light subject to a number of conditions. These include commitments on employment and bio-diversity, supporting bus services, two hours free parking, and improvements on the walk to Rye town centre.
A report to the committee – spanning 68 pages – recommended approval ahead of today’s vote, saying the benefits of a second supermarket in Rye outweighed the disadvantages. RDC Planning Officer Edwin Corke told councillors the decision was finely balanced, but the introduction of two hours free parking played an important role in reducing the financial impact elsewhere in Rye.
Proposals for the new supermarket were first submitted in June 2024. Since then over three hundred letters of support have been lodged, with thirty five against.
Thousands of detailed pages of research, analysis and discussion have also been submitted from public and private organisations.
The meeting at Bexhill Town Hall heard from spokespeople for both Aldi and long standing local independent supermarket Jempson’s.
Jempson’s/Morrisons was represented by the managing director of their planning consultant Peacock & Smith, Chris Creighton. He said approval and the new supermarket opening would have a significant impact on the company’s Rye store, “It would be devastating with closure most likely.” He told the meeting Rye was not big enough to support two supermarkets and explained how he believed the application went against the council’s policies.
Speaking for Aldi, Real Estates Director Rob McClellan described the support from the community as “extraordinary”. He said Rye lacked affordable shopping and the new store would create jobs, “There are real benefits to Rye and the support speaks for itself.”
Thursday’s meeting proved a fascinating example of how larger-scale development in our community is decided.
The subsequent debate among the Planning Committee councillors lasted for about an hour and there was some tension as the vote approached. In the end, however, the argument that the advantages of approving Aldi outweighed the disadvantages won the day, with all eight councillors voting to support the new supermarket.
The two associated planning applications for the Winchelsea Road site were submitted at the same time as Aldi’s. One involves a project by developer Decimus for 16 homes; the other is for a large building by McCarthy and Stone with 43 units for retired people.
These two applications have been delegated for approval by RDC’s planning officers and it appears that all three decisions will be fully “signed off” and issued as soon as Section 106 legal agreements are signed, probably later this month. At that point the decision notices will appear on RDC’s planning portal.
An S106 agreement is a legally binding contract between a developer and a local planning authority designed to mitigate a new development’s impact on the community.
Decimus told Rye News that in May/June this year it hopes to start a six-month “enabling works” contract for the entire Winchelsea Road site. This will include site clearance, utility disconnections and diversions, demolition, site remediation and levelling, new utilities, the new access road and junction improvements.
Building work on the Aldi supermarket, the new houses and the retirement accommodation would theoretically be able to start by the end of 2026.
Image Credits: Harris Partnership , David Worwood .
Exiting times
Best news I heard for rye .
Thursday 12th February 2026 will go down as history in this ancient town, when Rye was Liberated from the shackles of a monoply that has gone on for far too long,at long last after years of promises that fell by the wayside, the local shoppers have at last had their voices heard, thanks to Rother planners,we have finally been rewarded, for the majority of Ryers that have wished for fair competition in this town
Great news – how about Jempsons sells its central Rye store to Aldi and transfer the staff over – win win for all. We will still use Jempsons in Peasmarsh for fuel, special bakery items etc.
What a result FANTASTIC people will now have the choice on where to shop now we need a petrol selling garage selling competitive priced petrol for years we the public have been controlled by Rother District Council and it’s sometimes mysterious and dark decisions Tescos failed Sainsbury’s failed buying ransoms strips to stop their competitors Aldi come along and have successfully done it WELL DONE ALDI
Be careful what you wish for…..Remember what a good idea Brexit was/wasn’t.
You won’t be shopping at Aldi then?
Myself, I think Rye folks will manage the transition to having a supermarket choice dramatically better than our ‘great leaders’ mis-managed most aspects of Brexit.
I already shop at Aldi, in Hastings. I can’t afford Jempsons. A Rye Aldi is great news
Thinking back to when Jempsons Super store was built in Peasmarsh it didn’t take long before the local Spar shop closed. Then look at Northiam where Jempsons took over the carpet shop and opened up close to the local shop. Competition works both ways.
Jempsons were in Peasmarsh long before Spar even existed in this country.
I’m not defending Jempsons but if you’re going to bad mouth them you should at least get your facts right.
I am originally from Rye, but now live in a maket town in County Durham. The population is about twice that of Rye, but it hosts an Aldi, a Lidl, Herons, and at least 5 mini supermarkets (Premier, One Stop among them)
My sister is still there in Rye and often complains about the cost of the only Supermarket and their monopoly in the town, and if they cant face the competition too bad. There will always be the better off who would not be seen dead in an Aldi (bless), but Aldi will give better prices (and quality – their Bramwell Baked beans and Mayo are the highest rated supermarket own brand by several national papers
Although I will not use Aldi as I’m on the other side of town, and I’m not a fan of much of what they sell, it’s great that Jempson’s will have some competition. And if Jempson’s close down, perhaps a better supermarket will take it’s place .. perhaps a nice Waitrose? Now, that would be very suitable for Rye and many of its residents.
Suitable? For whom I wonder? The average cost of a basket of 89 goods purchased from Waitrose in January 26 is 34% higher than comparable goods from Aldi.
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/supermarkets/article/supermarket-price-comparison-aPpYp9j1MFin#which-is-the-uks-cheapest-supermarket
‘Go figure’ as our cousins from across the pond would say.
Quite right Andrew, we won’t be able to put Pandora back in the box!
As I keep saying, Rye is unique in many ways and has a delicate balance that could easily be disturbed irreversibly. There’s a bigger picture than 20p off a bunch of bananas so your Brexit analogy is a good one. Just recall all of the benefits we were promised which, err…..haven’t materialised (not that they were ever going to).
So once you have ever so slightly cheaper groceries will it possibly be worth all of the potential damage to independent shops?
Finally, some of the comments above read like Aldi are a sort of philanthropic institution sent to save us all. Of course they are not, they are a ruthless supermarket chain who won’t hesitate to exploit their suppliers and customers like all supermarkets (I know I’ve dealt with them). I’ll bet anyone an Aldi chainsaw that it all ends in tears!
I wonder how many of the Aldi supporters on this site and on other Rye social media sites supported Brexit? I would wager most did so. The hypocrisy is stunning. Lower prices? Pre Brexit we did indeed have lower prices on food and on other products. You are also trashing a UK store and jumping up and down for a foreign owned store. Think about that if you are contemplating a vote for the Reform party. Also give a thought for families who depend on the Rye Food Bank which has been heavily supported by Jempson’s. Not Aldi or Lidl or Waitrose or Tesco have given a penny.
Rather than offering ‘dodgy’ Morrisons prices, Jempsons should have teamed up with Waitrose and then you would have two very different supermarkets in the town catering for everyone.
Well done Aldi ,.. Maybe if Jempsons collapse , a perfect site for a Wetherspoons ,….
The truth of the matter is Jempsons has effectively had a monopoly in Rye for many decades and the lack of competition resulted in higher food prices. As everyone in town knows, this has long caused much disquiet in Rye. I am neither an Aldi supporter, and nor am I ‘trashing a UK store’. I merely want fair supermarket competition in Rye. Jempson’s simply needs to compete, they cannot keep claiming they are a ‘special case’, or they deserve to keep a monopoly in Rye, just because they’ve been around since 1935: they don’t. I believe their group turnover is around the £35 million mark, it’s substantial. Whatever happens to their Rye store, they’ll still have the much bigger Peasmarsh store. If people choose to shop there, they can. My understanding is that Aldi will donate their surplus food to local charities and do so elsewhere. There will be little to no damage to other shops and businesses in Rye (save for Jempson’s) because the other shops don’t sell the same sort of thing. The High Street will thrive. Most shops in Rye are tourism/visitor related, as we all know. In future, if you’re better off and can afford higher prices, you may wish to shop at Jempsons: if not, you’ll have the choice of a discount supermarket. I suspect it’s mainly wealthy people arguing that Ryers should never have a choice of food store in town.
Food prices have been higher in Rye for decades. Budgens prices were higher than Sainsbury prices in south east London. Higher than some Waitrose products. Jempson’s prices for some things also were higher than Waitrose…
Jempson’s sell Morison label food…
If you shopped in Jempson’s Rye branch you will see the variety of people who shop there ….
What steps have the developers/Aldi’s taken to counteract the possibility of flooding in that area as well as to keep the traffic moving along the Winchelsea road? I foresee problems.