Rye firm Martello Developments may be close to building its new business park off Harbour Road, offering units and storage space in four separate structures.
To be known as Old Mears Business Park, the “multi-unit development” will be on a site opposite Bournes’ container yard. The site was bought by Martello for £1.2 million in mid-2020 and will offer 5,093 square metres of floorspace to let — inside four buildings of “portal frame construction with profiled cladding”.
A planning application lodged by Martello in early 2022 revealed that the largest of the four structures, Unit 4, will be a 60 metres by 27 metres “bulk store for port related activities” (Use Class B8 — storage and distribution). Unit 2, of 1,209 square metres, is currently under offer, even before any of the units have been constructed.
At least three dozen shipping containers have been placed along the riverside at the Old Mears location and heavy machinery has recently appeared on site, which may indicate that substantive building work is close to starting.
Martello already owns the 2.5-hectare Atlas Business Park on Harbour Road.
The developer has also recently built a container storage facility on a vacant 0.74-hectare plot inside Weslake Industrial Park, with the intention of transferring 300 containers from Atlas.
Although numerous containers are currently in place at the new site, no company nameplate can be seen at the entrance. High demand for storage seems to be driving development of this sort of facility.
The removal of the shipping containers from Atlas is intended to allow construction of 22 new industrial units and 36 parking bays. Atlas is also the proposed site for two buildings totalling 706 square metres planned to accommodate artists from the Rye Creative Centre.
A significant amount of business unit floorspace — around 7,436 square metres — has been added by Rastrum along Harbour Road in recent years, as will be reported in a future Rye News.
Martello has been approached for comment. The company has been active in proposing a number of residential projects for Rye, including development of the former Freda Gardham school site and Rock Channel.
According to Rother District Council (RDC), the Rye Harbour Employment Area boasts a huge 17,481 square metres of floorspace, comprising areas with existing and expired planning permissions. This is 85% of Rye and the eastern settlements cluster’s total floorspace.
The council’s Draft Rother Local Plan asserts that “there are opportunities for further intensification of employment uses on brownfields sites at Harbour Road”.
But while RDC envisages more employment in the zone — including the relocation of distribution activities from Rye — it will favour “cleaner” industrial processes, general industrial use, offices, R&D premises and storage ventures (Use Classes E(g) (i, ii, iii), B2 and B8).
“Much of the employment land has a very stark industrial appearance with many buildings close to the road,” RDC points out. Future development will involve a “comprehensive landscaping strategy” to improve the overall appearance of frontages and won’t be allowed to produce a significant increase in traffic along Harbour Road — unless the highway authorities are satisfied that any impacts are acceptable.
The road’s surface is infamous for breaking up, much to the ire of Rye Harbour residents and visitors.
Although East Sussex County Council says it’s recorded no concerns in response to recent planning applications for Harbour Road, it admits that between 1 February and 31 March, “48 defects have been repaired in this location,” including some jet patching pothole repairs.
Prospective site occupants will also have to carry out flood risk and ground contamination assessments and draw up drainage plans.
New development in or close to Rye Harbour industrial zone is not entirely uncontroversial, given its proximity to Rye and the need to preserve views to and from the historic town that are an integral part of its visitor offering. Councils have stressed that designated environmental areas and biodiversity nearby must also be protected.
In terms of housing, RDC has proposed a site allocation for 40 new dwellings on land behind Stoneworks Cottages in Rye Harbour village itself.
Image Credits: Google Earth , David Worwood .