Pollution at Camber
Millions of contaminated biobeads have been washed up on the beach at Camber sparking what’s been described as a “major environmental catastrophe.” Volunteers and council officials have been involved in the clear up which is still taking place.
Biobeads are small pieces of plastic used in sewage treatment plants, for example at Beckley and Eastbourne, leading to calls for Southern Water to investigate. Hastings and Rye MP Helena Dollimore has written to the company demanding answers.
Rother District Council responded to the incident on Thursday 6 November bringing in contractors to vacuum up the beads. Volunteers have also joined the beach clean up to prevent more environmental damage. Two dead seals have been found on the beach.
Dog walkers are being warned to avoid the area as the biobeads are toxic if ingested.
Rye News will have more on the story in coming days.
By-election & date confirmed
There will be a by-election to fill the vacancy on Rye Town Council following the death of long-serving councillor and former Mayor Jo Kirkham. It will take place on Thursday 18 December.
At least ten people have written to returning officer Lorna Ford requesting an election, well ahead of the deadline this Monday 10 November.
Rye News will have more details next week. The new councillor will serve until May 2027 when all 16 seats on the council could face election.
Also at the town hall
Rye Town Council’s Planning and Townscape Committee meets this Monday 10 November at 6.30pm. The agenda includes an update on Martello Developments’ plans for Rye, including 140 new homes which have yet to be formally submitted to planning authorities.
No news on Aldi
There was speculation the proposal for a new Aldi in Rye would go before this month’s Rother District Council Planning Committee. It won’t, as the meeting on 13 November has been cancelled.
The committee is next due to meet on 13 December.
Storm damage
High tides, rough seas and storms have left the Mary Stanford Lifeboat House above the beach at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve in a worrying condition again.
The building, maintained as a tribute to the 15 crew who died during a rescue in 1928, is being undercut as shingle is washed away.
Further along the coast more shingle was washed away between Winchelsea Beach and Pett Level. This picture – taken on Saturday 2 November – shows the old sea defences which are normally covered by tons of shingle.
Staying with the coast, this picture, showing a van on the beach caught by the high tide, was taken at 8am on Saturday 2 November at Camber. Nobody was injured.
We’ll have more details next week on the exciting plans for a community opera called The Chronicles of Rye.
It will composed by Dominique Le Gendre, whose works have been performed at the Royal Opera House, the Proms, on the BBC, at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and at Canterbury Cathedral. She’ll be working with Barefoot Opera and Rye News to create something unique.
There’s a fundraiser at The George on Wednesday 26 November at 6.45pm. Sussex-based artists will sing opera favourites including the duet from Lakmé by Delibes, Carmen’s Seguedilla with Don Jose and introduce some unusual pieces alongside two songs by Dominique Le Gendre.
To find out more and book tickets click here.
Walk for Wellbeing results
Earlier this week, the results of the 2025 Walk For Wellbeing event were revealed. More than 1,400 people up and down the country, including at Rye Harbour, helped to raise £165,000 for one of the UK’s oldest charities Hospitality Action.
This brings the total amount raised since its launch in 2020 to £500,000. It has greatly contributed to changing the lives of thousands of hospitality people. This nationwide movement was the brainchild of Rye resident Craig Prentice, founder and director of hospitality business, Mum.
Image Credits: Juliet Duff , James Stewart , Stuart Harland , Harris Partnership , Tristan Bruce , Carolyn Gould , Reader , Martin Bruce .
Interesting to read that Rye town council will be having an election soon,after the death of councillor Kirkham. Let’s hope there are some younger candidates wishing to stand for our town, with vision for the future,and not just eying up the mayor’s chair,that has to be earnt, and hearing some of our councillors are heading towards their eighties, surely time for some to step down, as it seems there are plenty at this present time willing and able to represent our town in the future years.
I was surprised to see that there would be a by-election for the vacancy on Rye Town Council requested by 10 people and wondered whether if they’d considered the cost rather than co-opting a new councillor?
I see it as a waste of money when a process is in place to avoid such expenditure. I presume Rother District Council will fund the by-election at a huge cost. Democracy rules but one councillor when Rye Town Council has 16 councillors?
What a strange comment. All elections cost money. These are elected, public positions. Do you propose we have no elections at all?
It’s one vacancy and the council can co-opt a candidate using an approved procedure. I’m sure you’ll understand that a by-election cost in excess of £4000. Is that justifiable with much of our amenities and services being drastically underfunded?
It’s been done before and recently
https://www.ryenews.org.uk/news/ryes-new-councillor
More than 10 Rye Parish Electors requested a by-election – so Rother is obliged to run one – and the Town Council is obliged to fund it!
I assumed it was Rother District Council that funded the election, even worse then that Rye Town Council has to fund it! Badly needed funds wasted for the town on an election for one vacancy,
I can see both sides of this argument, an election will cost money no one has against co-opting someone on which always has the danger of “jobs for the boys”
There’s a very good chance that the candidate co-opted on won’t be the same person who would be voted on in an election.
Do the individual members of the council ask the opinion of the rest of us before making their choice?