Town councillors in total agreement

I attended the Rye Town Council meeting last Monday and I can highly recommend you doing the same. The gallery (the area with red chairs in the photo below) is open to the public, you don’t have to speak if you don’t want to but if you do, your voice and your views will be heard.

At the meeting there were around 10 of us in the public gallery plus ten councillors seated and chaired by our mayor, Andi Rivett with deputy mayor Andy Stuart, town clerk Richard Farhall and deputy town clerk, Jessica Neame.

The main focus of the meeting was agenda item 119, the planning application (RR/2024/1/P) for the proposed development at 23 Ferry Road, Rye (see articles Ferry Road site update and Profitability raises questions over affordable homes ). The developers have applied for the demolition of the existing building and redevelopment of the site for retirement living apartments including communal facilities; car parking and landscaping; custom build residential dwellings with associated landscaping, car parking and other associated infrastructure.

It all sounds very impressive but when councillors looked into the detail there are many issues of concern which came to light at the meeting. After hearing all the concerns from councillors and the public, the application was put to the vote with every single councillor voting against the application for a number of very important reasons. I have collated their concerns below which Cllr Simon McGurk, who was present at the meeting, will take to the planning department at Rother District Council.

Anthony Kimber was also present at the meeting and gave a detailed account and breakdown of the application and also voiced his long list of concerns as well as answering many of the questions posed by councillors and the public present.

Councillors’ concerns

We know this site will be developed at some point; it can’t stay vacant forever. If planning is granted, the site is estimated to take about two years to build all 88 proposed units on the 1.46 hectare site, a substantial increase in unit numbers compared to the last application.

The groundworks involve increasing the ground level of the site, a lot of excavation and the most logical route for the construction traffic would be along Udimore Road. Negotiating between parked cars along Udimore Road at the moment can be challenging at times but imagine the existing traffic coupled with all the construction traffic to and from the site over a two-year period and you can see why our councillors and neighbours to the site are very concerned. The increased height of the site coupled with the height of the proposed buildings would cause overlooking issues for residents in Tillingham Avenue.

Rye’s drainage system is dated and struggles with existing usage and it was felt that the addition of 88 more houses could cause problems and hadn’t been thought through. Similarly, the ecological and environmental impact of the development needed much more thought as only two of the existing trees are due to remain.

Access to the site is proving to be a major concern: close to the railway crossing, the fire station and surgery, and the density of parking was deemed to be too high. It’s likely that every one of the occupants of the proposed 88 units will have a vehicle, possibly two, so  think of the number of vehicle movements onto an already busy junction, you do the maths.

The style of buildings proposed were deemed as being totally inconsistent with neighbouring properties and not conducive to Rye at all.

However, the main bone of contention is that the application makes no provision for affordable or social housing, as the developers viability study says it is not feasible. The developers have however included a block of apartments as part of their application which are specifically for older occupants, to be built in conjunction with a retirement homes specialist but it is unclear if they will be sold to locals or to potential buyers on the developers lists who may not be local.

Councillors are concerned at the number of young people who are being forced to leave Rye who cannot afford to buy or rent anything locally. Competing with incomers and speculators/multiple landlords is driving them out yet here is a site which in theory could offer the opportunity for affordable housing but, the figures don’t stack up and profit is the main driver.

This was a very focused and passionate meeting but if there is to be no affordable housing on the site the development as proposed does not fit within the Rye Neighbourhood Plan and goes against the agreed strategic development of Rye.

A vote was taken and councillors agreed unanimously that the application should be rejected. Their recommendation has been registered with Rother District Council.

Rye Town Council need your support if you agree with their concerns. Rye News will publish an update when Cllr McGurk has a response from his meeting with Rother District Council but in the interim, do have a look on the council’s website www.rother.gov.uk using planning reference RR/2024/1/P for further detail about the proposed development.

Our thanks go to Richard Farhall, town clerk for providing the photos for this article at very short notice.

Image Credits: Richard Farhall .