Born and bred in the area and returning after many years’ absence I am frankly astonished that nothing at all has been done about traffic congestion in the Town Centre since I left in 1953! Many visitors to the town, attracted by its historic and culinary delights, have already had quite a stiff climb into the town but are unlikely to repeat the experience once they have had to struggle with narrow, uneven pavements and unpleasantly close contact with the traffic while the poor residents simply have to lump it every day!
A few suggestions come to mind:
Short term:
- Residents of the Town Centre to be issued with “access permits” – no other traffic (except disabled drivers, the community bus, taxis and pedal cycles) allowed between say, 11am and 3pm. All delivery lorries restricted to before 10am with, possibly, weight limits on such vehicles.
- At other times restrict waiting time to 30 minutes without a pre-arranged permit for eligible reasons e.g. furniture removal.
Appoint appropriate wardens to enforce the above. - Increase off-street parking – especially on market day – the disputed Tesco/Sainsbury site in Ferry Road is reasonably close.
Make provision for residents to rent/use designated parking spaces out of the centre at preferential rates.
Longer term:
- Build on the above improvements by raising the level of the roads that are not cobbled to pavement height to create a totally “shared-space” environment combined with a 10 m.p.h. speed limit throughout.
Great list of items which, if brought into effect, would considerably ease the frequent chaos and on-going problems in our town, but, it must be pointed out, this is also a list of possibilities which has been only talked about here for many years. RDC just avoid the subject (it doesn’t affect them !) and our Town Councillors apparently accept that they can do nothing !
Mr. Melchers didn’t mention the reason : “How would any of it be funded ???
“Shared space” is an initiative which is catching on across the Southeast. The Rye Neighbourhood Plan includes this idea in its package of measures proposed to improve the traffic situation in Rye.
http://Www.ryeneighbourhoodplan.org.uk