What helps and what doesn’t

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[Editor’s note : Government support for business announced in last week’s budget in light of the serious impact coronavirus is likely to have on High Street shops included reductions in business rates. Here is a local reaction]

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will be writing to local authorities, in our case Rother District Council (RDC), who collect the business rates on behalf of the government, and it seems it will be through RDC that the scheme will be administered.

This is a small piece of good news in the light of what our High Street has had to endure over the last few years with the rise of online shopping, the political indecision over Brexit, the fire at The George, the wettest winter on record, and now to add to this the daily changing situation and consequences of Covid-19 to our town and across the world.

The government support of high streets has been recognised and promoted for some years now, with a majority of local authorities recognising the impact of parking, in particular an element of free parking, and plays on keeping our high streets viable.

Not to trivialise the current pandemic and its serious consequences, it too will pass, but the insistence of East Sussex County Council to impose a civil parking enforcement scheme on Rye opposed by Rye Town Council and the Chamber of Commerce because, as a town we were misled into believing the scheme was based on the current existing restrictions when they were policed correctly, will do nothing to help Rye’s recovery.

Our elected county and district councillors for Rye involved in this scheme have let our town down in the light of the RTC and commercial opposition to it. It is very sad for Rye.

Image Credits: Nick Forman .

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