Your Letters - March 6
We welcome your letters - email them to rye.battle@trbeckett.co.uk Please include your name and address if your letter is for publication.
Near misses in Station Approach
ANOTHER day, another near miss in Station Approach in Battle.
This time it was a taxi driver (not one of the local taxis who regularly visit the station) who ignored the 'Give Way' sign and nearly crashed into the front of my car in Station Approach.
I would be grateful if users of Battle station would note that on leaving the front of the station building there is a 'Give Way' sign before entering Station Approach.
This does not just apply to traffic coming down Station Approach to the station and car parks but also traffic from the right leaving the health centre and other local businesses and offices as well as people like myself who live in Mitre Way.
In the six years I have lived down this road, I have seen crashes, heard the swearing from people who have had near misses and have had to do regular emergency stops to avoid hitting cars that have ignored the 'Give Way' sign.
The vehicles have been cars, taxis and even buses put on by the train operator when there is engineering works.
I have twice written to Network Rail who, I understand, own Station Approach, which is a private road, asking them to make their signage clearer.
They have declined to do so.
So next time you are visiting Battle station, please take care and slow down and look to your right at the Give Way sign!
ALISON NORWOOD
Mitre Way
Battle
Saving pubs
WITH Post Offices closing around the country and six pubs closing every day, we risk losing the hubs that hold together our local communities.
That is why I call on readers to support the Conservative Party's campaign to save the Great British pub.
The Labour government has done everything possible to undermine the local pub, and a third of the price of a pint goes to the Chancellor.
Conservative MEPs recently attempted to amend an EU proposal to reduce VAT rates on local services so that governments could reduce the tax on locally-produced beers and ciders.
Unfortunately our proposals were voted down.
Local pubs are the bastion of social and responsible drinking, and they should be encouraged.
We need to target problem drinks like high strength ciders and alcopops rather than simple pleasures like a pint of locally-brewed ale.
You can support our local pubs by signing up to the Conservative Party's petition at conservatives.com.
As a frequent pub goer and beer drinker, I feel that we should support our British pubs - the heart of our local communities.
NIRJ DEVA MEP
Court action
I WAS disappointed to see some of the comments reported in relation to the Rye Town Council and Rye Town Services dispute because the council meeting in question was held with the public and press excluded.
The description of one of the alleged aspects of the meeting can have been provided only by a councillor ('Council invoice row escalates', Rye and Battle Observer, February 20).
Going into closed session was appropriate on this occasion because RTS had made the council aware before the meeting that it had prepared a county court claim.
Whether or not the council is 'set to take court action' has not been disclosed.
RICHARD FARHALL
Rye Town Clerk
Bloom time
IS YOUR corner of England a bit special?
Do you do your bit to make the place where you live the envy of many others?
If the answer to these is 'Yes', why not puff out your chest with pride and enter the annual South and South East in Bloom competition, sponsored and supported by Southern Water.
The closing date for entries is March 20 and entering is nice and easy – entry forms can be downloaded from our website sseib.com.
The Bloom is not all about 'hanging baskets and window boxes' or about 'chocolate box villages'.
Those entering or considering entering can benefit in a number of ways: an increase in civic pride through local people taking on the planning and management of their local areas; a boost to the local economy through increased tourism and business activity; long-term improvement in their local environment through habitat creation and conservation, public parks and gardens, floral displays and high levels of cleanliness; regeneration of disadvantaged areas; a means to address issues such as sustainability, recycling, minimising waste and energy conservation; and stimulation of voluntary work and co-operation between neighbours and community groups.
Although these are tough economic times, we hope neighbourhoods, villages, towns, and cities will once again engage with our campaign as they aim to embrace all or some of these goals.
Southern Water's support and sponsorship has enabled South and South East in Bloom to quadruple in size since 2002, not only enhancing local communities but also encouraging us all to avoid wasting water.
People who are entering, or considering entering, and want to find out what the judges will be looking for in 2009 should attend our seminar in Chichester, West Sussex, on March 12.
To book a place and for more details contact campaign manager, Anne Holman, on 020 8662 1021, e-mail anne@sseib.com or write to 124 Gravel Hill, Croydon, Surrey CRO 5BF.
PETER HOLMAN
Chairman
South and South East in Bloom
Driving skills
IN THE UK, we drive on the left- hand side of the road, or at least we did when I took my driving test!
Traffic on the major road takes precedence over traffic exiting from a minor road.
Every day I encounter drivers who have not grasped this basic concept.
The roads I refer to are the B2244 which runs through Sedlescombe and the minor road, Brede Lane, Sedlescombe.
Cars turning into Brede Lane from the eastern side of the village, regularly cut straight across on the right-hand side if there are no cars waiting to exit and if there is a car waiting to exit to the west side of the village and another wanting to access Brede Lane, nine times out of 10, the driver of that car expects the driver of the other to pull out in front in order to cut across on the right-hand side.
I encounter this on a daily basis and am subjected to all manner of abuse when I refuse.
The drivers are mostly locals!
Anyone who is incapable of executing a right-hand turn and keeping to the left-hand side of the road should not be driving any more than those who cross the left solid white line on the A21 turning left on to the B2244 into the village should.
The reason for this line is to stop drivers behind from overtaking at a large junction.
I should also like to ask that drivers do observe the 30mph speed limit – any fool can speed and a car is a lethal weapon!
LYNN SCOONES
Sedlescombe
Travel delays
I TRAVEL to Battle from St Leonards to work four days a week.
Not a week seems to goes past without there being some form of road works on the way and today it took me 45 minutes to make the journey due to roadworks being set up just outside Telham (Battle side) and then again in Battle High Street – and this following half-term when there were no roadworks at all but traffic is noticeably lighter.
Why is it that those in charge of permitting such roadworks do not insist that the majority of such works are done during holiday time when disruption would be less?
I, of course, appreciate that not all works could be done during such time but this would certainly help.
Also of assistance would be a notice that such road works were to be commenced with a definite start date and duration so that some of us could use another route.
GLENDA NICHOLS
Hollington Park Road
St Leonards-on-Sea
Growing plan
THE PLANS for a new restaurant in Winchelsea were initially communicated to residents in posters put up around the town by the owners.
These described a 38-seat restaurant, with a private dining room for another 20, to replace the former tea room. It was stated that the restaurant would open Wednesday to Saturday only, with no late-night dining.
However, the planning application actually submitted to Rother (and still on their website) was for a 112-seat establishment, open seven days a week, until half-past-midnight.
It surely cannot have surprised the applicants when neighbours and other residents, who had not been consulted beforehand, expressed concerns about the impact of a development on this scale on a largely residential road, or that a neighbour was upset to discover that they planned to fix urinals to the other side of his bedroom wall.
It needs to be made clear that most residents did not object to the principle of a new restaurant, only to its size and hours of opening.
In the end, planning officers recommended a compromise, which attracted broad support from both sides of the debate in Winchelsea, and was very close to the proposals made by the applicants in their posters at the start.
Unfortunately, the applicants do not appear to have been willing to compromise and withdrew the planning application the afternoon before the planning committee meeting.
ANN HADDOCK
JOHN HADDOCK
PATRICIA DAWES
ANNE DAWSON
MICHAEL DAWSON
DAVID MORRIS
JACKIE MORRIS
ISABELLE SAMBROOK
FELICITY YOULTEN
Winchelsea
Sabotage
HOW SAD we are to read that Mr and Mrs Rumsey's excellent plans for a restaurant and delicatessen in Winchelsea have had to be abandoned!
It is galling when a small vocal minority, some of whom are relatively new to the area, become so embittered that they determine to sabotage the efforts of those whose only desire is to benefit the local community.
Steve and Anne Rumsey have both done so much for Winchelsea and Icklesham.
The Little Shop in Winchelsea is a joy. The display, the quality of the fresh vegetables and the variety reminds me of my childhood image of a village store in an Enid Blyton story!
The post office and Wickens butcher's shop are a vast improvement and simply perfect and such an asset, all due to the Rumseys.
Having had a home in these parts since 1977, for many years we enjoyed the excellent food in Winchelsea's Manna Plat Restaurant in the 1980s.
It was beautifully run and we hated to see it go!
It was on a crossroads where there were residences and there were no complaints in those days and there would have been no disruption or noise from the new restaurant.
We are unhappy that the vision for such a brilliant enhancement to Winchelsea's charms, which would have generated employment in these difficult times, had to be abandoned because of a few local short-sighted dissidents.
We think it is so sad that now the whole community will have to lose out.
ANN RACHLIN MBE and IAIN KERR
Icklesham
Buck passing
Like others, I have been working to hold Post Office Ltd to account in respect of its recent performance in Rye.
I was appalled however to read the outburst from Rye Labour Party chair Chris Mears in the Observer.
Whilst it is absolutely true that the residents of Rye deserve a proper apology from Post Office Ltd, they also deserve an apology from the Labour and previous Conservative Governments for the woeful under-funding of the Post Office network over decades.
It is deplorable, but not surprising, that the Labour Party is unwilling to take responsibility for the failure of its own policy and is now seeking to blame others.
It is buck-passing of the worst order.
As the Americans are wont to say – enough already.
Nick Perry (LibDem)
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Friday 10 February 2012
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