Road to nowhere
I AM at a loss to understand the mentality of the occasional car owner who wishes to use Deadman's Lane the wrong way.
Not long ago it was about an occasional bus, but, thanks to someone using commonsense this, I understand, has been resolved to the satisfaction of the majority.
I can only believe those who would rather go UP the lane are not thinking clearly.
Rather than use Rope Walk, Tower Street and Landgate to get to Peasmarsh, they would prefer, on the return journey, to come down Rye Hill, turn towards Skinner's corner, travel Fishmarket Road, South Underclif, the Strand, the B2089, round up to and along Cinque Ports Street before they get back to Rope Walk, the point from which they started.
This is a journey in itself with the A259 being used by massive lorries midweek and, at weekends, the visitors to the area.
Add to that the Camber Sands devotees and the next thing would be a demand for a roundabout at the exit to Rye Hill and special rights to a shortcut through the railway car park.
Might I suggest that Rye Town Council give the county councillors, who are so willing to foul up a perfectly good system, a trip starting from Love Lane to the hospital and back to Love Lane using both routes. It is conceivable they are innocent of the problem, especially in the summer months when I do hope they surveyed the area as well as this time of the year.
Certainly residents of the lane should be allowed access up to their property.
This is commonsense allied to humane understanding.
PETER MARSH
Udimore Road, Rye

Give us a sign
UP or down? The saga continues. The fact is that Deadman's Lane is obviously a single track road. The local Ryers, and those from the villages north of the town are well aware that visitors, and the odd chancer, could appear from the south; which is probably the reason for so few 'incidents' . But this is not a good reason to assume it is more sensible to travel northwards only, via The Grove to Rye Hill.
The Highway Code used to state that vehicles should not back out onto any thoroughfare, let alone an A-road. The correct decision has been made to make the lane one way. But it is no less dangerous to exit the lane onto Rye Hill than it is to be forced to back onto it.
At least cars waiting on Rye Hill to turn right into the lane can be seen.
For vehicles from the east and north to be forced to enter Rye by negotiating the busy Fishmarket Road - Strand - Wish Street route, then the Station Approach Circus, is ludicrous. Most of us only want to get into the Market car park. Extra petrol used, exhaust fumes, traffic jams - think environment!
All that's needed is a sign at Rope Walk stating there is no through route to Rye Hill, but giving local access to The Grove, Love Lane and the houses at the foot of the Lane.
Then a one way sign at the top of Deadman's Lane and an appropriate warning near the bottom when it changes to two-way. It's not rocket science!
The people who make these changes presumably come into Rye from the west. They'd soon notice the difference if everyone entering the town joined them!
Please use some commonsense and do what the majority need.
SHEILA SOMERVILLE
Military Road
Rye

Outrageous arrest
NOT content with taking state control of the British economy to levels the Chinese Communist Party can only dream about, Gordon Brown's ruthless neo-Stalinist Government has now arrested Damian Green, MP, the Shadow Immigration Minister for the supposed crime of helping to reveal, in the public interest, some of the incompetence and deception being practised by the Home Office.
Damian Green should be congratulated for bringing to public notice the failings of a Home Office which first lied to the public about the levels of immigration (as it has lied to the public about crime levels) and then spectacularly failed to control immigration as it promised.
As John Reid, a former Labour Home Secretary, said, the Home Office is "not fit for purpose". Now, the same is true of the whole Government.
The arrest of Damian Green is yet more evidence that this Government has abused the excessive powers it has grabbed, under the convenient pretence of defending national security.
David Cameron is right to object, in the strongest possible terms, to this outrageous action.
KEITH STANDRING
Amherst Road,
Bexhill-on-Sea

How much in reserve?
WHEN news broke on local authorities holding large amounts of cash in failed Icelandic banks I wondered just how much in reserves our local authorities had in total so I obtained figures from Rother District Council and East Sussex County Council.
The latter held reserves (excluding for pensions) of £352 million at 31/3/08.
Whilst accepting local authorities need some cash in the bank as a buffer this seems like a very large sum to me.
At the 2001 census there were approximately 215,000 households in the county. Presumably this figure has increased since but not all would pay council tax.
The reserves work out at £1,637 per household based these figures. Reserves have been relatively stable at £326 million at 31/3/07 and £327 million at 31/3/06.
Rother in addition had reserves of £26.5 million at 31/3/08 based on 42,013 households paying council tax, a further £63 per household. No doubt local fire and police services also held cash savings.
I am left feeling it is odd that councils in the South of England claim poverty at each round of central government settlements.
You would think they were operating budgets on a hand to mouth basis with only new government money and council tax available for spending services.
I am also puzzled why for some years council tax rises could not have been capped at inflation or frozen and why as reported some councils, not necessarily ESCC and RDC, will have to recoup losses from Icelandic banks by raising council tax by up to 10%, though conveniently not until after the next General Election.
On the cost of freezing council tax for a year, my Band D payments were about £60 more in 2008/09 than the previous year.
If the average increase across ESCC was £75 per household the total cost assuming 215,000 households would have been just over £16 million; hardly a major dent in the county council's reserves and not even enough to have reduced them back to the 31/3/07 level.
What is council tax for, funding reserves or services and are inflation busting rises year on year fair? It is our money and it's time for some payback.
MIKE GRANT
The Paddock
Northiam

Wind-farm in the right place
MR Piper's passion for the natural world is clear from his letter (Rye and Battle Observer letters, November 28], and is something to be applauded. Along with a million others, his support of the RSPB is invaluable.
Mr Piper's comment that the RSPB has jumped on the wind-farm bandwagon, however, needs clarification.
According to the latest scientific research, climate change could commit one third or more of land-based plants and animals to extinction by 2050 if we do not take dramatic steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
That's why, as Europe's largest wildlife conservation charity, the RSPB strongly advocates the generation of energy from renewable sources, and sees wind power as possessing the greatest potential to make a significant difference in the fight against climate change.
As a result, the vast majority of wind farm proposals – around 90 per cent – have met no opposition from the RSPB.
But it is essential that we don't destroy the thing we are trying to protect.
Wind farms must be the right thing in the right place.
With this in mind, we work hard to scrutinise individual proposals to assess their potential impact on birds and biodiversity.
We have found a small proportion of wind farms proposals pose serious threats to important bird populations and their habitats.
Romney Marsh was one such case.
Here, the proposed wind farm could have posed a risk to wintering birds as they moved between their feeding and roosting sites.
A handful of others have been objected to over significant habitat loss, or the very real threat of bird collision with towers or blades.
The RSPB believes the UK Government's targets for renewable energy can and must be met without damaging important wildlife and the habitats that support it.
It is this that frames our approach to wind farms, and our position over Romney Marsh.
HESTER PHILLIPS
Media Officer
RSPB South East England Region

Plan hit the buffers
I REFER to the report in the "Rye Observer" in which the Campaign for a Democratic Rye Group is accused of misleading the public (November 28). This is a grossly misleading report which contains some glaring inaccuracies.
There appears to be confusion between the twin aspirations of what Rye Town Council was hoping to achieve and what the Group is hoping to achieve.
This confusion was brought to the notice of this paper's readers in my monthly column and in previous letters to this paper.
The difference should be obvious. Rye Town Council was exploring the devolution of services to Rye. The CDR Group has a much more radical approach by exploring the devolution of services through the creation of Area Committees.
It also includes planning decisions being made locally.
The intention would be to split Rother District into three or more areas with Rye and its surrounding villages having its own Area Committee.
Whereas Rye Town Council had as its intention to bring some services back to the town of Rye, the CDR Group, which also of course seeks more local accountability, wants empowerment to be brought to a much larger area which would not only includ Rye, but all the neighbouring parishes in eastern Rother.
Our promises in our election addresses and our aspirations are still valid as we continue in our quest.
It was not the Group that admitted that the whole venture was no longer financially viable but Rye Town Council through its working group in seeking its own agenda.
It is true that Rye Town Council's own plan has hit the buffers as the figures for Rye itself understandably would not stand up, but if one includes the total income and expenditure for the Rye area the picture is very different, especially if one considers the income arising from the car parks in and around Rye.
I hope my explanation will be of some assistance to those who have found the matter rather confusing.
CLLR GRANVILLE BANTICK
Chairman of the Campaign for a Democratic Rye.

Towns should take more power
AS a good Conservative, Councillor Keith Glazier should perhaps spend less of his time attacking the Campaign for a Democratic Rye.
It was a Conservative MP, Nicholas Hurd, supported by local Conservative MP Gregory Barker, who introduced the Private Members Bill that became law last October as the Sustainable Communities Act.
This act seeks, amongst other things, "to give local people much greater power over the way in which taxpayers' money is spent in their community".
The Sustainable Communities Act and the Campaign for a Democratic Rye are both aspects of a national movement that wants real powers delegated to local communities, powers to influence planning as well as the spending of public funds.
The Conservatives claim they want to reduce the role of the state and centralised bureaucracies and give real powers to local communities.
Conservative Councillors should therefore encourage local town and parish councils to be ambitious and not deride them and their supporters for their efforts to assert their influence.
The Sustainable Communities Act only comes into effect in Local Authority areas which have chosen to "opt in" to the act.
Rother have yet to decide. It will be surprising if the Conservative majority on the council fail to take this step, as it so closely matches their party's aspiration to revive and strengthen local communities.
More about the Sustainable Communities Act can be found at http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/
CHRISTOPHER STRANGEWAYS
Old Turks
Iden

Warming to the issue
C R DENT is correct in his belief that the global warming paranoia is a convenient excuse for stealthily raising taxes (Mailbag 14/11/08).
Natural history proves global warming/climate change is cyclical the inconvenient truth is that glaciers, and ice-floes at the North Pole, melt and reform.
It has always been so and always will be. In the 1970s, scientists 'proved' with certainty the statistical probability that we were entering a new, mini ice age - it didn't happen. They didn't need to employ Al Gore's vote boosting scaremongery of an 'ice-hockey stick graph', whose manic extrapolation into the future has been denounced by all serious scientists and statisticians.
Indeed, the official scientific analysis at the more recent IGCCC was that there was "a 90 per cent probability it may be man-made".
Now anyone used to statistical analysis will treat that "90 per cent probability" with caution in the absence of stated parameters for it has more to do with the distribution of raw data in the sampling techniques.
In no way is it the degree of absolute certainty which the politicians used forcibly to rewrite the scientific statistical analysis as 100% proof-positive global warming is man-made and thus highly taxable, with VAT on top. Yipeee!!
While John Griffin is also right about encouraging the use of public transport, neither it nor the Bexhill-Hastings by-pass will solve the problem of the A259 trunk road at Glyne Gap.
This was a major bottle-neck when the delightfully fragrant gas works were there. It was the wrong place for a shopping centre/industrial estate without having first improved the local road network for, as traffic surveys have shown, as little as five per cent of traffic at Glyne Gap is through traffic, the rest is 'local traffic' (mainly cars and taxis) carrying families and their shopping to and from destinations that buses and trains, (devoid of space for carrier-bags, cool-boxes, shopping trolleys) don't or can't serve.
Just like the Pevensey/Polegate by-pass, the Bexhill-Queensway (and later Guestling) by­pass will be lightly used except in peak hours.
The answer is, surely, to ban out-of-town superstores (which entice trade by misleading lost leaders) and encourage the support of local shops (within walking distance) which are invariably cheaper, offer better and more knowledgeable service and which encourage a stronger, more helpful, supportive and safer local community with local employment - and all without destroying our precious countryside!
BARRY JONES
Beckley, Rye

Town Plan by the Spring
MR Howlett suggests that Rye Town Council is to blame for the lack of a Rye Town Plan (Rye Observer, November 28) yet, although it is generally the case that the local parish/town council takes the lead on producing a plan, action plan support workers recommend that the process is driven by non-Councillors to ensure that the finished plan reflects the needs and aspirations of the wider community. Indeed, in some parishes plans have been produced with minimal council involvement.
The reason why there is currently no plan in Rye is because it has not been possible to find sufficient members of the community to form a fully-complemented steering group nor an individual to act, voluntarily, as a co-ordinator. This is despite the Council organising an awareness-raising event in March 2007.
It is only over the last two/three years that the Rother Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) has provided funding and professional support for action
planning.
In order to reinvigorate the process Rye Town Council recently became the only council in Rother to appoint a paid Action Plan Co-ordinator, Angela Alexander. She will work with a small steering group charged with producing a Town Plan by Spring 2009.
As far as the Local Development Framework Core Strategy - Strategic Directions public consultation is concerned, the Town Council intends to submit a response by the 30 January deadline and urges anyone concerned about planning decisions in Rye over the next 20 years to do the same.
RICHARD FARHALL
Rye Town Clerk
Town Hall
Rye

Post burden
IT has not been generally made known that the closing of so many Post Offices is due to the EU taking over so many profit-making branches and leaving the Post Office with the mail.
Year after year the EU can never balance its books, although how it manages to spend so much money is something of a mystery.
CATHARINE STRAKER
U.K.I.P.
The Old Hop Garden
Peasmarsh

Answer concerns
MAY I reply to the letter referring to the lack of consultation (Observer November 28) relating to the former Freda Gardham School being turned into an Arts Centre, and the impression that little was known about it when a question was asked of the Council at the last meeting (November 18).
It was made clear at that meeting that some councillors, like myself, may have been aware of the project, but the Council collectively was not, as it had not come before it formally.
This issue, like many which are raised at Council question time, are the responsibility of other Authorities, and whilst the Town Council may and should have an opinion the responsibility ultimately lies elsewhere.
In the case of the proposed new Arts Centre, it is a County Council initiative with financial assistance from the District Council, and both believe that such an enterprise would benefit the town and supplement the excellent educational opportunities that already exist at Rye College, the new Primary School and Animate.
In view of the concerns expressed by some I would, on behalf of the Council, like to invite County Councillor, Keith Glazier, and the Project Leader to a future meeting to explain the enterprise fully, and to answer any concerns that are then expressed.
S.H.SOUSTER
Chairman
Rye Town Council

Mill ticket
IN reply to various letters last week, I know that I am gullible but I believe that the world is flat, pigs can fly, farmers markets are cheaper that super stores.
I also believe that nuclear power is safe, politicians always tell the truth , that there is enough oil in the world to power everything electric forever and there will never be a nuclear accident.
Seriously though I believe that in this day and age we the people of the world need power from where ever we can get it.
Wind and water power are a free commodity once built, and if all the governments of the world use the money they spend on fighting over bits of LAND or OIL or EGO to build eco power supplies it will at least give us a future that is not totally reliant on egotistical politicians and their petty squabbles and the world would be a safer place for future people.
As I stated in my last letter, I believe that these windmills, these sentinels to the western approaches to the Romney Marsh, are to the eyes of this beholder, works of art.
DAVID GREENFIELDS
Dunes Avenue
Camber

Musuem thanks
ON behalf of Rye Castle Museum I would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has helped to decorate the Museum for our many Christmas events and for preparing the Grotto for this coming Saturday (6th).
To Jo Kirkham, Sheila Maddocks, Susan Manktelow, Peter and Sandy Varley, Jean Floyd, Ann Linguard, Betty Ellwood, Joan Beach, Dilys Mayor and Rosalind Collier thank you for wrapping the hundreds of presents for the grotto.
To Occassions of Rye thank you for your generous support, and to Ann Bourner and Jeff Eden thank you for loaning and helping to put up our wonderful decorations, and for building our grotto.
Finally a big thank you to Peter Cosstick and his team for all their hardwork putting together such a brilliant programme of events and for their support of the Museum. Good luck for this year and I hope this will be the best year yet!
CLAIRE EDEN
Curator of Rye Castle Museum