Pleased to hear about joint effort

It was very pleasing to read that Rye Town Council has indicated its willingness to join Battle to campaign for a fairer deal from Rother District Council (RDC) on parking charges. We look forward to hearing the outcome of those discussions in the coming months.

By The Newsroom

Published 11th Oct 2013, 06:46 BST

What was much less pleasing was the lame response from RDC trying to justify the current parking charge regime. What RDC totally fail to acknowledge is the central issue that people can park on most streets in Bexhill absolutely free with very few time restrictions - something not available in Battle or Rye. That is why a campaign is growing in Battle for the first hour’s parking to be free in its car parks run by RDC, to encourage local trade in the town.

Of course we all know the politics at play here, Bexhill councillors dominate Rother District Council so that effectively RDC acts de-facto as Bexhill town council (witness how much of our taxes have been lavished on Bexhill seafront). Bexhill councillors know they will lose votes if fairer parking charges are levied on streets in Bexhill and that is why they are unwilling to give Battle & Rye a fairer deal on parking charges ..but we will continue to fight them and shame them on this inequality !

Clive Bishop

Asten Fields, Battle