Rye Partnership Chairman, Keith Glazier took members and attendees at last nights AGM through progress and plans over the last two years.

It was announced that we have agreed with ESCC for Rye Partnership to be granted a 30 year lease of Tilling Green Community Centre. We have extensive plans for improvements at the centre including the updated kitchen, energy systems and accessibility and the long lease will allow us forge ahead with those plans the benefit of the local community.

We have reviewed and updated the business plan which we said we would deliver to members. This was ready in March 2020 but because of the covid lockdown we have taken time to reflect and review those plans again. A summary of the business plan for the next five years was then shared with attendees.

We also discussed The Rye Partnership portfolio progress highlights, as follows:

Estates

Flats and Shop

The flats at the fisheries and Rye Harbour and the Rye Harbour Stores are all fully let.  The shop front at the Rye Harbour Stores has been completely upgraded and on the planned work for next year is a repaint of the whole of the front of the building. 

Moorings

This remains a challenging area of the business and we continue to consider long term solutions. We are in communication with the EA on our options for dealing with the future of the lease.

Tilling Green

As you have seen we have already started to make improvements to the centre.  We have continued that initial stage of the work with the redecoration of the hall and new black out blinds. 

Some of the planned improvements such as the kitchenette will be delayed until the Covid Vaccination programme at the site is complete or substantially reduced so we are looking at early April to commence with improvements.

Fisheries

The fisheries commercial site is now fully occupied by Chapmans having extended their operations to take over the business and premises of Market Fisher

At the last members meeting shared our plans for development at the Fisheries Site. Moving this forward has been delayed due to Covid but we have revised the designs and we are now moving forward to the pre-planning stage of this development consulting with RDC, Highways and the Environment Agency as to how the plans should be developed to consider their requirements and also the other local businesses and Ferry Cottage. We will update you as our plans develop but it looks like it will be at least another 12 months minimum before any work would begin at the site.

Marketing & Communications

To improve our communication to members and stakeholders we launched new website in April 2021, which has been a planned project for some time and has now come to fruition. The new site improves members access to information in the member zone.  We have also produced our first ever newsletter which we intend to become a bi-annual issue.  The next edition will be in March. We are now active on social media channels Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and have appointed a part time marketing professional to help us with this.

Conclusion

The last 18 months have been a challenging period but we have worked pushed along with projects behind the scenes.

The Partnership is committed to improving the facilities and offerings at all our sites for the benefit of the local community.

With the benefit of the long lease of the Tilling Green site over the next 12 months we are now ready to move forward with plans at the site.

We appreciate the positive input and feedback from members, and we are keen to maintain this so that we are able to incorporate your feedback into our future plans.

-ENDS-

Information for Editors:

The Rye Partnership is a community focussed not for profit company formed in 2003 with the purpose of supporting the regeneration of the wider Rye area. Currently the business operates from the Tilling Green Community Centre which is runs as a commercial and community use centre with long term and casual hire available to local groups, private individuals and businesses. The business also operates a number of commercial and residential property lets in the Rock Channel and Rye Harbour locality.

Contact Information:
Rye Partnership,
Tilling Green Community Centre
Mason Road
Rye
East Sussex
TN31 7BEPhone Number:01797 229600
Website:www.ryepartnership.org
Email: admin@ryepartnership.org