Welcome New Members!
The final new member of 2024 to welcome to our ranks as the year draws to an end:
We are looking forward to getting to know them better in 2025!
Seasons Greetings from Hanoi 🇻🇳
Our Chair Jane Brook enjoyed the hospitality of British Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam at their fabulously festive Christmas Long Lunch in downtown Hanoi this month. Interesting insights all round to APAC trade links in the UK - indeed, Rye Chamber members On Tap - Ecommerce development and consultancy was recenty aquired by Vietnamese ecommerce agency BSS Commerce and it was great to share this news with our new connections in Hanoi and tell them all about Rye!
Christmas In Rye Festival
Having had the late night shopping event battered by Storm Bert, Christmas in Rye on the 7th December was equally threatened by winds and rain. But once again Rye showed it is made of stronger stuff! The festival went ahead and the town was busy, if a little soggy, even the famous Christmas Pudding Races were able to happen, as did the parade. The carol concert was also as jolly as ever. Heatfelt thanks to everyone who did their bit in making the day happen and we hope our town centre businesses have all enjoyed a busy trading time this time of year.
Christmas Tree Festival & Chamber Christmas Drinks
We were delighted to have sponsored the inaugural Christmas Tree Festival at St. Mary’s this year. The display in the church was really lovely with some gorgeously creative trees from some of our members, we know that there are plans afoot to make the festival even bigger next year so we hope even more of you will be encouraged to take part for year two!
Thanks to all of you who managed to join us on the 5th December for our Christmas Drinks, it was the wettest, windiest night but we still had a good crowd, to raise a glass to the festive season and to thank you all for your support over the last twelve months.
CRIME PREVENTION / SECURITY
We know from the BID feasibility study that tackling shoplifting, crime and anti-social behaviour is something very important to you, particularly for our retailers and hospitality businesses. With that in mind – it will be our focus for the early part of 2025. You will have no doubt seen the extensive coverage in the media on the run up to Christmas about the exponential rise in shop lifting in this country – if you missed it you can read all about it here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8v11xq3pyo and also https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20nr22nlmyo
Business Crime Partnership Launch in Rye
The first project that we are championing is the introduction of DISC in Rye. Some of you will have heard all about this at our AGM back in November.
DISC is electronic system for reporting shop theft, anti social behaviour. Levelling Up funding means it will be free to businesses across Rother to report concerns or incident, intelligence and crime reports and to share info between businesses. It is GDPR compliant and will be implemented within a wider context of preventive/early intervention behaviour change work.
We are hosting a launch event at the Mermaid Inn on Monday 20th January at 5pm and we hope that as many of you as possible will be able to attend – you can sign up for the meeting and for the scheme itself here.
CCTV Case Study
The second area we want to look at is the provision of CCTV in Rye. This is something that, should the town achieve BID status, that we could look at funding. Without wishing to jump the gun - as a starting point we thought it might be useful to assess what the requirements, needs and potential costs might be if we were to provide the next generation CCTV coverage throughout the town including 24/7 monitoring. Mark Hart, who sits on our board of Directors and is an independent security consultant, known to many of you in the town, has offered to undertake a case study for Rye at no expense to the Chamber.
BID Update
The BID feasibility study for Rye is now complete and you can read the full report here. We have duly completed the first milestone in our agreement with MHCLG (formerly Levelling Up) on this project.
The findings of the feasibility study clearly support us moving to the next stage of this journey - namely forming a task force to explore the detail of what a BID might look like in specific for Rye and how that might be achieved.
Our work in January will involve commissioning our agency to guide us through the next phase of work, and taking advice on the ideal ‘make up’ of a task force for Rye in terms of spread of sector and size of business. If you are keen to be considered for inclusion in the task force then do get in touch with us.
Update on Capital Levelling Up
Update on Capital Levelling Up
It seems that every month we update on the increasingly convoluted circumstances in which we are operating in to try and find a ‘public realm’ project that we - the Chamber - can spend our pot of capital levelling up funding on that ticks all the necessary boxes. By that we mean:
a) is permitted by MHCLG
b) is achievable within the time frame we need to spend it by
c) is acceptable to RDC in terms of the legal agreement we need to sign with them in order to deliver the project and
d) is supported by our members.
For nearly a year we have been working towards putting the money (£25K including VAT) into the refurbishment of the Station Approach Loos, this proposal has been beset with difficulties and we have been forced to simultaneously research and cost a second project to provide us with an alternative solution. We attended the Town Council meeting on the 9th December to make the situation clear to councillors.
We now have two costed projects which we will detail to you below. Please read carefully. Project Idea One - carries far more financial risk than Project Idea Two - so after endless back and forth with RDC, and forensic consideration of the relevant factors we are asking for your support to go ahead with Project Idea Two. Ultimately, we will put it to our members to decide but as you will see, the risk of Project One is that we end up losing access to the funds entirely.
Project Idea One:
We invest the sum in refurbishment works at Station Approach Loos. The challenges for this are as follows:
The work needed on the loos has been costed at £61K - so our small pot of funding is unlikely to achieve anything other than redecoration i.e cosmetic improvement only.
The financial risk of this project is considerable: should work begin and uncover further problems e.g. damp or structural issues, the responsibility would be on the Chamber to rectify these problems, RDC will not be held liable, neither will Network Rail (who own the freehold). Clearly the Chamber has no further funds to cover this eventuality.
The Chamber would need to take out insurance to cover the works undertaken - at further expense not covered by the project.
There is no question that this project will involve a great deal of hands on project management - and this would again fall on Sarah and Jane who are unable to be renumerated for their time, under the rules.
Lastly, and most importantly - RDC has made it clear that if we choose to go ahead with this project then the legal agreement they will need to draw up will be setting a precedent and will require a great deal of work - work that they cannot guarantee doing before our deadline of March ‘25. In short - this means - if we choose this option but don’t have a legal agreement in place by March ‘25, we will simply lose the money and it will be returned to central government (MHCLG). We will not get an option to change our minds and divert the funds elsewhere once the deadline has passed.
This project now feels like the risks are stacked against us and simply aren’t worth taking - and so Project Idea Two seems the more secure option that we are calling for your support.
Project Idea Two:
We know from the BID feasibility study that the lack of tourism information in the town is something you feel strongly about, and rightly so. We also recognise that even if we achieve BID status for Rye, the pot is unlikely to be large enough to support staff to undertake this role. So we’ve come up with a creative, cutting-edge potential solution.
We invest the capital levelling up sum in the design and build of a bespoke AI-powered chatbot Tour Guide accessible via WhatsApp, Instagram & FB Messenger.
The project will also include the design and production of signage featuring QR codes to be sited around town replacing outdated tourism signage outside the station and on town maps in 7 carparks.
By scanning strategically placed QR codes around town visitors and tourists would instantly unlock REAL TIME information and insights about the town’s landmarks, attractions, events and businesses all without the need for additional apps or hardware.
This project would leverage the growing trend of mobile-first travel experiences and the ubiquity of WhatsApp. Importantly it would also ensure maximum accessibility for international visitors by recognising international phone numbers and tailoring responses that are language appropriate.
The project would have low infrastructure costs, scalable implementation, and will give us data-driven insights into visitor behaviour. It will be the first of its kind in this country as far as we are aware. The funding will create, build and implement the chatbot and run the project for a year beyond which the BID will either be in place to continue to fund it, or the Chamber of Commerce will be able to do so.
We have obtained several quotes for the project that come in on budget.
If you have any views, questions or comments regarding this please get in touch info@ryechamber.org
We will also give you the opportunity to discuss this with us further at the DISC meeting on the 20th January. This will be our deadline on making a decision for the project going forward.
Are you "Ready to Talk Rye" ?
Further to the stakeholder meeting in the 26th November where Martello Developments unveiled its plans for four sites in Rye, the Chamber submitted its thoughts and comments in full and have a further meeting scheduled with Martello’s stakeholder agency in January. Just before Christmas Martello expanded its stakeholder outreach and now has a website detailing their plans in full – https://www.readytotalkrye.com/ we posted this on our socials, but if you missed it please take a look and be sure to submit your comments via the contact form on the site – or email hello@readytotalkrye.com
Pontins
We were asked for comment on the future of the Pontins site for a piece the BBC put together to mark the year since Pontins closed its doors in Camber. The television piece ran on BBC Southeast on the 11th December and we also gave interviews to BBC Sussex that day.
In a further development - the promised meeting between our MP Helena Dollimore, RDC and Britannia Hotels took place on the 18th of December. That evening Helena Dollimore issued a statement confirming Britannia Hotel’s intention to redevelop the site as a holiday park and pledging their commitment to working with stakeholders in the area. We were again invited to comment on this and gave an interview to BBC Sussex on the 19th December.
We remain in close contact with our MP Helena Dollimore on this matter. We will continue to lobby RDC to ensure that the promised stakeholders meeting between us, Camber Council and Britannia Hotels takes place early in the new year. You can read the full story here.
AGM for Rye Community Transport
Rye Chamber attended the AGM for Rye Community Transport on 18th December to show our support for the work that they do. Most notable from the meeting is the fact that their fundraising needs to exceed £50K each year just to keep the services running. It speaks once again to the reliance Rye has on volunteers and fundraising to plug the gaps in vital services needed by our wider community.
Energise Sussex Coast
Energise Sussex Coast is offering a free talk 'Everything you need to know about heat pumps and solar panels' to local communities who wish to discover more. The talk provides accessible advice on householders' options; the costs and benefits and how to make the most of your system. It also dispels some of the myths that discourage people from installing these technologies and gives guidance on finding trusted installers and avoiding scams. As a local non-profit energy co-operative they provide expert, impartial advice and guidance.
Energise can also offer an 'Energy Advice' talk or workshop which covers bills and tariffs, accessing financial support, energy saving tips, insulation, grants and avoiding scams.
If you would like to see one or more of these talks happening in Rye, please let us know and we can make this happen. More information about their organisation is on their website www.energisesussexcoast.co.uk.
Recycling / Refuse
You may be aware that from 31st March ‘25 the rules around waste are changing.
Under the new legislation businesses across England will be required to separate their waste streams into either dry recyclables or commercial food waste and arrange for collection.
In cases where a non-household municipal premises does not produce any food waste, it is not required to arrange for its separate collection.
For the avoidance of any doubt - food waste includes: tea bags, fruit peel, coffee grounds, eggshells, and bones.
Smaller businesses consisting of 10 or fewer FULL TIME EMPLOYEES will be given more flexibility to separate their dry recycle waste and commercial food waste and arrange collection - they must do so by 31st March 2027.
This additional time will allow businesses to prepare by accessing business support tools which are currently being developed by WRAP.
We are aware that this will impact some of our members. The BID feasibility study also highlighted that many of you would like any future BID to provide cost savings on waste management and we are mindful of this. In the first instance could we ask that you message us if your business is one that will have to make changes in order to comply with this new legislation so we can begin to look at numbers and geography of those affected? Email us on info@ryechamber.org.
You can read about the new regulations in full here:
Please note that household (domestic) food waste collections will not be introduced by Rother District Council until 31st March ‘26.
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See you next Year!
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