Tennis tournament brings parking problems

What the annual Tennis Tournament means to residents of Military Road: a week of excess traffic noise, slamming of car doors, a jamming of parked cars (thankfully on one side only), loudly chattering tennis players and the resultant barking of confused dogs. We have also found the odd drinking glass tucked into garden shrubs. All this during this year’s hot and humid weather when our windows have to be open for our health!

Cars try to pass each other, bumping regardless onto pavements, on a stretch of road between two notorious blind corners. (All the residents on this stretch have off-road parking). I saw a woman in tennis gear by her Mini, with 4 children queuing to climb into the back - she was on the pavement, the young children were in the road! Madness and stupidity!

Why, when the club has publicised a new area for the convenience of it’s members, do people still park all along Military Road? Are the members perhaps being charged for entry to their own ground?

Military Road is a busy through route to the Military Canal, Appledore and beyond. It has a 30 mph limit finishing at the club’s eastern end, used at this time of year by large farm vehicles. Emergency Services would find it almost impossible to get through especially at around 5 pm. We know to expect this during the very much busier Rye Bonfire celebrations, but it seems wrong to ask the overstretched police to be involved when the solution lies in the club’s own, well endowed, turf.

S. Somerville.

Military Road. Rye.