Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 13 December 2018 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Chew and Gallagher, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies for Absence – Cllrs Bailey and Smith
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2018, having been previously circulated and agreed, were signed by the Chairman.
3. Open Forum – None
4. Declaration of Interests – None
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
• 18/0908 Bankfield Farm, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton FY6 8LZ. Two storey front extension to provide new entrance, two and single storey rear extensions etc. The Parish Council has no specific observations to make on the proposal other than it would like it to show its earlier life as a farm building.
• 18/0872 29 Mains Lane Singleton FY6 7LJ – Erection of seven detached dwellings with new access road. Outline planning permission has already been approved for this development.
Planning Decisions
• 18/0541 Linden Lea, 37 Mains Lane Singleton FY6 7LJ – Outline application for erection of one detached dwelling – Refused
• 18/0203 – Poolbrow Leisure Park, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton FY6 8LY – Reconfiguration of ground levels on existing caravan site and associated relocation of pitches etc. Granted. The Senior Planning Officer has advised that stringent conditions have been applied to this which will be rigorously enforced. If conditions are not being complied with the Planning Office should be contacted.
6. Police Matters
Crime figures provided by the Police show that in November there were 2 reports of Anti-Social Behaviour, 1 of Criminal Damage and 4 Violent Crimes.
7. Recent Vandalism
Two recent acts of vandalism have not been included in the Police figures. As mentioned at the October meeting, acts of vandalism were carried out at the playground, and although reported to the Police, nothing has been heard from them. Another act of vandalism, this time the smashing of windows on the bus shelter, were reported to the Police by a member of the public but nothing has been heard about this either from the Police. The Parish Council however was very pleased with the way Fylde Borough Council quickly repaired the bus shelter.
8. Traffic and Highway Issues
Cllr Lee posed the question of a Zebra crossing being provided so that parents dropping their children off and collecting from the school could use the village hall car park and cross safely with their children on route to school. Cllr Chew gave the criteria laid down by Lancashire County Council for the provision of a zebra crossing, which had been broached several years ago. Unfortunately at that time, Singleton did not meet the criteria, but now that there is so much more traffic on the roads and that the crossing would be used by children going to and from school and also using the playground, it may be worth looking into this once again to see if Singleton now meets the criteria. Cllr Chew will check with County Councillor Paul Hayhurst and report back.
9. Proposed new By-Pass
Highways England has now submitted their finalised plans to the Secretary of State. They are still aiming for a start date in 2020.
10. Update on SID
Lancashire County Council has not come back to us on their recommendations as yet but it would appear that other councils have experienced problems with the type of SpID originally purchased by the Parish Council and LCC are currently testing devices from another company.
11.
Correspondence
• Information received from Fylde BC regarding a public consultation on the Fylde Council Tree and Woodland Strategy. This would be for six weeks from 22 November 2018 to 3 January 2019. Noted.
• Parish Council Elections 2 May 2019. Information received from Fylde BC that a new methodology for recharging parish councils using the size of the eligible electorate would be used for this election. This would mean for Singleton Parish that the uncontested fee would be £100 and £500 for a contested election. Noted.
• The next meeting of the District Parish Liaison Group would be on Wednesday 13 February at Wrea Green Institute commencing at 6.30pm.
• Information received from Wyre Borough Council regarding the Great Eccleston Masterplan for which there is a public consultation in the Great Eccleston Village Centre till Thursday 10 January 2019. Noted and concern expressed about the resulting increase in traffic at the Thistleton junction,
• Confirmation received that the fingerpost at the junction of Lodge Lane and Station Road, Singleton has been added to the Local List for Fylde by the Conservation Officer. Road numbers on the sign indicate that it was made after 1923 and was erected at a time when the A585 ran through the centre of the village.
12.
Tourism and Caravan sites in Singleton
Concern was expressed about the growing number of caravan and holiday lodges in Singleton Parish and the recent upsurge in numbers of semi-permanent residents who are putting a strain on already stretched resources in the area – in particular medical centres. The local residents are being swamped by the influx of these extra residents for most months of the year. The Clerk was asked to write to the Senior Planning Officer at Fylde BC to voice the Parish Council’s concerns and its reluctance to support any future site applications in the future.
13. Website
The Clerk had been approached by a local company wanting to improve the website. This company had quoted £500 for the initial set-up fee with a further monthly fee of £23. The Clerk had always experienced difficulty in changing the layout of the present website owing to the fact that she had not been in the employment of the Parish Council when it was originally set up and had always been met with problems of “ownership” whenever she had tried to change things. Even paying the annual fee presented problems. Much discussion took place and it was agreed things could be improved with the website and Cllr Lee undertook to look into this. The Clerk would forward him all the details.
14. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
• Mr Butcher – Litter-picking – £149.60. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• T A Pawson SpID – £30.00 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Clerk – Salary and Expenses for Nov/Dec – £192.50. Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed
• Forsyth & Steele – Newsletters & Xmas Cards – £246.40 – Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.
15. Any Other Business
• Following complaints received from some residents of a local caravan site, legal advice has been offered to those affected by a Fylde charity.
• Cllr Chew had spoken to Fylde planners about the bus shelter. Fylde are very reluctant to consider moving it and if the Trust still wants to move it, then Fylde would expect them to take ownership of it.
• A new levy has been put on developers – CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) and parishes with a certain number of new developments are able to claim on this. Cllr Chew will pursue this as she feels that Singleton parish has had enough developments recently to qualify for such a payment.
16 Date and Time of next meeting – Thursday 24 January 2019
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.30pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455