Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on Thursday 24 January 2019 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Bailey (Vice Chair), Chew, Gallagher and Smith, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. Cllr Bailey took the Chair for this meeting
1. Apologies for Absence – Cllr Lee
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 December 2018, having been previously circulated and agreed were duly signed by Cllr Chew as a true and correct record.
Matters arising from previous Minutes
The Clerk had written to the Chief Planning Officer at Fylde BC to express the concerns of the Parish Council that Singleton Parish now has enough static and non-static caravan sites and holiday lodges and that the local infrastructure and stretched medical resources could not cope with any more sites. The Borough Council was asked to take the concerns of the Parish Council and local residents into consideration in determining any future applications for sites in the parish.
Cllr Chew had followed up the idea of a Zebra crossing with Cty Cllr Paul Hayhurst. At Cllr Hayhurst’s request, the Clerk had written officially to him requesting him to see if Singleton now meets the requirements and criteria for a crossing. Cllr Hayhurst had offered to follow this up with the LCC Officer concerned.
3. Open Forum – None
4. Declaration of Interests – None
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
19/0018 – Koi Pool, Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LB – Erection of externally illuminated double-sided sign mounted between 3M and 3.3M High Stone Piers. Whilst the Parish Council does not object to a sign being erected, it feels this sign is too large and that it being illuminated would not be appropriate for the area and would be against planning policy in a rural area.
6. Police Matters
Crime report figures for December 2018 had been received and circulated. These showed 2 cases of Criminal Damage (1 damage to a vehicle and 1 damage to the bus shelter) and 1 case of theft from a petrol station. Unfortunately no reference was made to the reported vandalism on the playground.
7. Traffic and Highway Issues – None
8. Proposed new By-Pass
Cllr Chew had attended a meeting at Fylde BC with Planning Officers Mark Evans and Matthew Taylor who were looking at the planning application submitted by Highways England for the new by-pass. In principle they are not against it but there are some details they are not happy about.
Cllr Chew, on behalf of the Parish Council, submitted a total of 14 points to Highways England for their consideration.
Cllr Bailey informed the meeting that Highways England had now purchased No. 2 Barnfield Manor, which included the house and all of the land.
9. Update on SpID
Nothing back yet from Lancashire County Council. The Clerk was asked to enquire if any other parishes in Fylde would be happy to share a SpID in the future.
10.
Correspondence
• The Operations Supervisor, Parks, Leisure & Cultural Services at Fylde BC had written to advise that they had removed a rope bridge off one of the pieces of equipment as the ropes have become unsafe. They would source the new parts and order them and these would be replaced in the New Year. This would all come under the Parish Play Charges, which are deducted at source from the annual Parish Precept. The Parish Council is appreciative of the keen eye the officers of Fylde keep on the safety of the playground equipment.
• Email from Fraser Monteath, Ranger of Fylde BC. As part of the scheduled events for 2019, the Rangers are planning another guided walk in Singleton, meeting at the Miller Arms car park before then leading off around the village on the new Trust footpaths and older existing public rights of way. They are aiming for this walk to take place on 20 June. Once this is definite, they will send posters for display. Mr Monteath also commented on the excellent work carried out with the Primary School during autumn 2018 and they were looking forward to working again with the School in the spring term.
11.
Website – Defer to next meeting when hopefully Cllr Lee will be present.
12.
Precept for 2019/2020
Information had been received from Fylde BC that the Precept Level for 2019/20 to achieve Council Tax Freeze at Band D level would be £18,535 and there would be no Government Grant for this financial year. This would mean that there would be a drop in revenue to the Parish Council of £956. In addition to this, the Parish Play charges, which are deducted at source from the Precept, would increase from £2,466 last year to £3,460 for 2019/20. This would mean an overall drop in revenue of £1,951.
The Clerk had prepared a balance sheet up to 31st December 2018 which showed that the Parish Council had already spent £19,502 for the current year with approximately £9000 committed before 31 March 2019.
Much discussion took place about the extra services the Parish Council now provides. The Parish Council also still needs to replace the older SpID. The main expenditures are as follows:- (Figures taken from 2018/19)
• Parish Play charges 3082
• Grasscutting contract 5778
• Litter-picking contract 1800
• Clerk’s Salary and Expenses 3145
• Playground expenditure 7196
• Flowering tubs (planted twice yearly) 714
• Repayment of loan (taken out for car park) 1775
• Insurance 697
• Mounting of Speed Indicator Device 450
• Rent of hall for meetings 238
In light of increased pressures on Parish Councils to deliver more services, it was felt important not to let the annual revenue go down too much. The Parish Precept is the only income the Parish Council receives. Cllr Smith therefore proposed a rise of 5% on the Fylde Borough Council’s offer, which would bring in an extra £927. This was seconded by Cllr Gallagher and Agreed.
13. Older children playing on Children’s Playground at Night
During the Christmas holidays older youths were seen on the playground on at least 3 occasions until around 11/12 midnight. After the incidence of vandalism in November, it was agreed that the Clerk should ask the Police to keep an eye on things there at night.
14. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
• T A Pawson – Mounting of SpID (twice) – £60.00. Proposed Cllr Smith, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• S Butcher – Litter-picking – £132.20 – Proposed Cllr Smith, Seconded Cllr Chew. Agreed.
• Clerk – Salary and Expenses for December/January – £248.18 – Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Chew. Agreed.
15. Any Other Business
• Although Fylde BC had repaired the damaged bus shelter, they were not prepared to put any glass back into it. A member of the parish had offered to put glass or Perspex in if the Parish Council would fund this. After discussion it was agreed to ask for toughened Perspex and to fund this on this one occasion.
• Flowering tubs for 2019/2020 season. Many of these tubs had had to be replaced. It was unanimously agreed to ask John Chew to look after these once again and his hard work in this regard was much appreciated.
• Removed hedging on Lodge Lane. The Clerk had reported this to Fylde BC some months ago but nothing had been heard about it since. She would chase this up.
15 Dates and Times of next three meetings
These were agreed as 28 February, 21 March and 25 April.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.25pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………………………
Verena Henderson: Clerk to the Parish Council: Tel: 01995 670455