Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held via Zoom
on Tuesday 23 March 2021 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Bailey (Vice Chair), Cholmondeley, Ibbotson and Lee, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. Cllr Lee took the Chair for this meeting.
| 1. | Apologies for Absence – Cllr Gallagher |
| 2. | Police Matters The log sheet forwarded by the Police for February showed that there had been 3 cases of Anti-Social Behaviour and 1 of theft and handling recorded. |
| 3. | Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising The Minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2021, having been previously circulated, were agreed to be a true and correct record. |
| 4. | Open Forum – None |
| 5. | Declaration of Interests – None |
| 6. | Planning Matters and Decisions 21/0227 – 18 Mains Lane Singleton FY6 7LF – Two storey rear extension21/0166 – 172 Mains Lane Singleton FY6 7LB – Change of use to offices21/0211 – 9 Wyre Grange, Lodge Lane FY6 8NP – Single storey rear extension21/0226 – 176 Mains Lane FY6 7LB – Application to discharge conditions21/0245 – Coach House, Lodge Lane, Singleton FY6 8LT – Single storey rear extension The Parish Council had no specific observations to make on any of these proposals. With regards to the application for 4 detached houses opposite the Miller Arms, to which the Parish Council had objected, the question of appealing the decision had been looked into, but as the application was only for outline planning, and the site had already been allocated in the Fylde Local Plan, it was deemed too early to appeal this decision. It was decided to await the final plans in order to ascertain whether an appeal would be required at that stage, dependant on the type of houses proposed. |
| 7. | Traffic and Highway Issues Email sent to Highways England to enquire about the Parish Council’s concerns about cycling on the pavements on Mains Lane, after the authorised area, and whether these concerns had been followed up by the officer concerned. Acknowledgement received and a full response is awaited. |
| 8. | New By-Pass Work has started on the Lodge Lane area with traffic controls right at the end of Barnfield Manor. Hedges and several trees are being removed on both sides of Lodge Lane and new BT joint boxes will be installed at various locations. The Parish Council remains worried about the number of trees that are being knocked down and has asked the Tree Officer at Fylde BC to keep an eye on the situation. Apparently LCC had given permission for the trees to be removed on Garstang Road close to Windy Harbour. Apart from this, very little seems to be going on at the moment. |
| 9. | Correspondence Circular letter from Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team asking for donations. Unfortunately as this was out of the Parish Council’s area, it was decided to concentrate any financial assistance to those involved in the parish.New Homes Bonus Grants 2020/21 and 2021/22. Fylde BC is requiring a report on how the money has been used to meet the objectives of use for a community project. The allocation for 2020/21 was £1,207 and for 2021/22 will be £137. It had previously been decided to spend the money on necessary maintenance on the Children’s playground but this had not taken place due to the lockdowns and Tier restraints over the past year. This work is still needed, however, and the Chairman wanted to meet with the relevant officer of Fylde BC to discuss the state of the playground. That meeting is still to be arranged due to the officer being on annual leave and the Clerk will pursue this upon his return. The state of the fence at the front was also causing concern as children were able to get through a gap onto the road. Cllr Lee will ask Mr Pawson to have a look at it. |
| 10. | Update from Fylde Borough Council – Boundary Review Fylde BC is only a consultee in this process as the final decision rests with the Boundary Commission. The Commission wants to reduce the overall number of councillors in Fylde Borough from 51 to 37 which means merging some parishes. It had been proposed by Fylde BC to have all the rural parishes in just one ward but this had been opposed by the Independent councillors as being completely impractical. The proposal from the Independent councillors would be for Singleton and Greenhalgh to be in Fylde Rural North West area merging with Weeton. This was considered to be a practical suggestion as Singleton, Greenhalgh and Weeton were very similar parishes. It was proposed supporting this merger as being far more workable as far as this Parish Council was concerned. The final proposal will be ready fairly soon. |
| 11. | Upkeep of the Defibrillator The Parish Council was concerned to hear that the key pad on the defibrillator was out of action and the machine was now obsolete and a replacement pad could not be obtained. Discussion took place as to whether a complete new machine was needed. The current machine was purchased from Holland and it was felt that a UK supplier might be less problematic in getting parts in the future. Cllr Bailey will consult with his contact at British Red Cross who had been very helpful in the past to see if we could get any grants or other financial assistance towards the replacement of the defibrillator. |
| 12. | Accounts and Invoices to Pay The Clerk had sent a further form to the bank in regards to on-line banking. Fylde Borough Council – Annual instalment on loan taken out for car park – £1,775.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed. NB the final payment of £275.00 is due in March 2022.Clerk – Salary and expenses from 17 December 2020 – 19 March 2021 – £622.44. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed. |
| 13. | Any Other Business The Gala Committee had pencilled in 11 September for a community celebration to replace the cancelled Gala Day. As mentioned in the last meeting, there will be a grant of £1,000 paid to the Parish Council for a community event from a Covid Fund. It was wondered whether this funding could be used for this event as a marquee would be needed and this would help towards the cost of putting on a full day/evening event for children and adults in the parish.Cllr Ibbotson asked for items for the next newsletter, which she was hoping to produce in a few weeks time.Cllr Cholmondeley commented on the amount of litter in the parish, in particular down Mile Road. The Clerk had spoken to the litter-picker a few days before and he apologised for not being available through being shielded. He was hoping to get back to work after his period of shielding had ended and the weather had warmed up. He still had an account to send to us from weeks ago.Cllr Bailey reported that after cutting down trees near to the River Wyre, a granary from Roman times had been uncovered and that this had been the main court area. |
| 14. | Date and Time of next meeting The date of the next meeting was decided as Tuesday 20 April at 7.15pm. The Clerk will check if the Village Hall could be made available. Otherwise the meeting would be via Zoom again. As there was no further business, the meeting ended at 8.30pm. |
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455