SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council
Held at Singleton Village Hall on 12 September 2024
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), and Bailey and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. Mr Neil Carruthers also attended.
| 1. | Apologies for Absence were received and accepted from Cllrs Cholmondeley and Clifford and County Councillor John Singleton. |
| 2. | Appointment of new Parish Councillor. Mr Neil Carruthers had offered to fill the vacant seat on the Parish Council at the last meeting held on 13th August. All the appropriate forms were completed for his co-option onto the Council and Cllr Carruthers was duly welcomed to join. The Clerk will forward the forms to the Monitoring Officer at Fylde Borough Council and will enquire if there are any training sessions for new councillors in the foreseeable future. |
| 3. | Police Matters Crime statistics for July were as follows: – Violence and sexual offences – 19; Anti-social behaviour – 11; Shoplifting – 7; Other theft – 6. These logged offences cover the parishes of Elswick, Little Eccleston, Singleton & Greenhalgh and it is difficult to know how many of these apply to Singleton.The Clerk had reported two incidents of trespassing behind properties to the Police via 101, on 16 August. The whole process took over an hour starting off with trying to log this on-line but eventually having to resort to the telephone. The incident was logged, and a log number given out but no contact had been made to the residents since. Cllr Lee is to meet with Commissioner Clive Grunshaw at the next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel on 1st October. He will be discussing speeding initiatives with him and will mention the crime figures covering a much wider area than is useful for Singleton Parish. The Police and Crime Commissioner’s Community Fund is now open to applications from local organisations, charities, community groups etc for projects which help to tackle or prevent crime and anti-social behaviour in Lancashire. Applications can be submitted until Monday 23 September. Full details can be found at Lancashire-pcc.gov.uk/grant-funding. |
| 4. | Open Forum – None |
| 5. | Minutes of previous meeting held on 13 August and any matters arising: – The Minutes of the meeting held on 13 August, having been previously circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman. Matters Arising Potential car park on Church Road. The Clerk had written to interested groups in Singleton to see what support there is for such a car park and what funding could be available. One response has been received to date with the matter being referred to their Group’s meeting in October, but any funding would be unlikely.Disabled parking bays at the Church. Cty Cllr Singleton had requested LCC investigate providing these on the Parish Council’s behalf. The Church had requested that these be put on the opposite side to the entrance so as not to interfere with wedding/funeral cars turning round immediately outside the Church. LCC had responded that applications must meet specific qualifying criteria in order to justify such space being allocated on the public highway. Their Disabled Parking Bay scheme does not extend to providing marked bays on the highway for visitors to particular premises. They would not, however, object to the Church introducing some `Please reserve this area for Disabled Drivers’ signs on their own boundary wall. It is hoped that the Church can come to a mutually acceptable arrangement so that disabled people can attend future services.Gateposts at Lodge Lane. The Chief Planning Officer had looked into the matter of the large gateposts being erected outside the drive to Singleton Hall, about which a number of residents had complained. The Officer had conducted a full review and concluded that as there were previously posts in this location, which had been moved because of the highway construction, their reconstruction is permitted development under Part 9 of the Town and Country Planning Order 2015, without the need for planning permission. |
| 6. | Declarations of Interest – None |
| 7. | Planning matters and decisions 24/0482 – Mains Hall, Mains Lane FY6 7LE – Listed building consent for internal alterations – No specific observations 24/0276 – Lever Lea, 1122 Mains Lane FY6 7LD – Outline application with all matters reserved for erection of one dwelling. The Parish Council objects to this proposal as there is already sufficient housing stock in Singleton, more than was mentioned in the Local Plan. This is already leading to an increase in the number of people using local services and putting a further strain on over-stretched health centres etc. 24/0436 – Hill Top Farm, Back Lane, Weeton PR4 3HS – Change of use of land for the provision of five Gypsy/Traveller pitches for residential use. The Parish Council objects to the proposal on similar grounds to 24/0276 and also the needs of the travelling community are already met within existing sites across Fylde borough. 24/0274 – Marlborough, 90 Mains Lane, FY6 7LD – Alterations and extensions to bungalow – No specific observations. Planning Decision 24/0408 Permission to erect 4 dwellings at North Lodge, Lodge Lane FY6 8LT – Refused. |
| 8. | Traffic and Highways issues Cty Cllr Singleton had submitted his report. Still quite a few matters in abeyance but Cllr Singleton is keeping an eye on them. As regards to the seat required for the bus shelter at Five Lane Ends, Little Singleton, this is a matter for Fylde BC and the Clerk will refer it to them. There is also a missing road sign on Grange Road, which again the Clerk will refer to Fylde BC. The Parish Council is still having a problem with having the pathways cleared along Lodge Lane. Despite requesting these to be cleared, LCC can see no problem with them. A hedge is also still in need of cutting back. These problems cause pedestrians to have to walk in the road and the Parish Council will pursue them. Graffiti had appeared close to the new by-pass. This had been removed from the wooden structure but remains on the metalwork. Cllr Carruthers will pursue this matter with LCC and ask if the remaining graffiti can be removed as soon as possible. |
| 9. | New By-Pass The Chairman was pleased to announce that there were no major issues regarding the new by-pass tonight. Small areas of work were still being completed. The Chairman thanked Cllr Chris Bailey for keeping such a keen eye on issues surrounding the by-pass and for all his work being the liaison councillor during the last four years. His work has been very much appreciated. Letter received from National Highways saying they are going to install speed enforcement cameras along the A585 between Junction 3 on the M55 and Windy Harbour. There is no confirmed construction start date at present. Glasform has complained that between 400 and 500 trees have been removed from his land and he is still awaiting their replacement. He is also concerned that drainage pipes across his land, which feed into the river, have been smashed during the construction of the by-pass and he fears this will lead to flooding issues in the autumn/winter. The Chairman has spoken to a representative of Kier who has undertaken to have this looked into this week. |
| 10. | Update from Fylde Borough Council Remembrance Sunday – 10 November. The Chairman will be representing the Parish Council at Singleton Church, and the Clerk will organise a poppy wreath.Fylde Corporate Peer Challenge review will be taking place between 17th and 19th September 2024. This will be an improvement-focused process designed to complement and add value to the Borough Council’s own performance and improvement processes. The Focus Group session with the Peer Team will be on Wednesday 18 September.The Clerk will be attending the next meeting of the District Planning Forum which takes place at Fylde BC on 30 September. |
| 11. | Village Green The survey has been done by Fylde BC and the plans will be ready very soon. |
| 12. | Correspondence Information received from LCC that the annual Lancashire Parish and Town Council Conference will take place on Saturday 2 November 2024. Noted. |
| 13. | Defibrillator The Clerk had received a telephone call and several emails saying that the defibrillator has been discontinued and that parts were getting difficult to obtain. They recommended that a new one be purchased at a price of £725 + VAT with pads and batteries costing £145 + VAT to replace. The Clerk will contact the people who originally installed the defibrillator and check that it is still safe to use and also ask for another training night, which had gone very well in the past. |
| 14. | Accounts and Any Invoices to pay The Clerk circulated an up-to-date balance sheet showing that so far the Parish Council had spent a total of £13,592, largely on grounds maintenance, grass-cutting, litter-picking, insurance, flowering tubs and the clerks salary and expenses. The bank balance was currently £45,589 although it had to be remembered that £20,000 of this has been committed to the Village Green project. A further £11,500 is committed to cover on-going costs until 31 March 2025. Rent payment to the Village Hall from April – September – £135. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.Litter-picker – 4 weeks. £427.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.Clerk, Salary + expenses August/September – £443.61. Proposed Cllr Bailey, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.Grass-cutting – £517.68. Proposed Cllr Carruthers, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed. |
| 15. | Any Other Business Letterheaded paper. The Clerk asked permission to purchase a new set of letterheaded paper as the current ones contain names of retired councillors and Cllr Carruthers’ name needs to be added. Agreed.The Chairman announced that a nursing home near to the Shard bridge is to close. |
| 16. | Date and time of next meeting – Thursday 10 October 2024 at 7.15pm. As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 9.00pm, |
Signed ……………………………………………… Dated ………………………………
Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council, Tel: 07530 605 291: email: Clerk@SingletonParishCouncil.org