Singleton Parish Council
A Meeting of the Parish Council will be held at the Village Hall, Singleton on Thursday 16 January 2014 at 7.30 pm.
Your presence is requested.
A G E N D A
1. Apologies for Absence
2. Declaration of Interests
3. Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 19 December 2013 and any Matters Arising
4. Open Forum – Members of the Parish are welcome to raise any issues
5. Police and PACT Report
6. Traffic Issues
7. Correspondence
8. Planning matters and decisions
9. Village Clean-up – Latest position
10. Built Heritage for the Borough of Fylde
11. Accounts and any Cheques to Pay
12. Any Other Business
13. Dates and Times of Next Meetings – Forward Planning
Verena Henderson
Clerk to Singleton Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455
Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 16 October 2014 at 7.30 pm
Present: – Cllrs Bailey (Vice Chair), Chew and Gallagher, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Lee and Cllr Smith.
2. Declaration of Interests – None.
NB. The matter had been raised in a recent meeting of all Parish Councils in Fylde and Fylde Borough Council about Shale Gas Extraction and Members’ Interests. To quote from Tracy Morrison, Monitoring Officer and Director of Resources at Fylde BC, she states as follows: –
“You would have a personal interest as a trustee or organiser of a body which has received a grant or donation. You should declare that interest at the meeting. However, the interest would not be prejudicial because a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would not reasonably regard the interest as being so significant that it is likely to prejudice your judgement of the public interest. You can participate in the debate on the notice of motion and vote on it.”
Some Parish Councillors at Singleton are also involved with Singleton Village Hall, which has received a donation from Cuadrilla. One councillor is involved with a young people’s charity in Blackpool called Snow Heights, which has also received a donation. These councillors therefore should declare an interest whenever Shale Gas Extraction is discussed, but will be able to take part in the discussion and vote on it. Singleton Parish Council itself has not received any grants from Cuadrilla or any other organisations relating to Shale Gas.
3. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
Unfortunately due to the absence of Councillors Lee and Smith at this meeting, and Councillor Bailey being absent from the last meeting, this meeting was not quorate and therefore, although agreed by those present, the Minutes could not be signed as a true and correct record. These will be brought again for signature to the next meeting.
Matters Arising
• There had been a good meeting with Singleton Trust and minutes from that meeting had been circulated. One item of information however was that the Lodge Lane footpath was not now going ahead. The Parish Council had been very much in favour of this footpath as it considers some parts of Lodge Lane dangerous for pedestrians and would have liked to have seen it included in the Trust’s plans. This issue will be raised at the next meeting.
• Andy Pawson would be willing to clean the village signs and it was proposed by Cllr Gallagher and seconded by Cllr Bailey that he be approached by Cllr Chew to provide a price for cleaning up the signs.
• Defibrillators – Cllr Chew has spoken with United Utilities and is trying to get them to raise a cheque for £750 – £500 for the defibrillator and £250 for the Xmas cards. The Red Cross are willing to run a First Aid Course free of charge and we need to let them know when this is required. The pledges so far are: – £500 United Utilities; £300 County Cllr Paul Hayhurst; £300 Singleton Trust; £300 History Group. It costs £1,600 to buy one with a lot of that cost going on the casing. Cllr Chew is still looking into the possibility of locating a second one elsewhere in the village.
4. Open Forum – None
5. Police and PACT Report
A Police report had been previously circulated showing that 3 crimes had taken place in Singleton –
• A break-in at the depot on Grange Road
• Theft of ladders from an allotment on Poolfoot Lane
• Assault on a security guard at Windy Harbour
Also an operation took place on 15 October to target mobile phone users driving, resulting in 10 persons being reported for prosecution.
Cllr Chew, along with other Borough Councillors in Fylde, will be meeting with the Police Commissioner Clive Grunshaw at the end of the month about policing in Fylde.
6. Traffic Issues
Cllr Chew had met with Joanne Coote (United Utilities) about the sewerage scheme who said they will work very hard to shorten the time of the scheme and to keep disruption to an absolute minimum. She had arranged an information afternoon at the Village Hall on 21st October for people to come along and talk about the situation.
The road works are moving closer to Singleton Cross Roads traffic lights and it is envisaged that problems will start soon.
7. Correspondence
• Letter received from Catherine Kitching, Conservation Planning Officer at Fylde BC regarding the Dovecot adjacent to Mains Hall, Singleton. This is a Grade 2 listed building and they are looking to applying for funding for up to £2,000 towards the provision of a roof to the dovecot. Unfortunately neither the Parish Council nor the Borough Council can be applicants for this grant and she was looking for support from local groups. The Parish Council considers this to be a valuable asset to the parish and would like to see the owner playing a part in maintaining it.
• Thank you letter from Ray Cottam for the Parish Council’s donation to the Great Eccleston Cricket Club in relation to him carrying out the Council’s annual audit. Mr Cottam stated that he was happy to do the Council’s audit report again next year.
• Grit Bins. The time of year for checking if the grit bins are full. Most of these have been checked but some locks need replacing. Cllr Gallagher will sort this out. If any bins do need filling, the Clerk should be informed who will order the grit from LCC Highways.
• Grass-Cutting at Lodge Lane Lay-By – The Clerk has been contacted with a view to LCC setting up an annual account for the Parish Council to continue arranging the cutting of the grass at Lodge Lane Lay-By. The Clerk has obtained the appropriate DUNS number and submitted this to LCC.
8. Planning Matters and Decisions
14/0659 Woodlands, Lodge Lane, Singleton, FY6 8LT – Outline application for the erection of up to 16 dwellinghouses. The Clerk had previously responded to this but would now put in a formal objection siting several highway issues and that the development would intrude into open countryside, alter the nature and be out of character with the area.
9.
Neighbourhood Planning
Our application is currently going through the first 6-week consultation stage, organised by Fylde BC. This will close on 23 October 2014. Once this has closed, Fylde BC will have to consider any responses, produce a consultation statement (summary of the responses) and issue a decision notice to the Parish Council. We now need to get on with setting up the Steering Group. So far Kath Smith, Chris Simpson, Mark Clifford, Duggie Goth and Jim Pawson have agreed to join this. A couple more will be approached and the Clerk agreed to take minutes of the meetings. An initial meeting will be arranged between members of the Parish Council and the new Steering Group as soon as possible, possibly week beginning 10 November.
10.
Annual Review of Risk Assessment
A couple of amendments were needed to the Parish Council’s Risk Assessment. In the paragraph relating to grants, the Parish Council had recently been awarded a grant from the Government to start off the Neighbourhood Plan. Accounts would be closely monitored and reported on for this grant. In members’ interests, the addition of interests regarding Shale Gas would be recorded.
11.
Village Hall Car Park
The Clerk had been asked to look into the archives for information regarding the Lease the Parish Council took out in regard to the Village Hall car park. The Lease was taken out on 14 June 2002 for 99 years at a peppercorn rent from Richard Dumbreck. Two interest free loans were subsequently taken out from Fylde BC for tarmacking work and ground improvements. Improvement and maintenance works are still ongoing.
12. Accounts and Cheques to Pay
• W. H. Tarmacing Ltd – Tarmac work to car park £5,544.00. Proposed Cllr Bailey, Seconded Cllr Chew. Agreed. (This was paid prior to the meeting to take advantage of a discount).
• T. A. Pawson – 2 mountings of the SPID – £60.00. Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Bailey. As Mr Pawson is known to Cllr Chew, Clerk to check with absent councillors for full agreement before paying.
• W. Robinson – Gravel for car park – £1044.24 – Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Gallagher – Agreed.
• Singleton Village Hall – Payment of rent for use by Fylde BC for borough wide meeting the Parish Council had agreed to host. £45.00. Due to absence of 2 councillors, this will be brought to next meeting.
• John Chew – Autumn planting of flowering tubs – £230.00. Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Bailey. The Clerk was asked to check with absent councillors for full agreement before paying.
• Clerk’s salary and expenses for September/October 2014 – £219.24. Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
13. Any Other Business
The Caretaker of the Village Hall had asked if the Parish Council could possibly change the starting times of the meetings slightly so as to follow the Taekwondo booking. This would mean a start of 7.15pm as opposed to 7.30 pm. This was agreed.
14. Date and Time of next meeting
Thursday 27 November 2014 at 7.15pm.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.45pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455