Singleton Parish
Neighbourhood Planning Steering Group
Minutes of a Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 25 February 2015 at 7.30 pm
Present: – Cllr Maxine Chew (Chair), Mark Clifford, Chris Simpson, Kath Smith, Cllr Chris Bailey, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. The meeting was very pleased to welcome Debbie Proctor to this meeting who expressed a desire to join the Steering Group.
1. Apologies were received and accepted from Dave Kay, Peter Ellacott and Jim Pawson.
2. Declarations of Interest
Cllr Chew declared an interest in that she was a member of the Parish Council and the Village Hall Committee and had a small amount of land attached to her property. Cllr Bailey declared that he was a member of the Parish Council and Kath Smith declared that she was a Trustee of Singleton Trust which had a large amount of land in the village.
3. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes from the meeting held on 20 January, 2015, having been previously circulated, were proposed to be accepted as a true and correct record by Cllr Chew, Seconded by Cllr Bailey and agreed. They were duly signed by the Chairperson.
4.
Feedback from Members on Foreword and Introduction, Vision and Strategy
A document had been circulated by Kath Smith and Cllr Bailey, on the Vision and Strategy for Singleton Parish, which would form the basis of future discussion.
However, this item and items 5, 6 and 7 on the Agenda were to be held in abeyance following an informal meeting of the Parish Council held on 23rd February 2015. Cllr Chew reported that the Parish Council has strong reservations about proceeding in the current format as it had become evident that in order to meet all the criteria, consultants would have to be brought in, which would cost somewhere in the region of £6,000 – £10,000. The Parish Council simply could not afford to fund this amount and we simply did not have the expertise ourselves to produce this legal document.
Cllr Chew had spoken with a Planning Officer at Fylde Borough Council and explained the situation. This officer had suggested that we work with the Planning Policy Team to feed our wishes and aspirations for Singleton Parish’s future into the emerging Fylde Local Plan. Cllr Chew will try and contact Fiona Riley, who was away that day, and see if a way forward can be worked out. It may be that we would have to regroup sometime in the future.
5.
Help from Outside Agencies/individuals/future grants
This item was deferred, although Cllr Chew had spoken earlier with Finley Hodge from Community Futures, who had been most helpful. This organisation would grant us 3 hours free advice from Finley Hodge, but after that his services would have to be paid for.
6. Questionnaire and what questions to ask
Again, this item was deferred.
7. Launch Date for public consultation
Item deferred.
8. Any Other Business
Cllr Chew undertook to contact Fiona Riley the following day to find out exactly what we can do to get what we want into Fylde’s Local Plan. On receiving the information, she would email all members to advise them of the situation. Some of the necessary groundwork had now been done and we had the Heritage Strategy, the Conservation document, Parish Plan and Village Design Statement to refer to so all was not lost.
9. Date and Time of next meeting
To be decided after Cllr Chew has contacted Fiona Riley.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.45 pm and everyone was thanked for their attendance.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to Singleton Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455