Singleton Parish Council
A Meeting of the Parish Council will be held at the Village Hall, Singleton on Thursday 14 August 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 31 July 2014 and any Matters Arising
4. Open Forum – The Council will open up the meeting for 15 minutes for any questions from residents.
5. Police and PACT Report
6. Traffic Issues
7. Correspondence
8. Planning matters and decisions
9. Feedback from meeting with The Trust
10. Neighbourhood Plan
11. Standing Orders
12. Accounts and any Cheques to Pay
13. Any Other Business
14. Date and Time of Next Meetings for next 3 months
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 14 August 2014 at 7.30 pm
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Bailey (Vice Chair), Chew, Gallagher and Smith, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies – None
2. Declaration of Interests – All councillors declared a personal interest, which was not prejudicial, in regards to the application by Cuadrilla. This is because Cllrs Lee, Chew, Gallagher and Smith are, or were, members of the Village Hall Committee, a registered charity, which received a donation of £2,000 from Cuadrilla towards the refurbishment of the hall. Cllr Bailey is involved with Snow Heights, a charity for young people based in Blackpool, who also received a donation from Cuadrilla. In both cases no conditions were attached to the donations.
3. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising – The minutes of the meeting held on 31 July, having been previously circulated, were agreed as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.
Matters arising
• The Chairman had responded to the letter from Mr. Bedford, as promised.
• The Clerk had written a response in regards to the query regarding the website, which is currently being improved.
• Cllr Chew had written an emailed response in regards to an enquiry regarding the application to Lancashire County Council by Cuadrilla for Grange Road confirming that the Parish Council had not been contacted by LCC about this.
• The footpath on Lodge Lane was still very overgrown with the hedge encroaching and making the path very narrow. The Clerk will report it again.
• The Clerk had contacted Lancashire County Council to check why the Parish Council had not been consulted in respect of the application by Cuadrilla.
• The Clerk had written to the Office of Rail Regulation in support of a stop at Kirkham & Wesham on the newly proposed Blackpool to London Euston route.
4. Open Forum – No members of the public were present on this occasion
5. Police and PACT Report – None received as yet. Cllr Chew had written to the Police but was awaiting a response. She will email the response round to all councillors once this has been received.
6. Traffic Issues – None at the moment. There will be some issues when the current roadworks reach the Singleton crossroads.
7. Correspondence
• Letter from Fylde BC advising that the Fylde Local Plan to 2030, Part 1 Preferred Options Consultation Response Report Publication is now available to view online at the following address: – www.fylde.gov.uk/localplan
• Letter from BDO LLP, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, to advise that they have completed the Audit for the year ended 31 March 2014. There were no matters which came to their attention which required the issuing of a separate additional issues arising report and they have signed off the Audit as a true and correct record. Notices of this will be placed on the two noticeboards in the village. The Clerk was congratulated for her work in this regard.
8. Planning Matters and Decisions
• LCC/2014/0084 – Cuadrilla Bowland Limited in respect of Grange Hill Exploration site, Grange Road. Permission sought for a three year period to retain the existing site compound and access track, install seismic and pressure monitors within the existing well; undertake seismic and pressure monitoring; plugging and abandonment of the existing exploratory well and restoration of the site. The Parish Council has no specific observations to make other than that the process must be carried out as safely as possible. NB – Although Singleton Parish Council had been listed as a consultee to this planning application, Cllr Gallagher had obtained a print-out of all the emails sent to Clerk@SingletonParishCouncil.org on and around the 27/05/14 and nothing was listed from LCC. On contacting Development Control at LCC, the Parish Council was sent the information on 01/08/14 and asked to respond by 15/08/14 which it duly did.
• 14/0538 – The Swallows, Garstang Road, Singleton, FY6 7SX – Retrospective application for erection of single storey extensions to rear. The Parish Council is very disappointed to see that yet again this applicant has flouted the planning laws and applied for retrospective permission when the job has already been done.
• 14/0490 – Angel Lane Caravan Park, Field 7126, Fairfield Road, Staining, FY6 8DN. Change of use of land to caravan site for occupation by Gypsy-Travellers with associated operational development including hard standing, utility blocks, septic tanks – part retrospective. The Parish Council objects to this proposal as it is against Planning Policy HL8, No’s 5/6/7 and 8; there are serious highways issues of safety because of sight lines and it is against Planning Policy SP2 – development in the countryside.
9.
Feedback from Meeting with The Dumbreck Trust
The Chairman reported that he had been encouraged by the recent meeting with the Trust where they had seemed to build many bridges and resolved issues amicably. The Parish Council looked forward to working with them in the future and concentrating on matters which affect us both. It had been agreed for the Trust to fund the creation of a Portal for all village organisations who could have links to their own websites. This would include such organisations as the Village Hall, the Church, School, Parish Council etc.
10.
Neighbourhood Plan
Cllr Chew distributed a list of all the businesses and stakeholders in Singleton Parish who need to be involved in the creation of Singleton’s Neighbourhood Plan. Ian Curtis, Monitoring Officer at Fylde BC, stated that no one stakeholder could have any preferential treatment and we need to invite them all to be involved. If any councillor can think of anyone else, please let Cllr Chew know as soon as possible.
Cllr Chew had obtained a copy of Bryning with Warton’s draft Neighbourhood Plan, which was a very comprehensive document. Bryning with Warton is obviously a much larger parish than Singleton and had required much more work, but nevertheless there is a lot of work to do here in this parish. We need to recruit a Steering Group of 7 to 9 people to help with the work and already two people had volunteered to help – Christopher Simpson, retired engineer, and Kath Smith from the Trust. It was felt that direct contact was the best approach and several names were suggested to approach. Fylde Borough Council will help us a lot, but we may need the help of a planning consultant and Cllr Chew will look into this. We have received funding of £940 to start off this process, but will need to dig into our reserves to complete the work.
The Neighbourhood Plan is a very important document. It can stop developers taking over a large part of the parish and urbanising it – which neither us nor the Trust wants to see – and we can specify where developments should take place. These can be small plots in and around the parish and we would be looking at approximately a 10% increase in houses up to 2030. Our Plan will cover the whole parish, including Little Singleton.
Fiona Riley, Planning Policy Officer of Fylde Borough Council, had sent a copy of a plan of the whole parish. To start the process off we need to submit a formal application with this plan and the Clerk will do this in accordance with Fiona’s instructions.
11.
Standing Orders
The Standing Orders, having been agreed at the meeting held on 31/07/14 were formally signed by the Chairman and Vice–Chairman. The Clerk will distribute copies for each councillor at the next meeting.
12. Accounts and Cheques to Pay
• T. A. Pawson – Mounting of SPID – 2 locations – £60.00. Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed
• BDQ LLP – Audit Fees – £120. Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Smith. Agreed.
• Clerk’s Salary plus Expenses for July/August 2014 – £262.71. Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Chew. Agreed.
13. Any Other Business
• We have enough money now to buy one defibrillator and hopefully will soon have enough for two. It was proposed by Cllr Smith that Cllr Chew buy one defibrillator for now and this was seconded by Cllr Gallagher and all agreed.
• Broadband for the Village. The Chairman has continued with his pursuit of BT to find the latest position in regards to improved Broadband connection in Singleton Village. The latest response he has received that this has been passed on to the Superfast Lancashire Team and they are planning to start work in our area towards the end of this year.
14. Date and Time of next meetings – The next Parish Council meetings for the remainder of the year were agreed as follows:-
September 25th (Apologies from Cllr Bailey); October 16th; November 27th and December 18th. All meetings will take place at the Village Hall and start at 7.30 pm.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 9.15pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson, Clerk to the Parish Council: Tel: 01995 670455