Singleton Parish Council
A Meeting of the Parish Council will be held at the Village Hall, Singleton on Thursday 24 September 2015 at 7.15 pm.
(Please note new starting time)
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 27 August 2015 and any Matters Arising
4. Open Forum – The Council will open up the meeting for 15 minutes for any questions from residents.
5. Police Matters – including feedback from Fylde Borough Council’s Liaison Meeting
6. Traffic Issues
7. Correspondence
8. Planning matters and decisions
9. Car Park
10. Defibrillator
11. Report on the Conclusion of Parish Council Annual Audit
12. Accounts and any Cheques to Pay
13. Any Other Business
14. Date and Time of Next Meetings up to and including December 2015
Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 24 September 2015 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Bailey (Chair), Gallagher (Vice Chair), Chew, and Lee, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Mick Smith.
2. Declaration of Interests – None
3. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 27 August 2015, having been previously circulated, were agreed as a true and correct record and duly signed by the Chairman.
Matters Arising
• Cllr Chew had contacted Andy Pawson who had weed-killed the car park but was to attend to another patch. He was also attending to the ragwort at Lodge Lane. Mr Pawson wanted to report instances of dog fouling in the play area and we would need to watch this. Although there are signs forbidding dogs on the park, obviously these are not being heeded by everyone and the messes are not being cleaned up.
• Fence panels had been replaced at the house near to the bus stop on Mains Lane and there was just a pedestrian gate there now instead of a vehicle access point.
• United Utilities had contacted Cllr Chew by email concerning the blacked out signs and a lady would be visiting her about this and any other matters upon her return from holiday.
• A blocked gully on Pool Foot Lane, near to the entrance on Honeypot Lane, has been reported to Lancashire County Council.
• Cllr Gallagher brought 3 new signs to the meeting, one for the playing field and two for the car park. These were large and clear and thanks were expressed to him.
4. Open Forum – None
5. Police Matters
The monthly Police report showed two instances of vehicles being filled with fuel and being driven off without payment at the Fleetwood Road Garage. No other offences had been logged in the parish from 01/08/15 – 31/08/15. Cllr Chew had requested that in future the Police include the village name on these reports as some street names were the same in different parishes. The latest “In The Know” bulletin, contained information about 120 new police officers being recruited from October 2015, to start training from June 2016.
The Clerk had attended the Parish Council Liaison Meeting, held at Fylde Borough Council on 17 September 2015, at which Police Commissioner Clive Grunshaw and Chief Inspector Nicki Adams gave an address. Notes from this meeting are appended to these Minutes.
As regards the Parish Liaison Meeting itself, these were originally set up several years ago to improve communication between Parishes and Fylde Borough Council and to deal with any issues that cropped up. They have now become information events and the initial reasoning behind their existence seems to have been lost. Cllr Chew will have a word with the Chief Executive to see if they might possibly revert back to being a tool to improve communication as was the case previously.
6. Traffic Issues
Cllr Chew has recently met with two officers from EM Highways who are working on three things on Mains Lane: –
• Replacing all the footpaths
• Installing a Puffin crossing near to the River Wyre pub
• Doing away with the cycle path in red tarmac and replacing it with a shared space without a line down the middle.
Cllr Chew has also been speaking with Andrew Fowler, whose responsibility is the traffic lights, and he is looking to replace the Shard Road lights. They are going to replace two of the traffic light columns and are considering putting in a pedestrian crossing with a red and green man. What they needed was evidence that this was wanted and Cllr Chew is busy collecting this evidence at the moment.
Cllr Chew has received a complaint from a resident on Occupation Lane about the difficulties and dangers of getting out onto Mains Lane and asking if anything could be done – e.g. red tarmac or a yellow zone. The Clerk was asked to write to County Councillor Paul Hayhurst to see if anything could be done to alleviate this problem.
Finally, when the work is going on to the footpaths on Mains Lane, Lee Petitt (officer from EM Highways) has said that he was going to see that all the hedges are cut back.
7. Correspondence
• Letter received from The Preston New Road Action Group, which was seeking funding for its continued challenge against the Planning Application by Cuadrilla. Unfortunately the Parish Council has to remain neutral and cannot favour one particular side and must represent all residents of the Parish whether they are for or against fracking. The Clerk was asked to write to the Action Group explaining the position.
• Fylde Borough Council’s Local Plan to 2032. This is nearing completion will shortly be available to view on their website. Consultation events are planned over three weeks in late October and Early November 2015. The Clerk will forward the email detailing all the consultation events.
8. Planning Matters and Decisions
15/0555– High Lea, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton FY6 8LY – Proposed erection of detached garage to side and raised patio to rear of dwelling – No specific observations.
9.
Car Park
Still no action. The Clerk will renew her efforts to chase up Andrew Scott who is supposed to be delivering more gravel.
10.
Defibrillator
Cllr Gallagher has now got the new housing for the Defibrillator and it is ready to be fitted. The Clerk so far had 3 names of people who want to do the first aid training and several councillors wanted to be included also. The Clerk was asked to inform the School when the Defibrillator is ready to see if they wished to send any members of staff or parents along to the training.
Cllr Chew had queried the second bill received after the replacement box, but nothing had been received back from the company. It was decided to wait for them to contact the Parish Council.
11.
Report on the Conclusion of the Parish Council’s Annual Audit
The annual audit has now been completed and the appropriate notice has been displayed on the noticeboards. Just one item had been raised and that was that the Parish Council should include the Defibrillator in its Asset Valuation in future.
12. Accounts and Cheques to Pay
The second part of the precept had been paid into the bank by Fylde BC, and with the deduction of £1,142.82 taken at source to cover Playground Maintenance, the net figure received was £7,589.18. The Clerk will prepare a current balance sheet for the next meeting.
• T.A. Pawson – SPID – 3 locations – £90.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• B.D.P. LLP – Audit – £240.00 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• Clerk’s Salary and Expenses for August/Sept – £227.75 – Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Auto Graphix – new signs – £144.00. Proposed Cllr Bailey, Seconded Cllr Chew. Agreed.
13. Any Other Business
• The next meeting with the Trust is on 30 September. Concern was expressed about Worswick’s Farm House and the possibility that this is going to be demolished. This is an important heritage site in Singleton and is the only example of architecture pre Thomas Miller left in Singleton. It was decided to ask the Trust that if this building is to be knocked down that the façade be kept as it is.
• The Trust has booked the Village Hall on Sunday 4th October for an exhibition.
• There is a meeting with the Chief Inspector of Lancashire Constabulary and other parish councils on 30 September.
14. Date and Time of next meetings
The next three meeting dates were decided as follows: – (all at 7.15 pm)
• Thursday 29 October, Thursday 26 November and Thursday 17 December.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.30 pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson, Clerk to the Parish Council, Tel: 01995 670455
Verena Henderson
Clerk to Singleton Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455
ADDENDUM TO MINUTES
APPENDIX to PC Minutes dated 24/09/2015
District Parish Liaison Meeting
17 September 2015
Fylde Borough Council
Address by Police & Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw
Mr Grunshaw started his address by referring to the Police and Crime Plan, which was available on their website. This set out what they are trying to achieve. They are only part way through this process and are currently asking partners to write down the five main issues they are most concerned about, and to this end a questionnaire was circulated to those councillors present.
Mr Grunshaw went on to explain that Lancashire Constabulary is currently £61,000,000 down in their budget to 2017/18. They expect this to reach £100,000,000 by 2020. This represented a cut of one third on their budget which meant 1,100 to 1,200 less officers by 2020. This unfortunately meant less Bobbies on the beat but they are trying to maintain as much visibility as they can. To this end they have continued with the PCSOs, which now number 335 full-time equivalent throughout the county. In addition to this, when Police Officers have retired or left, these have been replaced using part-time contracts to make the service as flexible as possible.
Lancashire is a large and varied county. The Police have to deal with a significant number of incidents ranging from issues such as domestic abuse to hate crime and child sexual exploitation.
They are trying to build relationships with young people by introducing a Young Persons’ Programme and currently have 450 Police Cadets, which will rise to 650. They are also working with youngsters from disturbed backgrounds to improve the relationship between the Police and young people. They are also working with Special Constables and Volunteers.
They have introduced technology to improve the service whereby officers are being issued with devices similar to IPADs which link them to the station when they are out and about. This meant that they can file a report or check up on anything without having to go back to the station, thus saving valuable time. By December 2015, all officers will be issued with mobile phones which will be in addition to their Police radios.
The nature of policing has changed and there will be more changes in the next few years. They are trying to work more closely with other services – i.e. Social Services, Mental Health etc, to try and identify problem families and co-ordinate their response. They have to work in different ways to engage with the public, such as their “In The Know” bulletin to alert people to what is happening in their area. Anyone who wants to receive these bulletins should go on the website. They are also using social media which they are finding is having much more impact than the previous PACT meetings. Neighbourhood Watch is another area they are investing in at the moment.
Chief Inspector Nicki Adams
Chief Inspector Adams introduced herself by saying that her area stretches from the Cumbria border to Preston and surrounding areas. She is in charge of the “Futures Team”. From April of this year they have had to change the way they Police in Fylde as a result of their depleting resources and have created 3 teams to cover the Fylde area consisting of 5 officers in each – these are CBMs and Sergeants – and come under the supervision of Mark Thackeray-Scott. All teams are supported by PCSO’s.
The Level of responses has been divided into 3 grades:-
• Grade 1 – Emergency 999 calls – response rate 15 minutes
• Grade 2 – Priority incidents – no immediate danger – response rate within the hour
• Grade 3 – Issues which do not require an immediate response but need to be dealt with
Obviously priority is given to Grade 1 and Grade 2 issues, and the CBM will deal with Grade 3 issues when free to do so. In the event of a major incident, extra cover will be sought from Blackpool or Fleetwood. The 5 officers are the maximum number available and the team is subject to holidays and sickness. A minimum figure of 3 officers will be available at any one time
As regards targets, the recorded numbers are as follows: –
• Grade 1 – Response rate 79.3% – Current month 83.3%
• Grade 2 – Response rate 90.5% – Current month 92.6%.
Chief Inspector Adams concluded by saying that only 20% of Police time was spent dealing with crime. The majority of their time is spent dealing with vulnerable people, people missing from home, domestic violence. They are working with other agencies to try and deal with these problems together to help prevent situations getting out of hand. They do, however, provide a 24/7 service and are therefore more often than not the first point of call.
Points raised by Parish & Town Councillors
• Lack of Police presence in town/villages
• Lack of Liaison with Schools – PCSOs should be doing this and would be encouraged to do so
• Problems with mobile phone signals for officers in some rural areas – contact can be made via any Wi-Fi signal. Reports can also be saved on the new technology and processed at a later date when back in a signal area.
• Too much change in personnel. When an officer does attend a parish meeting, it is a different person than last time. Any links previously made have to be made all over again.
• In some rural areas, people – especially elderly – are afraid to answer their doors at night. Can the Police not do something to make people more comfortable in their own homes? – Neighbourhood Watch is being rolled out again to hopefully encompass all areas and bring some reassurance to residents.
• What is the best way to contact the Police for non-urgent issues? – Ring 101, links through the website or emails (email addresses are on the website).
Police Commissioner Clive Grunshaw and Chief Superintendent Nicki Adams left the meeting at 8.00pm.
Verena Henderson