Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 16 June 2020 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Gallagher (Chair), Bailey (Vice Chair), Cholmondeley, Ibbotson and Lee, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. This was the first meeting during lockdown in which social distancing measures still needed to be observed.
1. Apologies for Absence – none
2. Police Matters
The Crime Figures for April had been received and showed 3 cases of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) and 2 cases of Theft and Handling. The Clerk was asked to check the number of ASB figures with the Police, as many complaints had been received about harassment from one of the chalet parks in the parish. People should always get a log number when they report anything to the Police and to keep a record of this. This would be mentioned on the website. The Tree Preservation Officer had also been contacted in regard to this chalet park as many trees had been felled and had just been left beside the river. This could lead to flooding in the future.
Cllr Bailey commended the Police for a recent call-out when a 5 year old child had been reported missing. Five police cars, 2 vans, a drone and dozens of police officers attended, as well as police dogs. Fortunately the child was found hiding in the house 2 hours later, but it had been a terrific response from the Police.
Complaints had been received about noisy house parties at a house on Mains Lane with up to 40 people in attendance. The Police had been notified of these complaints but had not attended.
A policeman followed a speeding motorist and pulled him up outside the public house after recording his speed as 45mph in the 20mph zone. The man was prosecuted.
Lancashire Constabulary had sent notification of the launch of “Lancashire Talking” in which residents were asked to complete a survey to help the Neighbourhood Policing Team to set their local policing priorities for the future. The Clerk would complete this on behalf of the Parish Council and ask for more policing in the rural area.
3. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March, having been previously circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman.
4. Declaration of Interests – None
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
No planning applications to consider.
Planning Decisions
19/0977 – Windy Harbour – Application to discharge condition 4 (traffic calming scheme) of planning permission – Advice issued.
20/0071 – 29 Mains Lane, Singleton – Erection of 7 detached dwellings – Granted
19/0442 – Huws Gray (Former PH Timber) Units 4 and 5, Shard Road – Change of use of land – Granted.
20/0181 – Springend, Garstang Road, Singleton – Hip to gable enlargement to roof space – Granted.
Concern expressed yet again at the difficulty in getting GP appointments and the fact that there has been no increase in the number of GPs whilst so many developments and increases in caravan/chalet sites in the parish is taking place. The Parish Council has stressed this to Fylde BC on more than one occasion and would continue to do so when future such planning applications are presented.
6. Traffic and Highway Issues – None
7. Proposed new By-Pass
Kier has taken over from Arcadus as the company representing Highways England. Helen Batey had written regarding grants for community projects in the vicinity and thought would be given to this. Some initial ideas including the enhancement of the children’s play park, providing a church car park and the maintenance of footpaths, particularly along Lodge Lane as parts were becoming impassable. The new contact person was Gaynor Wainwright and the Clerk would contact her in regard to this. This would be discussed again at the next meeting and more ideas welcomed.
A request would also be made to Highways England for the Parish Councillors to visit the site in the near future.
8. Update on SpID
Two new SpID machines had been mounted onto existing poles and were operational. Lancashire County Council had later advised the Parish Council that the new machines were too heavy for the poles and new poles would need to be erected. We are awaiting further instruction from LCC.
9.
Correspondence
Very little correspondence received during the lockdown period. Unfortunately the walks previously arranged by the Fylde Ranger Service had to be cancelled as did the Singleton Gala. An incident of fly-tipping on Grange Road had been reported online to Fylde BC at the beginning of June, and this had been cleared a few days afterwards. The annual insurance had been renewed at the end of May and all the relevant insurance documents had been received.
10.
Updates from Cllr Ibbotson
Cllr Ibbotson had been involved in various things during lockdown including producing a newsletter and Easter competition, which had proved to be very popular, and was currently working on another newsletter which would be spotlighting people who worked on behalf of the Parish Council, in particular the grass-cutter and litter-picker and members of the parish council themselves and those who helped in any way.
Cllr Ibbotson had pursued problems of blocked drains with Highways England and United Utilities and had had success with getting overhanging trees cut back from a property on Mains Lane which had caused visibility problems to traffic recently. She was currently pursuing a data protection enquiry with Highways England and would report back on that in due course.
11.
Annual Official Audit for 2019/2020 Financial Year
The Clerk had completed all the necessary paperwork for the official audit and had arranged for the internal audit to take place. Unfortunately one cheque made out at the end of March 2020 had still not appeared on the bank statements and therefore the internal auditor was unable to produce the necessary bank reconciliation statement until this cheque is presented to the bank. On investigation it would appear that the office receiving the cheque had been closed throughout lockdown with relevant members of staff working from home. The firm also relocated on 1 June with bags of mail still being unopened at their previous address. Finally the cheque had been traced and would be presented to the bank. Once this has appeared on the bank statement the internal audit could take place and then the statutory period of public rights to view the accounts would follow.
In the meantime, the Clerk circulated a statement of accounts for 2019/2020 detailing all receipts and payments with the total being carried forward to 2020/2021 being £24,643.
The Annual Governance and Accountability Return was duly agreed and signed by the Chairman and Clerk.
12. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
• Fylde BC had made a payment of £1,207 into the account in respect of the New Homes Bonus Grant. This grant had to be used for community facilities.
• LCC had put an order in once again for the Parish Council to cut the grass on their land in the parish at an annual charge of £468.00. This work was undertaken by our grass-cutter.
During lockdown, the Clerk had prepared a spread sheet of all invoices agreed via email and paid during April, May and the beginning of June. This showed as follows:-
30/04/20 – T A Pawson – Installing new SpIDs £176.93. Agreed RG/ML/CB/CI
30/04/20 – T A Pawson – Mounting SpID £30.00. Agreed RG/ML/CB/CI
30/04/20 – ICO – Data Protection Fee £40.00. Agreed RG/ML/CB/CI
30/04/20 – T A Pawson – Monthly grass-cutting £481.56 – Previously agreed
28/05/20 – Came & Company – Annual Insurance £784.81. Agreed RG/ML/CB
28/05/20 – T A Pawson – Mounting SpID £60.00. Agreed RG/ML/CB
05/06/20 – John Chew – Plants and compost – £418.00. Agreed RG/ML/CB/CI
05/06/20 – FH & M Davies & Son – 2 new planters – £46.08. Agreed RG/CB/CI
05/06/20 – S Butcher – Litter-picking March-May – £172.00. Agreed RG/CB/CI
New Invoices
• T A Pawson Mounting SpID on Station Road – £30.00. Proposed by Cllr Gallagher, Seconded by Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• Clerk, Salary and Expenses for March, April and May – £531.18. Proposed Cllr Ibbotson, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed.
13. Any Other Business – None
14 Date and Time of next meeting – Tuesday 21 July/Thursday 23 July at 7.15pm. (To be confirmed)
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.45pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455