Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 19 December 2019 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Gallagher (Chair), Bailey (Vice Chair), Ibbotson and Lee, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. Also attending were former Councillor Maxine Chew and PCSO Lauren Vallely.
1. Apologies for Absence – Cllr Robert Cholmondeley and Cty Cllr Paul Hayhurst.
2. Former Councillor Maxine Chew
Mrs Chew was presented with a “Freedom of the Parish of Singleton” certificate in recognition of her 20 years of service on the Parish Council and also for representing Singleton at Fylde Borough Council for the last 16 years. Mrs Chew said that she had enjoyed her 20 years on the Parish Council and thanked members for their support over the years. She had also enjoyed meeting and working with many people in the area. County Councillor Paul Hayhurst had previously sent his congratulations and good wishes to Mrs Chew, as unfortunately he was unable to attend this evening.
3. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 28 November, which had already been circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman.
4. Open Forum – None
5. Declaration of Interests – None
6. Planning Matters and Decisions – None
7. Police Matters
PCSO Vallely reported on the reported crime figures for November 2019, which were as follows:-
1 Anti-Social Behaviour; 1 Criminal Damage; 2 Theft and Handling (driving off without paying for fuel and theft of sweets from garage) and 1 Auto Crime (damage to tyre).
Another PCSO had witnessed the problem of a lorry reversing back on Station Road after realising he couldn’t get under the bridge. The delay and traffic chaos that ensued caused a lot of inconvenience.
The Clerk had written to the Commissioner about the Parish Council’s concerns over members of the public not bothering to report crimes as they had lost faith in local policing, but no reply had been received as yet.
8. Traffic and Highway Issues
As reported in item 7, problems had once again arisen on Station Road caused by lorries not seeing the sign warning of the low bridge and having to reverse back. It is estimated that it can take up to one hour for these lorries to reverse all the way back. Three such incidents had occurred this week. The Parish Council had previously asked LCC for better signage of this low bridge, but had been told that the signage was considered “adequate”. However, the Parish Council felt that the sign was in the wrong place, being right at the roundabout and is not seen by drivers when observing other traffic entering the roundabout. This time we would seek the help of County Councillor Paul Hayhurst in improving this signage.
The Parish Council had been approached by LCC about the possibility of rumble strips being put down on the entrance to the village to help slow traffic down. This idea was welcomed.
9. Proposed new By-Pass
Information received that the underpass will be constructed first and this is down for June 2020.
10. Update on SpID
Confirmation had been given that Singleton Trust would be willing to pay for half of the cost of two new SpID machines with the Parish Council paying for the other half. Cllr Lee proposed that these now be ordered, this was seconded by Cllr Gallagher and Agreed. The full cost would be in the region of £5,000.
11.
Correspondence
• Invitation received for Parish Chairs to attend the Holocaust Memorial Day at St Annes Hebrew Congregation, St. Annes on Friday 24 January 2020 at 11.00am. Names of attendees need to be in by 17 January 2020.
• Update on the Cuadrilla site at Preston New Road from the Environment Agency. All wastes have now been removed from the site and there is a reduction in operations. The EA will continue its own ambient air monitoring and surface water monitoring programme for the foreseeable future.
• Information received from the Deputy Chief Financial Officer at Fylde BC that the annual precept for 2020/21 will need to be decided before the end of February. This will be put on the agenda for the January meeting. This year there will be no Council Tax Reduction Grants payable to parishes. There will be grants available to improve community facilities from the New Homes Bonus allocation policy and Singleton’s grant allocation for 2020/21 is £1,207. This could include improvements to playgrounds and it had been decided at a previous meeting that the Parish Council needed to keep the facilities in good order and not let them deteriorate.
12. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
• Forsyth & Steele – cheque re-written due to incorrect amount on previous one – Christmas cards – £214.80. Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.
• Mr S Butcher – Litter picking – £147.20 – Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Lee – Agreed.
• Mr Pawson – Mounting of SpID – £30.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• Clerk, Salary and Expenses, (including annual website subscription) for November/December – £286.74. Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• Auto Graphix – new car park signs – £108.00 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
13. Any Other Business
• New letterheads can be produced now that annual website contract has been renewed.
14 Date and Time of next meeting
The next four meetings were arranged as follows:- All Thursdays at 7.15pm on –
30 January; 20 February, 19 March and 30 April.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.15pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455