Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 25 April 2019 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Chew, Gallagher and Smith, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. Two members of Singleton Trust and two members of the public also attended.
1. Apologies for Absence were received and accepted from Cllr Bailey who is still convalescing following his recent stay in hospital.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 March, having been previously circulated via email and accepted, were signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman.
3. Open Forum
A member of the public raised a query regarding the proposed development to enlarge Windy Harbour Holiday Park. A meeting had been held by the owners of the site, to which members of the Parish Council had been invited, but this had been a preliminary scoping meeting and no official plans have been lodged with Fylde Borough Council as yet. As such the Parish Council was not in receipt of the final version of the plans.
The member of public stressed that the Parish Council should ask for an Environmental Impact Assessment to be carried out because of the sensitivity of the site along the river. The Parish Council had been advised that such an assessment had in fact been carried out. The Parish Council was also asked to enquire as to the status of the lodges; would there be residents living in them all the year round? The Parish Council had already raised this issue and had been assured by the owner, Mr Morphett, that there would be no permanent residents in the new development and that they were intended solely for holiday use. There was a proposal for infilling to improve the drainage. Drainage was non-existent at the moment and certainly needed to be improved. Finally, would Pool Foot Lane be used for access? The Parish Council had been assured that Pool Foot Lane would not be used by the contractor’s vehicles nor would it be opened up for access to the site. Most of the new development would be on the Larbreck side.
Residents with any concerns were urged to write or email Fylde Borough Council’s Planning Department when the plans are available to view. The Parish Council would give consideration to the plans once they were consulted.
The two members of Singleton Trust said that they would like to become more involved with the Parish Council and would like to have a 5-minute slot in the meetings. The Chairman explained that national procedure allowed for a 15 minute slot for the Open Forum in every meeting, when any member of the public or organisation could bring up any issue, and they would be most welcome to speak within that period.
4. Declaration of Interests – none
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
• 19/0247 – Singleton Stables, Lodge Lane, Singleton FY6 8LG – Erection of barn building for use of storage of machinery, tools and hay bales and erection of 2no. stable block. The Parish Council commented that it appeared that a business may be taking place here and asked Planning Officers to be mindful of this.
• 19/0234 – Bankfield Farm, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton FY6 8LZ. Amended plans, taking into account the Parish Council’s concerns about keeping some aspect of the historical barn. The Parish Council now had no specific observations to make on the proposals.
The Parish Council had previously been asked to give consideration for a new street name as part of a development of 9 houses off Mains Lane. This was discussed at the meeting on 21 March 2019 and five names had been put forward to show the historical background to this site. Unfortunately the developer chose not to accept any of these and their suggestion of “Leonard Place” will now be registered.
6. Police Matters
The Parish Council had been disturbed to hear that a householder’s cctv had picked up an image of someone trying the doors of all the parked cars in that area. They had not reported it to the Police. The Chairman had advised them to report all incidents in future to make the Police aware of these incidents occurring.
Cllr Chew had reported to the Police that a transit van and caravan had been parked on Pool Foot Lane for some time. Nothing had been heard back from the Police about this as yet.
7. Traffic and Highway Issues
Notice of Proposal received from Lancashire County Council to amend the speed limit from 50mph to 30mph on the section of the A586 alongside the new development in Wyre. Noted.
8. Proposed new By-Pass
Several residents of Mains Lane had contacted Cllr Chew to express their concern following approaches by Highways England to ask if the land underneath Mains Lane belonged to the householder or the main road. Cllr Chew got in touch with the representative of Arcadia to enquire about this. Apparently when the road was widened many years ago, Lancashire County Council had not bought all the land. Some houses therefore owned up to the middle of the road. Highways England was therefore just trying to clear up any anomalies that might still be in existence.
9. Update on SID
Nothing heard about this again. The Clerk was asked to write to LCC Highways, with a copy to Cllr Paul Hayhurst, asking for their up-to-date guidance on SpID machines.
10.
Correspondence
• Advanced notification of a cycle event taking place on Sunday 14 July starting at Preston College. The route would come through to Singleton. Noted.
• Email from Planning Policy at Fylde enquiring if Singleton has any allotments. Unfortunately as the Parish Council does not own any land, it does not have any allotments.
11.
Parish Council Elections
The election for the Parish Council to be carried out on 2 May will be uncontested as no new nominees have come forward. Unfortunately this has posed quite a problem as only two members have been elected so far – Cllr Bob Gallagher and Cllr Matthew Lee. Both Cllr Bailey and Cllr Smith still want to be members of the Parish Council, but their nominations were not received by the Returning Officer by the deadline and they will have to be co-opted after the election. Cllr Maxine Chew has announced that she will be retiring both from the Parish Council and Fylde Borough Council. Because the Parish Council only has two elected members, it is not quorate and therefore the Head of Governance at Fylde Borough Council will need to become involved. He has already offered his help in resolving this matter.
The Parish Council was very pleased to hear that Ms Christine Ibbotson has expressed an interest in becoming a Parish Councillor. The Clerk remains in touch with Fylde BC and will advise on any developments. It is hoped that once all the formalities have taken place that all five seats on the Parish Council will be taken up once more.
12.
Annual Parish Meeting
As a result of the situation outlined in Minute 11 (above), the Annual Parish Meeting will have to be postponed until such time as there is a full Parish Council.
13. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
Confirmation received that the charge for the Inspection and Maintenance agreement with Fylde Borough Council for 2019/20 period will be £3,460.05. This amount will be deducted at source from the annual precept.
The first instalment of the annual precept had been received. After deduction of the half amount of the maintenance agreement, the net sum of £8,001.00 had been paid into the bank account on 5 April 2019.
• Fylde BC – Annual payment on loan agreement for purchase of car park – £1,775.00 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Smith. Agreed.
• T A Pawson – Monthly siting of SpID – £60.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Clerk, Salary and Expenses for March/April 2019 – £180.40. Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.
14. Any Other Business
• Fly tipping is on the increase in the area. One councillor reported 3 cases last week. It was agreed to purchase another camera and Cllr Gallagher will sort this.
• The spoil at Windy Harbour is to be redistributed around the site and work on this is due to commence in the next week or so. As regards the extension plans, we are told that the first phase will see 100 lodges built and the hotel started. This will be over 1 – 2 years. The second phase will take 3 – 6 years and will see another 200 lodges. Phase 3, which will take place over 7 – 11 years, will see the remaining 195 lodges built. Some confusion as to when the hotel will be completed. Pool Foot Lane would not be used for contractors’ vehicles and will not be opened up at the bottom to make a thoroughfare. Assurance was given that the lodges would only be used for holiday lettings. Some would be retained by the park owners and some would be sold off. The park would be closed for a short period over the winter months for maintenance work to be carried out.
• Cllr Chew commented that when the original planning permission was granted in 1990, there had been a condition that the golf course should be constructed first. She suggested that the Parish Council asks for Pool Foot Lane to be made a “Quiet Lane” and we should try and get the support of County Cllr Paul Hayhurst for this.
• Lancashire County Council has changed its mind about the restrictions of bunting for galas but Singleton Gala will not be using bunting this year because of all the confusion caused.
• It is 9 years since Singleton produced its Parish Plan and these are usually produced every 10 years. Many of the original wishes have been achieved, some could not be achieved, but overall the period has seen many successes.
• John Chew has got the plants for the next seasons flowering tubs and is happy to carry on doing these twice a year. Cllr Smith offered to help him with the heavier tubs.
• Andy Pawson is having a lot of difficulty cutting the grass at the end of Pool Foot Lane because of deep ruts in the ground. The Clerk was asked to contact LCC Highways to ask for the land to be levelled out.
• Cllr Lee was happy to announce that after years of complaints about the poor internet reception, all premises in the village will have access to fibre in their homes. Open Reach are working on this now and once it is brought into the village, customers should contact their service providers to have it brought into their homes. Praise for all this should be given to Gerald Currie of Dumbreck Court who contacted the Chairman of Open Reach to complain about the poor reception. Mr Currie and Lynn Barlow got in touch with Mark Menzies MP and together they took the complaints forward. These were listened to and the work should be completed in the next few weeks. The Parish Council is very grateful for the work put in by Mr Currie, Mrs Barlow and Mark Menzies MP to achieve this.
• Finally, the Parish Council bid a sad farewell to Councillor Maxine Chew who was retiring from both the Parish and Borough Councils. Cllr Chew had served for 20 years on the Parish Council and 16 years on the Borough Council, replacing her mother Alderman Hannah Cummings Miller. A real family dynasty. The Chairman gave heartfelt thanks to Cllr Chew on behalf of the Parish Council for all her hard work and dedication over the years and wished her all the very best for the future.
15 Date and Time of next meeting
Because of the uncertainty as to when the full council will be in place, a provisional date of 30 May 2019 was made for the next meeting.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.15pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455