Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 30 March 2017 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Gallagher (Chair), Bailey, and Chew, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. County Councillor Paul Hayhurst also called in to update the Parish Council on highway issues.
1. Apologies were received from Cllrs Lee and Smith.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 23rd February, having been circulated earlier, were proposed to be agreed by Cllr Chew, seconded by Cllr Gallagher and duly signed. The Clerk will email Cllr Lee to get his approval prior to displaying them.
There were no matters arising.
3. Open Forum – None
4. Declaration of Interests – None
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
• 17/0107: Shell Service Station, Cross Roads, Singleton FY6 7SX. Retrospective application for ATM and Ram Raid bollards and receipt bin. No specific observations.
• 17/0175: Gerip, Station Road, Singleton FY6 8LG – Proposed 2 storey side extension. No specific observations.
• 17/0140: Brook Cottage, Garstang Road, Singleton, FY6 7SX – re-submission of application 16/0746 – Change of use of land to dog boarding kennels and dog training school, erection of kennel building, erection of isolation kennel and formation of visitor parking area. The Council objects to this proposal on the grounds that there will be frequent entering and exiting from the site, adding to the congestion already experienced on Garstang Road and the Council is concerned about the noise nuisance caused to neighbours by barking dogs.
Planning Decisions
16/0980: Fenella, Garstang Road, Singleton, proposed two storey side extension – Refused.
16/1031: Larkfield, Lodge Lane, Singleton FY6 8LT, Erection of detached dwelling and detached garage with new access – Granted
17/0087: Worsicks Farm, Weeton Road, Singleton FY6 8LL, Erection of two storey building providing two semi-detached dwellings following demolition of existing dwelling – Granted.
17/0084: 13 Weeton Road, Singleton, FY6 8LL, Formation of vehicle access – Granted.
17/0184 – 144 Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LB – Amendment to planning permission 16/0787 re height of garage – Granted.
Appeals
16/0616 – Rear of Bankfield Farm, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton – FY6 8LZ – erection of dwellinghouse and detached garage – Dismissed.
6. Police Reports
Update received on the progress of the new West Division Police Headquarters, which are currently being built on Clifton Road in Blackpool. These are due to be completed in 2018.
Contact made by PCSO Rebecca Didsbury who was unable to make the Parish Council meeting tonight. She has requested dates of future meetings to be sent to her and the Clerk will arrange this.
Information received that 77 drivers had been handed new penalties for using a phone behind the wheel of their vehicle in the week of action held in the first week of March. There are now increased penalties of six points and a £200 fine. Further such clampdowns are planned by the Lancashire Constabulary.
7. Traffic and Highway Issues
Cty Councillor Paul Hayhurst was pleased to see that the new 20mph had in fact been installed that day and had managed to be sorted out before the end of the financial year.
Cllr Chew reported that Fylde BC had swept Garstang Road and Lodge Lane recently. Concern was still expressed about the state of 5 lane ends and the need for that area to be swept and for weeds to be removed.
The first grass cutting of Mains Lane has taken place, and the contractors had obviously found this difficult due to the wet weather. Unfortunately they have left rather a mess behind but it is hoped that the next cut will be more satisfactory.
8. Proposed new by-pass
Cty Cllr Paul Hayhurst has issued a statement to the local press saying that he now believed that all options would be a complete waste of money. Although he supported the easing of congestion on Mains Lane, he was totally against the 2-lane route up to Windy Harbour, which would only serve to move the congestion to Windy Harbour along the A585 to the motorway, as there are no plans to upgrade that stretch of the highway. He would much prefer to see the money go towards the original Blue Route.
A report had appeared in the Blackpool Gazette saying that there had been a Whitehall review into spending on highways and that 16 schemes are to be reconsidered. It is not known at this point whether this scheme will be affected.
Cllr Hayhurst was finally asked if he would contact LCC for the Parish Council to have damaged bollards replaced at the end of Pool Foot Lane. He was thanked for his attendance and left the meeting.
9. Correspondence
• Information and posters received saying that from 1st June there will be a £25 charge for the collection of garden waste in green bins. Leaflets will also be delivered to each household by Fylde BC. The collection of garden waste is not a statutory duty for councils and therefore it is an area which can be chargeable. Some concern was voiced that this was a backdoor way of putting up the council tax. The Clerk will display the notices on all the noticeboards.
• The next District Parish Liaison meeting will take place at the Town Hall on Wednesday 17 May, starting at 6.30 pm.
• Letter received from Singleton Gala asking for financial help towards this year’s Gala. Unfortunately due to last year’s bad weather, they had suffered a small loss. Cllr Gallagher proposed that the sum of £100 be granted to the Gala Committee, this was seconded by Cllr Bailey and the Clerk will email Cllrs Lee and Smith to get full agreement.
10.
Grass-cutting contract for 2017/2018
Mr Pawson had sent in his quotation for 2017/2018, which now included extra cuttings at Shard Lane junction. The quotation showed a small rise due to increased insurance costs and labour costs, but it was noted that he had kept his price the same for the previous three years. The total cost for the year now would be £4815.56.
The areas cut by Mr Pawson are the Children’s Play area, Lodge Lane lay-by, Pool Foot Lane and now the 2 Shard Lane lay-bys.
Cllr Gallagher proposed that the new contract be awarded to Mr Pawson at a fixed price for 2 years. This was seconded by Cllr Bailey and the Clerk will email Cllrs Lee and Smith for full agreement.
11.
Litter-picking
The Chairman had tried unsuccessfully to contact Mr. Taylor and the Clerk will contact his other Parish Council to get a message through to him to contact the Chairman.
12.
Pool Foot Lane
Substantial damage was caused to the bollards at the end of Pool Foot Lane by a motorist who must have severely damaged their car. Cllr Hayhurst is to try and get LCC to replace these as soon as possible.
13. Fly-Tipping and Council Tax
Cllr Gallagher is arranging for the signs to be made. Areas suggested are Grange Road and Grange Farm, but the Chairman would like more suggestions emailed to him. It may be necessary to buy posts to display some of the signs.
The Council tax issue was discussed under item 9.
14. New Equipment for Children’s Play Area
This item was deferred to the next meeting when hopefully all councillors will be present.
15. Accounts and Cheques to Pay
• T A Pawson – SPID – £60.00. Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• Fylde BC – Annual instalment of loan repayment – £1,775.00. Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Clerk‘s Salary and expenses for Feb/March 2017 – £164.28 – Proposed Cllr Bailey, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Singleton Village Hall – Rent for 6 months from October – March 2017 – £112.00 Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• Singleton Village Gala – £100 donation. Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Bailey. To be agreed via email with absent councillors.
16. Any Other Business
• SPID – We will need a new one now that the speed limit has been changed to 20mph. The Clerk was asked to contact Weeton Parish Council (with whom we currently share the SPID) to see if they would like to make a donation and keep the SPID for themselves. This will be discussed at the next meeting as to what type of SPID to buy. The Clerk was asked to contact Mr. Pawson to update him about the situation.
• An approach has been made by the Bowling Club for help with information of where they could get a grant towards replacing their benches which are now rotten. The Bowling Club would welcome memorial benches being donated and the Parish Council would be happy to write about this in the next newsletter.
• The next meeting with the Singleton Trust is on 3rd May 2017.
• After looking into the number of bollards needed for Lodge Lane Lay-By and Pool Foot Lane, it was agreed that erecting bollards would be far too costly. It was therefore decided to look into erecting a small fence instead.
• Shaun Thornton will commence the groundwork in the play area in approximately 3 weeks, weather permitting.
• The Clerk was asked to contact LCC Highways again in regard to moving the stones at Lodge Lane Lay-By.
17. Dates and Times of next meetings
These were provisionally agreed as:-
• 7.15pm 20th April,
• 7.00 pm 25 May (Annual Parish Meeting) and 7.30pm Monthly Meeting
• 7.15pm 22 June 2017.
The Clerk will email these dates through to Cllrs Lee and Smith for agreement.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.30pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455