Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 4 October 2018 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Chew and Gallagher, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies for Absence – Cllrs Bailey and Smith.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 6 September 2018, having been previously circulated and agreed by email, were signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman.
Matters Arising
The Parish Council was very pleased to learn that the Ranger from Fylde Borough Council, Fraser Monteath, had made contact with the local primary school as promised. The Parish Council would be pleased to welcome Mr Monteath to their next meeting to hear about any progress made.
3. Open Forum – none
4. Declaration of Interests – none
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
18/0724 – Land between 185 and 195 Mains Lane, Singleton FY6 7LB – Application for approval of reserved matters pursuant to outline planning permission 16/1006 for the scale, layout, appearance and landscaping of a residential development comprising nine detached dwellings with associated open space – The Parish Council has no specific observations to make on the proposal.
18/0541 – Linden Lea, 37 Mains Lane, Singleton FY6 7LJ – Only listed today. To be discussed at the next meeting.
6. Police Matters – Nothing to report
7. Traffic and Highway Issues – None
8. Proposed new By-Pass
County Councillor Paul Hayhurst is currently trying to arrange a meeting with Highways England about the proposed by-pass. Cllr Chew also proposes to attend that meeting.
9. Correspondence
• Information received from Fylde Borough Council that they have published the recommendations of the Appointed Person in regard to the Fylde Local Plan to 2032. The Inspector’s Report is available on the Borough Council’s website.
• Information received about Fylde BC’s Remembrance Sunday Services to be held at the St Annes War memorial and Lytham War Memorial commencing at 10.56 am on Sunday 11 November. Also information received about the WW1 Beacon of Light which will be lit at 7.00pm on the 11th on Lytham Green adjacent to the windmill.
• Confirmation received from the Operations Supervisor, Fylde BC that the new play equipment would now be added to the weekly play inspections after the Parish Council had agreed to pay an additional sum for this. The invoice is awaited. The agreement to pay this additional sum came after much consideration, bearing in mind the potential risk to children from possible vandalism which would not be covered under the current terms of the guarantee. Fylde BC inspects all the equipment on the Children’s Play Park every week and repairs any faults they come up against.
• Information received that the next Parish Liaison Meeting with Fylde BC would take place on the 24th October.
• Review of Polling Districts and Polling Places. Fylde BC has once again chosen Singleton Village Hall to be a Polling Station for future elections. This was agreed.
• Detailed information received from Fylde BC regarding election recharges to Parish and Town Councils. This item will be discussed at the Parish Liaison Meeting on the 24th October and has been raised by Cty Cllr Paul Hayhurst. Following the last Parish/Borough Council elections, several parishes were shocked to receive much larger demands from the Borough Council than in previous years. The current system is unfair to smaller councils and if just one small parish was contested in an election, the cost to that parish could well bankrupt it, being in the region of £24,000. Fylde’s officers had come up with a fairer scheme which incorporates the recommendations made in Cllr Hayhurst’s report but is a hybrid version. It recognises the burden placed on smaller parishes but does not allocate costs entirely on population. All Parish Councils in Fylde Borough are being asked if they agree to a more equitable method of apportioning election expenses and if they agree to the proposal devised by Fylde’s officers being adopted.
• The document from Cllr Hayhurst was studied at length and the point made that the current system was not democratic because smaller parishes may try and dissuade people from standing for an election if the costs proved too high if a seat was contested. It was unanimously agreed to support Cllr Hayhurst’s proposal.
10.
Annual Review of Risk Assessment
This had been amended to include reference to the new regulations concerning GDPR and the formation of a new Privacy Notice. The Parish Council is fully compliant to these new regulations and all the appropriate information is displayed on the website. Cllr Chew proposed that this document be accepted, this was seconded by Cllr Lee and Agreed.
11.
Review of Standing Orders
This document had also been amended to include reference to GDPR and the Privacy Notice.
12.
Local List for Singleton Parish
Fylde BC has now judged Singleton’s heritage buildings. Although they have accepted most of the ones on our list, they did not accept the base of the boundary cross in the church yard. Once Cllr Chew has received the minutes from this meeting she will circulate them. She will also contact the Conservation Officer about the list.
13. SID Update
It is proving difficult to find another supplier of these speed indicator devices within the Parish Council’s price range. Cllr Lee will continue to look and in the meantime Cllr Chew will make enquiries with Lancashire County Council about their recommendations.
14. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
Email received from the new organisation responsible for officially auditing the Parish Council’s accounts to advise the Parish Council to sign a Certificate of Exemption to certify that during the financial year 2017/18 the gross annual income or gross annual expenditure did not exceed £25,000. By signing this document and putting information on the website, it would save the Parish Council £200 + VAT on having an official review. The internal audit had been accepted. The Certificate of Exemption was accordingly signed by the Clerk and the Chairman.
• T A Pawson – Mounting of old SID – £30.00 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• John Chew – Purchase of new planting tubs – £114. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• S Butcher – Litter-picker – £180.40 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Chew. Agreed.
• Singleton Village Hall – 6 month’s rent – £117.50 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Clerk – Salary and Expenses for August/September – £186.84 – Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.
• Greenhalgh-with-Thistleton Parish Council – Purchase of bags for litter-picking – £140.00 (The Parish Council had previously agreed to share the cost of these bags with Greenhalgh and Weeton Parish Councils). Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
15. Any Other Business
• Cllr Chew had had a very positive meeting with the Trust last Monday, following which she had spoken with officers at Fylde BC about the possibility of grant aid. She had also been in touch with the Community Housing Officer and Planning Officers who hopefully can assist the Trust.
• Complaints have been received about the playground litterbin not being emptied by Fylde BC. There is one official litterbin on the site and two unofficial ones which have been donated in past years by members of the public. On investigation, it would appear that the official one is still being emptied but not the other two which are full to the top of dirty nappies. Cllr Chew will contact Fylde to see if these two bins and their contents can be taken away.
• Complaints received about litter on Shard Lane. The Clerk will contact the Litter-picker to ask him to do this road. The volunteer litter-picker is still keen to help and covers Pool Foot Lane and Garstang New Road as well as going up Mains Lane as far as Shard Lane every two or three weeks. The Parish Council is extremely grateful for his continued assistance in this regard.
• Problems are being caused by the number of cars parked on Church Road at dropping off and picking up times from the school. Driveways are being blocked and residents are complaining. The Parish Council is happy for parents to use the Village Hall car park when dropping off and collecting the children and Cllr Lee will pass this information on to the Headteacher. It was also mentioned that the Miller Arms had in the past offered to let parents park on its car park at school times and it may be a good idea to broach the topic again with them and enlist their help too.
16 Date and Time of next meeting – 25 October 2018 at 7.15pm.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.15pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455