Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on Thursday 21 March 2019 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Chew, Gallagher and Smith, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies for Absence were received and accepted from Cllr Bailey who would be going into hospital again. Members of the Parish Council wished him a speedy recovery.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes from the meeting held on 24 January 2019, which had been Chaired by Cllr Bailey, were signed in his absence as a true and correct record by Cllr Smith.
The Minutes from the meeting held on 28 February 2019, having been previously circulated and agreed via email, were formally signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman.
Matters arising from previous Minutes
The Clerk had responded to Fylde BC about their budget proposals in which all the money was once again allocated to Lytham and St. Annes councils with nothing going to rural Fylde. The Chief Executive had asked for information concerning the unsuccessful request made by Singleton Parish Council in 2017 for a contribution towards the cost of new play equipment. The Clerk had itemised the references made in the Parish Council’s Minutes from 20 July 2017 to 14 December 2017 when Cllr Chew had eventually advised the Parish Council that the application for a grant had been unsuccessful.
This matter was raised at a subsequent meeting at Fylde BC when it was pointed out that help had been granted to Singleton in years gone by, including help towards purchasing a bench for the Bowling Club.
Cllr Chew had raised the matter with Greenhalgh Parish Council about rural parishes getting together to have a 4/5 mile public footpath linking rural parishes and asking Fylde BC to put money into supervising this including providing signage, stiles etc. 47% of Fylde residents live in rural areas and they deserve to get something back from their Council Tax payments.
Cllr Chew had brought the concerns of a local resident about the possible abuse of rules pertaining to holiday caravans to the attention of the relevant officer at Fylde BC. The Officer said he would respond to a complaint or a report of a breach of licence if it is not anonymous. The resident will be advised accordingly.
3. Open Forum – None
4. Declaration of Interests – Cllr Gallagher as neighbour of applicant no. 19/0234.
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
19/0234 – Bankfield Farm, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton FY6 8LZ – Revision to Planning Permission 18/0908 which approves two storey front extension to provide new entrance, two and single storey rear extensions. Cllr Gallagher took no part in this discussion. The Parish Council was disappointed to see that all reference to the earlier Victorian barn conversion had been destroyed in this application and the final building will look nothing remotely like the original 175 year old barn.
19/0182 – Willow Park Stables, Singleton Road, Weeton with Preese – Change of use of grazing land to a site providing 6 pitches for occupation as a residential Gypsy site with each pitch containing up to 2 caravans and 1 WC/Bathroom building etc. The Parish Council had previously complained to the Chief Planning Officer at Fylde BC (January 2019) about the growing number of caravan sites in the area and the strain these were putting on limited local resources, in particular local doctors. The Parish Council had said that it felt the area had reached saturation point. As regards this new application, the Parish Council was very disturbed to have received numerous complaints from local residents about incidents of aggressive and intimidating behaviour from the occupants of this new site. After considering the planning laws the Parish Council decided to object to the proposal as it was in contravention of Planning Policy H5(d) (e) and (i).
19/0233 – 1 Gamekeepers Cottage, Mile Road, Singleton FY6 8NG. This was an amended submission for a single storey rear extension of 5M projection with 4M ridge and 2.4M Eaves. The Parish Council had no specific observations to make.
Naming a New Development
The Parish Council had been asked for its views on the naming of a new street off Mains Lane, which was a development of 9 houses. The developer had proposed the name of Leonard Place. After consideration, the Parish Council would like to see reference to the historical background of this site, which had been Ryecroft Farm, built on land owned by the Fitzherbert-Brockholes family. It was also on the site of an old watermill and windmill. Therefore the names proposed by the Parish Council were: – Ryecroft Place, Fitzherbert Place, Brockholes Place, Watermill Place or Windmill Place.
6. Police Matters
The crime figure recorded for Singleton by the Police for February was 1 of criminal damage which referred to a cab driver having his window smashed.
Cllr Chew had contacted the Police to voice the concerns of residents who had received threatening and aggressive behaviour from the occupants of the new caravan site on the Weeton/Singleton border. Also she reported that two residents in Singleton had had their cars broken into and goods taken, but had not reported this because they felt no action would be taken against the perpetrators. The Police advised that all crime committed should be reported and they would investigate any crime as far as the available lines of enquire allow them to.
7. Traffic and Highway Issues
• The Clerk had written to Highways England about the Windy Harbour Traffic Lights which had kept going off and causing much confusion and danger. Highways England had responded that they had put a temporary generator on site to help alleviate the problem and would be dealing with it more permanently in a few weeks’ time.
• The Parish Council was pleased to note that Fylde BC had recently swept the A585.
8. Proposed new By-Pass
Confirmation received from the Planning Inspectorate that a Preliminary Meeting was to be held on 9 April from 9.30am at Wyre Civic Centre, Poulton-le-Fylde. Noted.
9. Update on SID
Still no word back from LCC as to their recommendations. Nothing heard back either from Newton Parish Council regarding the possibility of sharing a SpID with them. An email advertisement from TWN Traffic Controls was received by the Clerk and would be kept on file for future reference.
10.
Correspondence
• Email from Fraser Monteath, Ranger at Fylde BC. The proposed hedgehog launch at Singleton C of E School had taken place on Monday 18 March. He will shortly be doing work on sustainable fruit and vegetable gardens with the children.
• Email from Calor Gas regarding grants to rural communities. This was primarily for communities that do not receive mains gas and are reliant on Calor gas. This grant might help with facilities for the many caravan sites in the area so Cllr Chew will follow this up.
• Minutes received from the District Parish Liaison Meeting held with Fylde BC on 13 February 2019. These will be put on file.
• Wyre Local Plan 2011 – 2031 – Notification received of the Adoption of the Plan. Inspection of the documents can be made at Wyre Borough Council.
• Singleton Local List. The list of local assets has been made by Fylde’s Conservation Officer. This has yet to be ratified at the next planning meeting. Noted.
• Letter received from Janet Pawson, Chair of the Singleton Gala Committee, asking for a donation for the day. Cllr Lee proposed a donation of £100, this was seconded by Cllr Gallagher and Agreed. The Parish Council was also sad to hear that Lancashire County Council had put in a ban on bunting being put up between lampposts and had offered an alternative solution which was completely unacceptable.
11.
Voluntary Litter-picker
The Parish Council’s voluntary litter-picker, who covers the Pool Foot Lane, Mains Lane and the Garstang Road area is finding it a bit hard doing all this on his own and has appealed for help. He does a magnificent job but it was felt that he shouldn’t over exert himself and only do what he can. Cllr Lee will put an appeal on Chat to see if we can recruit anyone else to help him.
12.
Parish Council Elections
A notice of the forthcoming elections will be displayed and information put on the website. Receipt of all nomination forms had to be made by 4.00pm on 3 April 2019 to Hazel McNichol at Fylde Borough Council.
13. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
• T A Pawson – Mounting of SpID – £30.00 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Singleton Village Hall – Rent 6 months – £96.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Clerk – Feb/March salary and expenses – £308.61 – Proposed Cllr Gallagher, Seconded Cllr Smith. Agreed.
• S Butcher – Litter-picking – £172.00 – Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Smith. Agreed.
• Singleton Gala Committee – £100. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
14. Any Other Business
• A resident has requested that the old mile sign on Mains Lane be cleaned up and painted. This is currently covered in moss and blends into the hedge. This was discussed and other items that could be painted were the litterbins and the finger post.
• County Councillor Paul Hayhurst had responded that the request for a zebra crossing ought to be pursued by the School who would be best placed to put a case forward. Cllr Lee will discuss this with the School and Cllr Chew will forward him a list of the criteria for granting a zebra crossing.
• Mr Pawson had been asked to quote again for the grasscutting contract for 2019/2020. He had responded that he would be happy to provide the service again at the same price. It was unanimously agreed to award the contract once again to Mr. Pawson. He had already started to cut the grass again for the new season but had experienced problems at the end of Pool Foot Lane where a tractor had created large ruts in the grass. This is being looked into.
15 Date and Time of next meeting – 25 April 2019 at 7.15pm.
The Clerk raised the question of the meeting for May, which would also include the Annual Parish Meeting. She was only able to cover meetings on the 9th and 30th May. The date would be confirmed at the April meeting.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.40pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455