Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 27 October 2017 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Smith (Chair), Lee (Vice Chair), Bailey, and Chew, David Hopkin, Project Manager of Highways England, Helen Batey, Liaison Officer from Arcadas, Matthew Armitage, Graduate Project Manager from Highways England and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Gallagher.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 21 September 2017, having been previously circulated, were formally agreed as a true and correct record and duly signed by the Chairman. There were no matters arising.
3. Open Forum – None
4. Proposed New By-Pass
David Hopkin of Highways England brought along a leaflet detailing the preferred route announcement of the Windy Harbour Skippool Improvement Scheme. After consultation, the preferred option is the Southern by-pass, which also has the approval of Fylde Borough Council, Wyre Borough Council and Lancashire County Council. This scheme is still in its draft phase and consideration is being given to a Grange junction, Lodge Lane Bridge or underpass and a Shard Lane link road. A lot of work still has to be done before the next stage and a lot more detail will be available at the end of that stage. The final layout has yet to be confirmed. After consultation 93% agreed that something needed to be done with the A585 and this was the preferred layout for the majority of people. They are now working on minimising the impact on those properties affected wherever possible and will tweak this draft proposal wherever necessary. They are hoping that stage 3 will be available for consultation in the first half of 2018 and they are still on schedule to commence on site in March 2020.
It was commented that neither Fylde Borough Council nor Lancashire County Council had ever consulted Singleton Parish Council about the options. The local MP also would not attend a meeting about it with the Parish Council. At least Highways England had consulted the Parish Council and shown an interest in its concerns. It is already having an effect on house prices and only this last month a sale has fallen through because of the proposals. Traffic was often at a standstill at rush-hour from the M55 through Greenhalgh, sometimes tailing back to the inside lane on the motorway. None of this proposed work would help with this.
Mr Hopkin explained that this work would not preclude further works such as Norcross roundabout and Thistleton Junction in the future. Whatever works completed will have to prove that there will be a saving on journey time. When discussing Thistleton Junction and the dangers posed by this very busy junction, Mr Hopkin assured the Parish Council that the final design would not make the problem any worse. Cllr Chew pointed out that the proposed Shard Road link road would cut across people’s land and in fact cut their land in half and obviously residents there were very concerned. There was also a problem with the Main Dyke in that when the M55 was created, water was routed to go into the Main Dyke. Farmers report that after heavy rain on the M55, the dyke can raise by 5ft in 2 or 3 hours. In the wet winter of 2015/16 one farmer’s fields were under water for 3 months as a direct result of this. Mr Hopkin was asked not to make this situation any worse by these proposals and to bring United Utilities into the discussion.
Cllr Bailey explained the probability of problems with traffic getting out from Singleton Hall and the Barnfield Manor entrance, the dangers of blind bends and speeding traffic.
Mr Hopkin explained that they are gathering a lot more detail for consideration and will take everything on board. When they have completed this stage they will apply for a Development Consent Order. This will be assessed by a completely independent body and there will be a level of protection. It is in Highway England’s interest to get everything right and minimise the effect on people’s lives.
Mr Hopkin, Ms Batey and Mr Armitage were thanked for their attendance and information and then left the meeting.
4. Declaration of Interests – Cllr Matthew Lee declared a personal but not prejudicial interest in the planning application for Woodlands, Station Road, Singleton.
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
Email received from Andrew Stell, Development Manager, Fylde BC in regards to planning consultations with Parish and Town Councils. They would very much like to do this electronically in the future and are asking for the views of local councils. Although the Parish Council agrees with this in principle, it was agreed that with the present poor performance of the internet this would make the downloading of large planning applications extremely difficult. It was agreed to respond that until the internet provision in Singleton had improved substantially the Parish Council would prefer to continue to receive paper copies of planning applications.
• 17/0746 – Skippool Service Station, Mains Lane, Singleton FY6 7LJ – Redevelopment of existing petrol filling station to include single storey retail building and drive through restaurant etc. The Council has no specific observations to make and prefers to leave this to the planners to decide. However the Parish Council is anxious that a traffic management scheme is rigorously applied.
• 17/0773 – Woodlands, Lodge Lane, Singleton FY6 8LT – Substitution of house type to plot 1 of previously approved housing development. No specific observations to make.
• 17/0807 – The Croft, 117 Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LD – Erection of two storey dwelling with balconies to rear and detached double garage to side. No specific observations to make.
• 17/0845 – Woodlands, Station Road, Singleton, FY6 8LG – Two storey front and rear extensions. No specific observations to make.
• 17/0751 – Worsicks Farm, Weeton Road, Singleton FY6 8LL – Application to discharge details associated with conditions on planning permission 15/0672 – Noted.
• 17/0838 – Newbrook, Old Mains Lane, Singleton. Certificate of Lawfulness for proposed development of single storey side extension. Noted.
Planning decisions
• 17/0677 Woodlands, Lodge Lane, Singleton FY6 8LT. Advice issued on drainage issues. Noted.
• 17/0683 – Silver Ridge, Lodge Lane, Singleton FY6 8LT – Erection of detached dwelling with 1.8m high wall and gates. Permission granted.
7. Traffic and Highway Issues – Nothing to report at the moment
8. Police and PACT Report
Cllr Bailey had reported to the Police a car parked for some time in Lodge Lane lay-by. Initially he had telephoned 101 and Kirkham Police Station but could not get any response. Eventually he managed to contact a PCSO who responded within minutes and asked the person to move on.
Notification received that the Police are currently recruiting Special Constables across Lancashire.
Updated contact information for the Police and Crime stoppers circulated by the Community Safety Officer at Fylde BC. This has been circulated to all councillors.
9. Correspondence
• More information received about the forthcoming works on the Preston to Blackpool railway line, which will mean the closure of the train services from 11 November 2017 – 28 January from Preston to Blackpool South and 11 November 2017 – 25 March 2018 from Preston to Blackpool North. Buses will replace trains in this period. More information available on nationalrail.co.uk.
• Fylde BC is consulting about outdoor advertising in Fylde. Cllr Chew has completed the questionnaire asking that any unnecessary signs which do not concern the property involved be removed.
• Information received about proposals for new parliamentary boundaries. Singleton will remain in Fylde constituency.
10.
New Super SID – Progress report
This has been repaired and now has two batteries. Cllr Lee is liaising with Andy Pawson who returned the previous faulty SID. The Clerk will try and reclaim Andy Pawson’s expenses for doing this.
11.
Litter-picking
Unfortunately Cllr Gallagher has been out of the country and has not managed to speak with Steve Butcher. The Clerk would forward information on to Cllr Gallagher again and take this over if necessary. It was agreed to appoint Steve Butcher for 4 hours per week initially at £10 per hour. The question of insurance still has to be clarified. Mr Butcher currently works for 2 other parish councils so he may well be covered. The Parish Council is happy to make a contribution towards this if necessary.
12.
Feedback from Parish Liaison Meeting
Cllr Chew attended this and spoke with the Chief Inspector of Police about the lack of response on the 101 line, lack of police presence in the parish and the new 20mph speed limit in the village. It would appear that a number of vehicles have been stopped in recent weeks and the drivers spoken to.
13. Christmas Tree and Card
Cllr Gallagher has the transformers for the wrap-around lights but cannot locate the newer lights and the previous ones no longer work. The Clerk was asked to check with the Caretaker of the Village Hall to see if any lights were in the loft there. It was agreed to purchase new coloured lights if none can be found and the Chair will go to Koi Pol about a Christmas Tree. It was agreed that it was important to put up the Christmas Tree this year.
As regards the card, both Cllrs Lee and Smith had winter photographs and it was agreed to ask Dave Kay if he had any photos as well, as he is a keen photographer.
14. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
• T A Pawson, Mounting of SID – £30.00. Proposed Cllr Smith, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• T A Pawson, Expenses in relation to insurance and postage for returning faulty SID – £189.60 – Proposed Cllr Smith, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.
• John Chew – Reimbursement for planting out winter tubs – £240.00. Proposed Cllr Smith, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.
• Clerk, Salary and expenses for September/October – £285.56. Proposed Cllr Smith, Seconded Cllr Chew. Agreed.
15. Any Other Business
• Decision on the application for a playground grant has been put back till November.
• Incidence of fly-tipping reported on private land past the stables on the way to A585.
15 Date and Time of next meeting
The next meeting will take place on Thursday 16 November at 7.15pm.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 9.15pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455