Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 16 November 2017 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Vice Chair), Bailey, Chew and Gallagher, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. One member of the public also attended for part of the meeting.
1. Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Smith.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 27 October 2017, having been previously circulated, were agreed as a true and correct record and duly signed by the Vice-Chair.
Matters arising from previous minutes
Cllr Chew has been asked to do a presentation in regards to the Parish Council’s grant application for funding to help improve the children’s play area. This will take place next week.
3. Open Forum
Concern was expressed about Pool Brow Caravan site and the fact that the owners have been raising the land. Enforcement officers at Fylde BC have been involved and have visited the site. Concern expressed about land drainage and whether this is in place or not and the worry that it may cause flooding to neighbouring properties. There is also the issue where a couple of the caravans have now been placed where they are overlooking properties on Pool Foot Lane. The resident was advised to write to the Planning Officer at Fylde BC and write down their concerns in the form of bullet points.
4. Declaration of Interests – Cllr Lee declared a personal interest in regards to planning application 17/0909 – Shard Bridge Farm – and took no part in that discussion.
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
• 17/0891 – Poolbrow Leisure Park, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton – Retrospective application for reconfiguration of ground levels. The Parish Council questions the need for raising the land and would like to see evidence that the land drains have been put in so that it doesn’t cause surface water to run off onto neighbours’ properties lower down the lane.
• 17/0891 – Poolbrow Leisure Park – Retrospective application for re-siting of 3 no caravans. The Parish Council would not like to see the caravans placed in such a way that they overlooked neighbours.
• 17/0909 – Shard Bridge Farm, Shard Road, Singleton FY6 7BU – Certificate of lawfulness for proposed use of the property to provide a home for up to 3 children/young persons aged 8 – 18 years with 24hr care provided by not more than 3 carers on a shift basis. The Parish Council is concerned about the remote position of this farm house and would not like the children to suffer from the isolation.
• 17/0746 – Improvements to Skippool Service Station. Message received from Planning Officer that due to the proposed by-pass, the applicant and the highway engineers are to meet to discuss possible changes. No decision on the application will be made until all issues are satisfactorily resolved.
Appeals
16/1006 – Land adjacent to 195 Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LB – Outline application for up to 9 dwellings – Allowed.
6. Police Matters – None
7. Traffic and Highway Issues
Still some concerns about the new SPID and that it doesn’t appear to be keeping the data. Cllr Lee will discuss this further with Andy Pawson when Mr Pawson returns from holiday and report back.
8. Proposed new by-pass
Email received from Emma Cottam, EIA and Land Rights Advisor for the Planning Inspectorate. They have produced a Scoping Report – a document of 260 pages – which is being sent to all consultees. The Parish Council has been asked to respond to this by 14 December 2017. Much discussion took place about this and the fact that the document had been far too big for some to download. Also reports had appeared in the Gazette of many plans for Fleetwood such as a gas powered electricity station and the British Ports development at Wyre Dock, which had been stalled waiting for this new road to be built. The Parish Council decided to respond as follows:-
• The Parish Council is not convinced of the merits of the by-pass and does not feel that it will answer the current problems and will not improve the journey time from the M55 to Fleetwood.
• Rate of travelling will only be as good as the slowest points on that road and there are still going to be two pinch points – Skippool Junction and Thistleton – where no improvements are planned.
• People on the south side of Garstang Road and the Lodge Lane residents must have impact measures taken and the land bridge area be returned to pasture land as well as providing effective screening of the by-pass. This is essential to help mitigate the impact on people’s lives.
9. Correspondence
• Minutes received of the District Parish Liaison meeting, which took place on 18 October 2017. Cllr Chew attended this on behalf of the Parish Council. The Minutes will be placed on file. The next meeting will take place on 24 January 2018 at 6.30pm at Ribby with Wrea Parish Council.
• Information received from Alan Wallbank, Tree and Landscape Officer at Fylde BC. In the light of the possible new bypass coming, he has made a tree preservation order to ensure protection for Carr Wood.
• Notification that Stage 3 of the Hearings of the Fylde Local Plan to 2032 is to be held at the Dalmeny Hotel, St Anne’s on 12 December 2017 commencing at 10am. Further information will be posted on Fylde BC’s website.
• A comprehensive playground inspection report received which gave an overall risk assessment of 5 – Very Low Risk. Some minor problems had been sorted, such as replacing missing nut covers, repainting items where needed etc and it was reported that the picnic benches needed to be secured following the recent ground works. There will be a price rise of £85.68 in the Parish Play Charges for 2018/19 which will bring the total payable to £2,465.68. It was generally felt that these frequent inspections were essential in keeping the play equipment safe and were necessary in regards to the Parish Council’s insurance policy. This increase would have to be borne in mind when deciding the precept for 2018/19.
10.
Defibrillator Batteries and Pads
Duggie Goth, who inspects the defibrillator every week, reported that the batteries and pads needed to be changed. Cllr Bailey had telephoned the Red Cross who were very helpful and gave advice on what to do. They were also very willing to come out and hold a course for the Bowling Club. New batteries would cost £63.24 + VAT and the new pads would be £60.00 plus VAT. Cllr Chew proposed that these be purchased, Cllr Lee seconded this and this was agreed.
11.
Roadside weed-killing
This item had come up at the Parish and Town Councils’ Liaison Meeting when the appropriate officers advised that this had been done throughout the Borough. Cllr Chew then offered to accompany them to show how bad it still was in parts of the parish and the officers did indeed accompany Cllr Chew. Fylde then advised Cllr Chew that these areas were the responsibility of Highways England and Lancashire County Council but she has since responded that they are definitely the responsibility of the local authority. The argument goes on!
12.
Litter-picking
The Clerk had spoken with Steve Butcher who was keen to litter-pick on the Parish Council’s behalf. He already does this for 2 other parish councils. The Clerk had then checked with the Insurance Company in regards to this role being carried out by a sub-contractor and if the Parish Council agrees to accept responsibility for his duties, he will be insured automatically as a volunteer.
Cllr Gallagher proposed that Mr Butcher be asked to carry out litter-picking in the parish as a paid volunteer at £10.00 per hour for 4 hours per week, plus reimbursements of expenses. This was seconded by Cllr Bailey and Agreed.
13. Christmas Tree, card and lights
The Clerk would follow up with Cllr Smith about the Christmas tree which he was contacting Koi Pol about. As the Christmas tree lights could not be found, despite a thorough search of the village hall loft by the caretaker, it was agreed that Cllr Smith should be asked to look for outdoor lights at the Koi Pol as well.
Dave Kay had sent in 4 photographs and it was agreed that the one of the Fire Station would be used for the Christmas card.
14. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
• T A Pawson – SPID – £60.00 Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Clerk’s Salary and Expenses for October/November – £228.60. Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.
CA Traffic had agreed to repay Mr Pawson’s expenses from his work regarding the faulty SID and a cheque was awaited.
15. Any Other Business
• The Clerk was asked to contact Electricity North West asking them to clean out the guttering of the substation at the old fire station, which had become very overgrown in recent weeks.
16 Date and Time of next meeting
The next meeting will take place on Thursday 14 December at 7.15pm.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.30pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455