Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
On 8 August 2019 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Bailey (Vice Chair), Gallagher and Smith, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. Three members of the public also attended.
1. Apologies for Absence – None
1A Singleton Parish Council now Quorate
Confirmation received from the Head of Governance at Fylde Borough Council that a formal order had been agreed to appoint councillors Bailey and Smith to the Parish Council. The order was dated 1st August 2019 and takes effect immediately. This means that the Parish Council is now Quorate but a vacancy still exists. The Clerk was thanked for her work in this regard and the Parish Council is very grateful for the help and guidance from the Head of Governance at Fylde Borough Council.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting, having been previously circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman.
Matters Arising from previous meeting
The Clerk confirmed that she had now written formally to the agent for Singleton Trust asking for half of the annual charge of contracting a litter-picker. The annual charge, including litter bags, had been £1,757.00 and therefore the amount asked for from the Trust was £870.50.
3. Open Forum
Two members of the public had come along to declare an interest in joining the Parish Council. The position will need to be advertised and the Clerk will seek guidance from the Head of Governance at Fylde BC to see if the number of councillors needs to remain at 5 or could in fact be increased to 6.
4. Declaration of Interests – None
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
• 19/0442 – Huws Gray (Formerly PH Timber) Units 4 and 5 Shard Road Singleton FY6 9BU – Change of use of land and buildings from a timber yard to a builders’ merchant…. Whilst the Parish Council was pleased to see that the entrance to this yard had been moved away from the nearby houses, it remained concerned about the environmental safeguards and would ask planners to be mindful of the close proximity of the business to the houses that border the site.
• 19/0623 – Land between Hillcrest (174) and Normandy (178) Mains Lane, Singleton – Erection of two detached dwellings …. Whilst the Parish Council has no specific objections to the proposal, it would appear to be particularly congested and out of keeping with the semi-rural location.
• 19/0648 – Bankfield Farm, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton FY6 8LZ – Alterations and extensions including raising of roof across entire building footprint …. The Parish Council has no specific observations to make on the proposal but would like to point out that they understand that some of this work has already started.
Planning decisions
19/0465 – Land adjacent to Selcourt, Garstang Road, Singleton – Erection of four dwellings … Withdrawn by applicant.
6. Police Matters
The Clerk had emailed the Police about the unusually high amount of crime recorded in June, asking if this had been a mistake, but had received no reply.
According to the new figures received for July, 3 recordings of anti-social behaviour were recorded, 3 of criminal damage, 3 theft and handling and 1 auto crime. These crimes included 2 neighbour disputes, damage to property after a house party, 3 cases of making out without paying for fuel and 1 offence of breaking into a vehicle.
7. Traffic and Highway Issues
Lancashire County Council had circulated their Transport Asset Management Plan from 2015/16 to 2029/30 which sets out the key strategic priorities for Lancashire County Council as the highway authority. The plan included roads, footways, drainage, structures (bridges/retaining walls), street lighting, drainage and potholes. This email will be circulated amongst councillors.
8. Proposed new By-Pass
A resident had complained to the Clerk about reference being made to her property in previous Minutes in connection with Highways England. The particular Minute referred to a lot of mystery surrounding what Highways England were actually doing in regard to property and land in the area and the confusing information coming from them. The Parish Council’s interest was with Highways England intent and not in the individual properties and the Parish Council’s apologies would be conveyed to the owner.
The proposed by-pass is still going ahead and they plan to start in June 2020 subject to the necessary Government go-ahead. The Chairman has tried to get a meeting arranged with Mark Menzies MP, so far unsuccessfully, but will try again.
9. Update on SpID
The Officer concerned with Safe and Healthy Travel at LCC has contacted the Clerk and Chairman about the deployment of a SpID (Speed Indicator Device) sign at a new location on Lodge Lane. This Officer has been most helpful about different types of SpIDs and has forwarded a spread sheet showing the work currently being undertaken by his department on the pros and cons of different types of devices. This work is ongoing but it is hoped that they will eventually be able to advise on which the best one for Singleton’s needs is.
10.
Correspondence
• A thank you card received from the Chair of Singleton Gala, thanking the Parish Council for its donation of £100 towards the day. The Parish Council was pleased to see that the day had been successful and the weather good.
• Fylde Borough Council advising of a Public Consultation into their Draft Fylde Biodiversity and Healthy Living Supplementary Planning Document, which is available to view on their website.
• Information received from the Environment Agency on the proposed changes to Cuadrilla’s environmental permit for Preston New Road site whereby the firm was seeking permission to use `nitrogen lifting’ to help extract the gas. This had been circulated to councillors previously.
• Information received that the December meeting of the Parish Liaison Group would be changed from 4 December to Wednesday 11 December and will be at the Wrea Green Institute. Time to be confirmed.
11.
Co-opting a New member to the Parish Council
The vacancy would be advertised in accordance with Fylde BC’s guidelines and the Clerk would check if the number of councillors needed to remain as 5 or if it could be increased to 6.
12.
Councillors’ Roles
This item would be deferred until after the new member/s had joined the Parish Council.
In the meantime, the four sitting councillors all signed their Declaration of Acceptance of Office and would complete the Elected Members’ Disclosable Pecuniary Interests Form and return it to the Clerk for her to forward on to Fylde BC as soon as possible.
13. Miller Arms
Concern had been expressed recently about the future of the Miller Arms and the Chairman had looked into making an Asset Community Value (ACV) application so that the actual use of the building furthers the social wellbeing and social interests of the local community. A new tenant had very recently taken over and the public house would be opening again on 16 August. The Parish Council wished the new tenant well but was still concerned about the long-term future of the building. Cllr Gallagher proposed that the Chairman continue with the ACV, this was seconded by Cllr Smith and it was agreed that the application be submitted to Fylde BC.
14. Parish Plan
The Parish Council had produced a Parish Plan 9/10 years ago and had looked into producing a Neighbourhood Plan about 4 years ago. The purpose of these plans is to try and influence future developments and protect the parish as much as possible. Unfortunately work on the Neighbourhood Plan was stopped as it became evident that professional help from solicitors and planners would be needed to complete this work, which could escalate the costs to around £9,000. This was far too much for a Parish Council of this size to undertake. However, the Parish Plan could be produced in-house and we have the groundwork from the previous Plan to fall back on. It was agreed to revisit this Plan and Cllr Gallagher will see if the firm that produced the original one still has it on file.
15. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
The Company undertaking the official audit had contacted the Clerk with a couple of questions before completing the audit. They now have all the information needed to complete their work and will be in touch again in due course. The Clerk pointed out that once again Ray Cottam of Great Eccleston had undertaken the internal audit and the Parish Council wanted to record its thanks for Mr Cottam’s continued hard work in this regard.
• Mr Butcher – Litter-picking in June – £152.20. Proposed Cllr Smith, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.
• Mr Butcher – Litter-picking in July – £174.60. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Mr Pawson – Mounting of SpID – £60.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Smith. Agreed.
• Clerk – Salary and expenses for June/July – £172.60 Proposed Cllr Smith, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Great Eccleston Cricket Club – Thank you donation on behalf of Mr Cottam’s help with internal audit – £50.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
16. Any Other Business
• Fly tipping on Grange Road. Parish Councillors were very concerned at the recent increase in incidents of fly-tipping around the parish and in particular Grange Road. There was an incident recently of white goods being tipped on the road and the Police had to come along and move them to the roadside in order for vehicles to pass. Cllr Lee proposed that a camera be purchased, Cllr Bailey seconded this and it was Agreed. Cllr Gallagher will look into acquiring more of the appropriate notices to be displayed about the camera.
• Members had noted that the southerly lay-by on Mains Lane near to Shard Lane was looking very smart and well-kept and it has been brought to their attention that one of the local residents works hard to keep it looking so nice. The Parish Council would like to note its appreciation for this resident’s continued hard work.
• Members discussed the recent retirement from the Parish Council of Maxine Chew and would like to show their appreciation of all her hard work for the parish over the years. Mrs Chew has been a Parish Councillor for 20 years and a Borough Councillor for 16, and no one could question her hard work on behalf of the residents. Cllr Lee proposed that the Parish Council take both Mr and Mrs Chew out for a meal to Singleton Lodge. This was seconded by Cllr Gallagher and unanimously agreed.
17. Dates and Times of next meetings
It was agreed to return to having meetings on a Thursday at 7.15pm as near to the end of the month as possible. The next meetings for the rest of the year were therefore agreed as follows:-
29 August; 26 September (+Annual Parish Meeting); 24 October; 28 November and
19 December. As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.55pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson; Clerk to the Parish Council; Tel: 01995 670455