Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 14 December 2017 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Smith (Chair), Lee (Vice Chair), Bailey, and Chew, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Bob Gallagher
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 16 November 2017, having been previously circulated, were agreed to be a true and correct record and were duly signed by the Chairman.
Matters arising
• The new SID still didn’t seem to be holding the details, which was the original problem. This will be followed up with Andy Pawson with a view to returning it again if necessary.
• The replacement of batteries and pads for the defibrillator is still on-going and it is hoped that these will be replaced very soon.
• The guttering of the old fire station still needs to be cleared by the owners, Electricity North West. The Clerk will follow this up.
3. Open Forum – None
4. Declaration of Interests – None
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
• 17/1009 Land between Hillcrest (174) and Normandy (178) Mains Lane, Singleton. Proposed detached house and gardens. The Parish Council has no specific observations to make.
• 17/0969 Woodlands, Lodge Lane, Singleton, FY6 *LT – Proposed substitution of house type to plot 8 previously approved housing development – The original approval had lapsed and this one was granted by Fylde BC on 16/11/2017.
Decisions
• 17/0845 – Woodlands, Station Road, Singleton, FY6 8LG – Two storey front and rear extensions – Granted
• 17/0807 The Croft, 117 Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LD – Erection of two storey dwelling with balconies to rear and detached double garage – Granted.
The planning approval recently granted for the use of the land to the side of Brook Cottage for kennels has been rescinded following a judicial review. The applicant has been instructed to remove the kennels and not to breed dogs commercially or start training the gun dogs commercially without reapplying for planning permission again.
6. Police Matters
A Crime Report for Singleton Parish had been received from PCSO Rebecca Didsbury showing that in November there had been 2 reports of Anti-Social behaviour and 2 recordings of violent crime. Also a suspicious white van/pickup truck had been seen in the area. The Police have been made aware of this.
7. Traffic and Highway Issues – None
8. Proposed new by-pass
The Parish Council had responded to the Planning Inspectorate saying that it was not convinced of the merits of the bypass and felt it would not improve the journey time from Fleetwood to the M55. The Parish Council also asked that people on the south side of Garstang Road and the Lodge Lane residents have impact measures taken and the land bridge area be returned to pasture land as well as providing effective screening of the by-pass. An acknowledgement had been received of these comments.
9. Correspondence
• Invitation received for the Chairman to attend the Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday 26 January 2018. The Clerk will forward this to the Chairman.
• Information received of the appointment of a new external auditor for 2017/18 financial year. The Annual Return will now be known as the “Annual Governance and Accountability Return”.
10.
Children’s Play Area
Cllr Chew reported that unfortunately the Parish Council had not been successful in its application for a grant towards new play equipment. Therefore the decision had to be made as to whether to proceed or not as the Parish Council would have to completely fund the improvements itself. This item would be put on the next agenda when consideration would be given to the annual Precept requirement.
11.
Litter-picker
Unfortunately Mr Butcher had been unable to start this job for the Parish Council until after Christmas. It was agreed that the Parish Council would pay his expenses to take the litter to the tip and pay for his petrol at 40p a mile.
12.
Christmas Tree, Lights, Newsletter and Card
Cllr Smith had purchased new lights and these were on display on a tree at the front of the bowling green. The newsletter and Christmas card had been distributed and would be delivered to residents over the next few days.
13. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
Notification received that Lancashire County Council would be paying the Parish Council £377 as a contribution for the grass cutting to Lodge Lane and Pool Foot Lane.
• Forsyth and Steele – Printing 420 Christmas Cards and 420 Newsletters – £246.40 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• T A Pawson – SID – £60.00 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• Clerk – Salary and expenses for November/December – £219.60. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• Cllr Smith – Reimbursement for Christmas tree lights – £119.97 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
The Clerk explained that the annual invoice for the website was due but that she was having difficulty in getting into the control panel of One.Com as she was not the person who originally set this up and was not recognised as “The Owner”. She had sent various emails to the company to get them to send invoices directly to her but they refused to do this for the same reason. Cllr Lee offered to help if there was continued difficulty and it may be necessary to change the website.
14. Any Other Business
Concern expressed about three cars repeatedly parking on the private Parish Council/Village Hall car park. This was despite the fact that they had already had been given letters advising them that this was in breach of the Parish Council’s insurance and Lease agreement. Other options were considered such as getting advice from a Solicitor or contacting a Clamping Company. It was stressed that this problem was caused by the same cars repeatedly parking and not by anyone leaving a car on the car park as a one-off after attending a function at the Village Hall. The various options would be discussed fully at the next parish council meeting.
15 Dates and Times of next 3 meetings
These were agreed as follows:-
7.15 pm on Thursdays – 25th January 2018, 22 February 2018 and 22 March 2018.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.15pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455