The next scheduled meeting will take place at Singleton Village Hall on MONDAY, 24 March 2025 at 7.15pm. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
The Agenda and draft Minutes from the previous meetings will be published approximately one week beforehand.
Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council: Email: Clerk@SingletonParishCouncil.org or Tel: 07530 605 291
Singleton Parish Council
SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL
A meeting of the Parish Council will be held at
The Village Hall, Singleton on 24 March 2025 at 7.15pm
Your presence is requested
A G E N D A
| 1. | Apologies for Absence |
| 2. | Open Forum – The Council will open the meeting for 15 minutes for any questions from the public – |
| 3. | Minutes of previous meeting held on 20/02/2025 and any matters arising- |
| 4. | Police Matters |
| 5. | Declarations of Interest |
| 6. | Planning matters and decisions – 25/0097 18 Mains Lane, FY6 7LF – erection of front boundary wall and gateposts up to 2.1 metres 25/0068 Lever Lea, 112 Mains Lane FY6 7LD- Application for approval of reserved matters of access, appearance, landscaping etc. |
| 7. | Traffic and Highways Issues – Blue badge parking at the Church |
| 8. | New Bypass By-pass finishing off list |
| 9. | Update from Fylde Borough Council |
| 10. | Village Green update |
| 11. | Correspondence |
| 12. | Electric Vehicle Chargers in the Parish |
| 13. | Storage facilities for the Parish Council |
| 14. | Accounts and any invoices to pay – |
| 15. | Any Other Business – |
| 16. | Date and Time of Next Meeting/s |
Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council:
Email: Clerk@SingletonParishCouncil.org: Tel: 07530 605 291
DRAFT MINUTES
SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council
Held at Singleton Village Hall 20 February 2025
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Cllr Cholmondeley (Vice-Chair), Carruthers and Clifford and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. Andrew Stell, Planning Development Manager at Fylde Borough Council also attended.
| 1. | Apologies for Absence were received and accepted from Cllr Bailey and County Cllr Singleton. |
| 2. | Planning Development Manager Andrew Stell from Fylde Borough Council was welcomed to the meeting by the Chairman. Mr Stell had kindly offered to outline the planning procedures and statutory regulations which had to be adhered to when determining planning applications. This would help the Parish Council when considering the various planning applications it had been asked to comment on. Mr Stell leads a team of twelve officers in the Planning Department, including 6 planning officers, admin officers and enforcement officers. On average the Borough Council has 1,000 applications to consider each year. For these they seek views from the community and the relevant parish councils. This is a statutory requirement, and they must adhere to a legal framework. A report is written by the Planning Officer for each application to explain why they have come to a particular view. The Government asks that each application is dealt with within eight weeks. The applicant or developer is not taken into consideration – just what is proposed. The decision is based on the policies of the Fylde Local Plan, which designates areas across the borough that are suitable for various forms of development. The current Local Plan extends to 2032, but the council’s Planning Policy Team are to start work shortly on the new Local Plan to keep policies up to date and decide locations where new development is appropriate and the nature of that development. This work is important as it will ensure that the council continues to deliver the housing targets it is set by Government, as is currently the case, and so decides where development should be located rather than having that imposed following planning appeals. Still a lot of uncertainty about re-organisation and things may become clearer after an announcement by the Government in November 2025. Mr Stell then went through various applications and answered questions regarding them. If the Parish Council had any reservations about a particular aspect of a plan, the Planners would try and resolve this issue before granting permission. Mr Stell was then thanked by the Chairman for giving up his time to assist the Parish Council in this way and he duly left the meeting. |
| 3. | Open Forum – None. |
| 4. | Minutes of previous meeting held on 21 January 2025 and any matters arising The Minutes of the previous meeting, having been already agreed, were signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman. Matters arising Asset of Community Value – The Miller Arms. Cllr Lee will propose a Motion at the next full Council meeting at Fylde BC to reinstate what is considered to be a valuable protection. Lodge Lane Lay-by. The rubbish has been cleared but the bollard has not been replaced. Cllr Clifford wondered if a large stone or rock could be placed there in the interim. ID Badges – Cllr Lee will check with Fylde BC to have these produced for councillors wishing to visit planning applicants on the Parish Council’s behalf. Faulty SpID – Unfortunately it was removed for examination, when it was found to be irreparable. A new one will need to be purchased. Cllr Lee will look into this. Resuscitation Training. The first session, which took place on Tuesday evening 18 February, had been excellent and well received. Rather disappointing turnout, however, as only 12 attended. Cllr Clifford will promote it again on Singleton Chat and the Clerk will put another item on the Website for the next session which is scheduled for Thursday 27 February at 2.00pm. Posters are on all noticeboards. |
| 5. | Police Matters The number of crimes reported during December 2024 for the parishes of Elswick, Little Eccleston, Singleton and Greenhalgh were as follows: – Violence and sexual offences – 13; Vehicle crime – 12; Anti-social behaviour – 11; Other crimes – 5. Notification received from the Police that a large quantity of illegal vapes were seized with an estimated value of £7,500 from a vape shop in Wyre. |
| 6. | Declarations of Interest – None |
| 7. | Planning matters and decisions 25/0033 Land at North Lodge, FY6 8LT for permission to erect two dwellings. Objection lodged. 25/0019 Manor Barn, Mains Hall. Alterations to dwelling. Mains Hall is a listed building, and the Parish Council had concerns about the front timber windows on the barn being replaced by Aluminium ones. 25/0017 – Lever Lea, 112 Mains Lane FY6 7LD – Erection of two storey side extension, two storey rear extension, detached garage and new vehicle access. No specific observations. Appeal lodged for Land adjacent to Greenways, Mains Lane, FY6 7LD for permission in principle for erection of up to two dwellings. This application had been refused by Fylde BC and the appeal will be determined by the Secretary of State. All documents will be forwarded to the Secretary of State by Fylde BC. No further comment from the Parish Council. Still concern voiced about the trees taken down, fencing removed and an embankment destroyed in front of a house at Windy Harbour. This work had been stopped by Fylde BC. Nothing has been put back or improved and more trees are now being taken out in another part of Windy Harbour Lane. The Clerk was asked to check what the current position is with Fylde BC. |
| 8. | Traffic and Highways issues County Councillor Singleton had submitted his monthly report to update members on the progress of previously reported problems. Unfortunately, the state of the footpaths is still not receiving the attention it needs, although it has been added to a future programme to cut back the vegetation that is encroaching on the footways, but this will be no earlier than April. Complaints are mounting about parents with prams having to walk in the road and this is happening on Mile Road now too. Councillors were very frustrated as they have been reporting these problems for so long. Cllr Clifford felt that the whole parish had deteriorated markedly in the last two years. The Clerk was asked to enquire from Fylde BC what the procedure would be if we decided to do our own street cleaning and verge maintenance and claim back the money they put aside from our precept to pay for a lengthsman. Potholes on Church Road. The Clerk had reported this to Lancashire County Council on their Love Clean Streets app. A report number had been given and Cty Cllr Singleton will monitor this. Blocked drains on Garstang Road East from the Shell Garage to the traffic lights on the new by-pass. The Clerk will ask Fylde BC to sweep this area. |
| 9. | New By-Pass More graffiti has appeared – this time on the brick wall by the new by-pass. Cllr Carruthers will report this and request that it be removed. |
| 10. | Update from Fylde Borough Council The main item relates to local government reorganisation. Many do not want this, but it is going to happen. Still unknown as to what form this will take. One of the good things however already to happen from devolution is that funding will now be allocated directly to Lancashire. Previously, bids for funding for education, roads, infrastructure etc were made to the Government, competing with all the rest of the country. Now any bids will be made to Lancashire. |
| 11. | Village Green Cllr Lee showed the meeting draft plans for the Village Green, which will now go for costing. It showed one entrance from the fire station and another one from the Miller Arms. It included a pond and seating areas. NW Electricity had agreed to have the bushes behind the fire station taken out, whilst leaving the existing trees as they currently are. NW Electricity (who are now the owners of the fire station) will be doing much-needed remedial work on the fire station shortly and have hinted that they may be able to offer support for the village green venture. |
| 12. | Correspondence A Freedom of Information Request has been received asking questions about the lights on the car park which were not working on Tuesday evening. The Clerk had become aware of the lights not working on Tuesday evening and had put in a request for them to be checked and repaired. The FOI request had been acknowledged, and a fuller response would be sent to the gentleman. Fylde BC Trade Waste Service. Information received that the annual charges for 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026 would be invoiced shortly. District Parish Liaison Meeting – Next meeting will be on Wednesday 26 February at Fylde BC Website provider – After many months the change of ownership of the domain of the Parish Council’s website had been completed and all correspondence and invoices will in future be sent directly to the Clerk. This had previously been sent to a former councillor. National Living Wage – The new rates for the National Living Wage will come into force from 1 April 2025. In view of these new rates, it was proposed by Cllr Lee that the rate for the litter-picker be raised to £13.00 per hour. This was seconded by Cllr Cholmondeley and Agreed. Children’s Play Area – The annual contract for Fylde BC to regularly inspect and maintain the equipment on the children’s play area to ensure continued safety was signed by the Chairman. The cost of this, which is taken directly from the Parish Council’s annual precept, will be £4,745.93 for the 2025/26 period. Play Equipment report. The findings from the report showed a Low Risk. The basket swing needed attention to the surface, and a play panel had fallen over. Fylde BC will attend to these items. The Parish Council was asked to have the picnic bench secured to the land and the Clerk will ask the Handyman to do this. Invitation from LCC to take part in the VE Day service at Blackburn Cathedral. Cllr Lee would like to attend this. |
| 13. | Electric Vehicle Chargers in the Parish The representatives of the Trust had responded that the cost of legal fees to cover any easements in the lease held by the Parish Council for the car park would be in the region of £1,750.00 plus VAT. The Clerk was asked to write to the broker who had originally contacted the Parish Council about having electric vehicle chargers installed saying that these costs should be met by the operator. |
| 14. | Storage Facilities for the Parish Council – Deferred until next meeting |
| 15. | Accounts and Any Invoices to pay First Cut Grounds Maintenance – £517.68. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed. PDQ – Moving SpID and transporting damaged SpID – £126.00. Proposed Cllr Cholmondeley, Seconded Cllr Carruthers. Agreed. Litter-picker – 4 weeks. £127.00 – Proposed Cllr Clifford, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed. Clerk – Salary and Expenses for Jan/Feb 2025 – £521.37. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed. |
| 16. | Any Other Business The Parish Council had tried once before to have another defibrillator sited in Little Singleton without success. It was decided to approach the Shell Garage to see if they would be willing to house it. Cllr Clifford will approach them. The Parish Council is still dissatisfied with the untidy mess on the by-pass and there are strong feelings that this should be sorted out before it is handed over by Kier. Cllr Carruthers would like to be included in a future meeting with Cllr Bailey and Kier. |
| 17. | Date and time of next meeting – Monday 24 March 2025 at 7.15pm at the Village Hall. As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 10.15pm. |
Signed ……………………………………………… Dated ………………………………
Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council,
Tel: 07530 605 291: email: Clerk@SingletonParishCouncil.org