Agenda and Minutes for Parish Council meeting on 17 December 2015

Agenda and Minutes for Parish Council meeting on 17 December 2015

Singleton Parish Council

A Meeting of the Parish Council will be held at the Village Hall, Singleton on Thursday 17 December 2015 at 7.15 pm.

Your presence is requested.
A G E N D A
1. Apologies for Absence

2. Declaration of Interests

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 26 November 2015 and any Matters Arising

4. Open Forum – The Council will open up the meeting for 15 minutes for any questions from residents.

5. Police Matters

6. Traffic Issues

7. Correspondence

8. Planning matters and decisions

9. Defibrillator/Dates for First Aid Course

10. Car Park

11. Annual Review of Risk Assessment

12. Condition of Station Road

13. Lack of Progress on Internet Speed

14. Accounts and any Cheques to Pay

15. Any Other Business

16. Date and Time of Next Meetings for the next quarter

Verena Henderson
Clerk to Singleton Parish Council – Tel: 01995 670455

Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 17 December 2015 at 7.15 pm

Present: – Cllrs Bailey (Chair), Gallagher (Vice Chair), Chew and Lee, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies – Cllr Smith

2. Declaration of Interests – None

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 26 November, having been previously circulated, were proposed by Cllr Chew, seconded by Cllr Gallagher, and signed as a true and correct record by the Vice-Chairman. The Chairman wished to record his thanks for the work done by Cllr Chew in getting the newsletter compiled and delivered.

There were no matters arising.

4. Open Forum – None

5. Police and PACT Report – None

Unfortunately no Police Report had arrived for this month. The last report received was dated 1st October 2015. The Clerk had followed this up with PC Andy Hill who said that a report had been sent out to all Parish Councils, but nothing had been received to date. A couple of “In The Know” Alerts had been received, but the only information contained of any significance related to the floods in St. Michael’s-on-Wyre and the subsequent road closures.

6. Traffic Issues

Cllr Chew had had quite a long meeting with a gentleman named Lee who is a Route Steward for Highways England responsible for the current work taking place on the A585. They were having quite a problem with cleaning out the gullies on Mains Lane and estimate that it is about 5 years since this work was last done. They accordingly contacted Fylde BC to arrange for the road to be swept only to be told that Fylde could not sweep the road because the Police stopped them from doing so last time. Cllr Chew has spoken about this problem with County Councillor Paul Hayhurst who advised her that this was nothing to do with the County Council. This problem was between Highways England and Fylde BC and covers the A585 from Junction 3 of the M55 right through to the River Wyre with Fylde BC saying they cannot do anything without the permission of the Police. One can only hope that Highways England and Fylde BC can solve this problem as soon as possible.

There is also a problem with the gully opposite Honeypot Lane and the gully near to the Fire Station. Cllr Chew would report these.
7. Correspondence

• Information received from Fylde Borough Council regarding draft recommendations for an electoral review of Lancashire. The consultation period would end on 11 January 2016. There are no proposed changes to our constituency of Fylde West.
• Withdrawal of Subsidies for Local Bus Services. An email received from Andrew Varley of LCC explaining the shortfall in their budget and the problems they were facing. Last month, Town and Parish Councils had been asked to consider running their own bus services with help from the County Council. Cllr Chew had attended a meeting arranged by County Councillor Paul Hayhurst with other Town and Parish Councils to discuss this. She had stated that the Parish Council considered this to be a massive undertaking for any community group and did not want to be part of a voluntary scheme. Many of the smaller councils felt the same. However, the Parish Council would be prepared to consider giving a grant to a larger council if they wanted to pursue this option. County Councillor Paul Hayhurst is to have a meeting in January with John Fillis, the relevant Portfolio Holder at the County Council and will report back.
• Council Tax-Setting for 2016/17. Information received late afternoon on the day of the parish meeting concerning the Parish Council’s precept for 2016/17. This would be put on the Agenda for the January meeting.

8. Planning Matters and Decisions

15/0851 – Land South of Lodge Lane, Singleton – Erection of Stable Block and formation of Manege including installation of four floodlights …. The Parish Council has no problem with this being granted for private use but feels that the size indicates it may be for business use. The Parish Council also has concerns about the proposed flood lights, the light pollution they will cause and the damage they may have on the habitats of nocturnal wildlife in the area.

9.
Defibrillator/Dates for the First Aid Course

The Chairman wished to record his thanks to Cllr Gallagher for all the work he had done in regards to the defibrillator and most recently for putting a sleeve onto the electricity cable. The defibrillator is checked once a week to make sure it is in good working order, in accordance with the regulations. We now have 20+ names for the first aid course and the Chairman will contact the people at the Red Cross to see when they can do the training in January. It was suggested that a Thursday evening would be most suitable as the hall was in use until 7.00pm and the course could start after that. Once a date has been arranged, the Clerk would contact the names on her list.

Cllr Gallagher will look into getting a key-safe for the defibrillator.

10.
Car Park

After having arranged for another contractor to level the stone, the original contractor turned up and did the work before the new man could get there. Cllr Chew had apologised to the new contractor for his inconvenience. However, the work was good and the car park is looking much better.

11.
Annual Review of Risk Assessment
Just one amendment to make in this year’s Risk Assessment and that is the addition of the defibrillator and the fact that the Parish Council has increased its insurance cover in relation to it. The Clerk would also add that weekly inspections are being carried out in line with the procedures laid down.
12. Condition of Station Road

Another accident on Station Road has occurred and the Parish Council has received numerous complaints about the condition of it from concerned residents. Although red marking had been put on it some weeks ago, no work had yet taken place and the surface is deteriorating even more. The parish boundary on Station Road goes to the main dyke. The Clerk was asked to write to Lancashire County Council, with a copy to County Councillor Paul Hayhurst, to request urgent action.

13. Lack of Progress on Internet Speed

This item had been requested because Cllr Smith is still experiencing problems with his internet connection. As other councillors felt the internet speed, whilst not perfect, was considerably better than it used to be, it was agreed to defer this item to the next meeting when Cllr Smith could explain the problems he is experiencing to the meeting.

14. Accounts and Cheques to Pay

• The cheque signed at the last meeting for the replacement contractor for the car park was deemed void.
• Skipton Finance Limited for Forsyth & Steele – Christmas cards – £210.00 – Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• A J Scott (Haulage) – New Stone for car park and levelling – £1,470.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.
• Clerk’s Salary plus expenses of £117.96 for November/December 2015 – £302.96. Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Gallagher – Agreed.
• Cllr Chew – Reimbursement for Newsletter – £31.08. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher – Agreed.
• T. A. Pawson – SPID – £60. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
15. Any Other Business

• Cllr Lee advised the meeting that he had recently been elected as Parent Governor of the Primary School.
• Fylde BC is to go to court again in January to start eviction proceedings against the travellers’ site. They are concerned that numbers of caravans are swelling again with new ones arriving every day and now total around 60.

16. Date and Time of next meetings

The next meetings will take place on 28 January 2016, 25 February, and 17 March – all 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