Singleton Parish Council

MINUTES FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING ON 4 OCTOBER 2022

SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PARISH COUNCIL HELD AT SINGLETON VILLAGE HALL ON 4 OCTOBER 2022

PRESENT – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Ibbotson (Vice-Chair), Bailey, Cholmondeley and Clifford and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. County Councillor Singleton also attended along with one member of the public.

1.Apologies for Absence – None.  
2.Police Matters – None. The Clerk will check on the Constabulary’s website before the next meeting.  
      3.Open Forum– None  
 Minutes of previous meeting and any Matters Arising   The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 23 August 2022, having been previously circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman.   Matters Arising   United Utilities has finished the works in the village following a burst. The Chairman had complained about the time the work had taken, with them stopping and taking a long time to come back to complete the work. Also, Lodge Lane had been closed without prior notice – the notice came through the day after it had been closed – causing much confusion amongst parents taking their children to school.Lodge Lane rubbish next to roadworks – this had been reported to Fylde BC but had not yet been removed.  The Clerk will chase up.The Richard Dumbreck’s Singleton Trust had agreed to support the extra hours worked by the litter-picker and also to contribute half of the costs of the annual hire of the large waste bin.  The Parish Council is very grateful to receive this support.Problems with overhanging trees on the Lodge Lane lay-by, which were causing the groundsman to have to go into the road to cut the grass, have been reported to Lancashire County Council.Following the intervention of Cllr Singleton, LCC had completed the works to remove the vegetation from the footway on Lodge Lane. This had been completed to an excellent standard and thanks were expressed to Cllr Singleton.A decision has been made by LCC Highways that there will be a permanent 40mph speed limit from Singleton traffic lights along Lodge Lane before returning back to the existing National Speed limit south of the new Lodge Lane bridge.  
5.Declarations of Interest – None  
6.  Planning Matters and Decisions   22/0654 – Woodland, Lodge Lane, FY6 8LT – Erection of detached triple garage etc.  The Parish Council has no specific observations.22/0717 – Barton, 7 Mains Lane, FY6 7LI – Single Storey rear extension. The Parish Council has no specific observations.22/0601 – Primrose Bank Caravan Park, Singleton Road, Weeton PR4 3JJ. Change of use of land for the siting of 23 static holiday caravans. This work had already started prior to planning consent but had been stopped. The Parish Council objects to the proposal because it is in contravention to Fylde BC’s planning rules regarding insertion next to existing sites in the rural countryside; the proximity of the site to the road and again the further strain put on infrastructure, doctors, dentists etc by the increasing number of holiday sites in the area.   Planning Decisions   Rosebank, 12 Mains Lane FY6 7LF – Single storey outbuilding – Granted The Great Hall at Mains – 6 Guest accommodation pods – Granted.  
7.Traffic and Highways Issues   Information received from LCC that average speed cameras are to be erected on the A588 and a total of £1.9m is to be spent from the Safer Roads Fund to improve safety from Lancaster’s Pointer roundabout to Skippool, together with measures to highlight the centreline and edge of the road.  
8.New By-Pass   A meeting between Kier and residents of Singleton Hall and Barnfield Manor took place on 7 September and Minutes had been circulated. The residents are being regularly updated. The work on the piling has been extremely noisy for neighbours and unfortunately is to continue as sheet piling has to be driven into the ground to strengthen banking.  Still complaints about the amount of dust and mud being deposited on adjacent properties.  
9.Correspondence   LCC – Parish and Town Council Conference – Saturday 12/11/2022 – Noted.Remembrance Sunday – 13 November. Times given for assembly at St. Annes and Lytham. Services are also going on at Kirkham, Freckleton, Staining and here in Singleton.
10.Update from Fylde Borough Council   Between 5 October and 7 October, Fylde BC will be having a Planning service Peer Challenge delivered by the Planning Advisory Service (PAS).  The PAS team will undertake a review of the planning service at Fylde in a “critical friend” role rather than an official inspection to identify how the service can improve.  
11.  Planters and Odd Jobs Required   The new Handyman had surveyed the 24 planting tubs in the parish.  He felt that many could be saved by being treated with wood preserver but that 8 definitely needed replacing.  It had previously been discussed to replace these with plastic wood imitation tubs for longevity, but it had been difficult to find the right size in plastic. The handyman would look into this.  His estimate for dealing with all 24 tubs, providing compost, wood preservative and planting up with pansies for winter and bulbs for the spring was £756.  His estimate for the work needed doing for the damaged sign at the entrance to the children’s play area was £225.  Cllr Lee proposed that these estimates be accepted, Cllr Ibbotson seconded this and it was Agreed.   The Clerk will contact Mick Smith as regards the welding work needed to the car park barriers.  
12.  Clerk’s Laptop   The Clerk reported that the Parish Council laptop had completely died just over a week ago and as it was over 10 years old it was decided that a new one should be purchased. The Clerk will look into this and update the councillors via email before proceeding to purchase one.  She would also contact an IT professional to try and retrieve the work on the laptop.  
13.Accounts and any Invoices to pay   Clerk – Salary and expenses for August/September – £297.79.  Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed.Litter-picker – Hours and mileage from 04/09/22 – 28/09/22 – £347.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Clifford. Agreed.  
14.Any Other Business   The Litter-picker had contacted the Clerk to ask if the Parish Council would consider a rise in pay as he had now completed 6 months. Cllr Lee suggested the hourly rate be raised from £10 to £11, and Cllr Cholmondeley suggested having a further review in April 2023. These suggestions were seconded by Cllr Clifford and Agreed.It was decided to add an item on Salary Review to the Annual Parish Council Agenda.An item re Christmas cards should be put on the next monthly Agenda.Councillors were asked to think of items to put on a `wish list’ to be considered at future meetings. These would be items which would enhance the parish.Another meeting would be taking place shortly with the Trust in regard to the Village Green.  
15.Date and Time of Next Meeting – Thursday, 10 November at 7.15pm.   As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 9.00pm.  

Signed ………………………………………………  Dated ………………………………

Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council,

Tel: 01995 670455: email: Clerk@SingletonParishCouncil.org