Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 22 March 2018 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Lee, and Chew, one member of the public and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. Unfortunately as the Parish Council was not quorate this evening, any decisions would have to be formally agreed later. Cllr Lee, Vice Chair, took on the role of Chair for this meeting.
1. Apologies were received from Cllrs Bailey (ill), Gallagher (another engagement) and Smith who unfortunately had last minute problems with childcare.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 22 February, having been previously circulated and agreed as a true and correct record, were signed by Cllr Lee. There were no matters arising.
3. Open Forum
Concern was expressed by a member of the public about the plans for the proposed by-pass. He felt certain that this would increase the flow of traffic through the village as Garstang New Road was to be closed off when the by-pass is built. This also meant that the petrol station at Singleton junction, which had only just reopened after major refurbishment, would be by-passed by the new road. Anyone wanting to use this petrol station would have to go through the village. He worried that the village would become a rat-run and had noticed a marked increase in traffic in recent years. He was also concerned about the junction at Thistleton which was not to be improved. This, he felt, was very dangerous as drivers had to nip out whenever there was a gap in the traffic and he could only see this getting worse.
Highways England had circulated their latest proposals and there would be a consultation period on these from 21 March to 8 May 2018. They would also be making a presentation to the public at the Village Hall on Friday 23 March from 2 – 8pm and again on Saturday 7 April from 10.00am – 4.00pm and members of the public were urged to attend to see exactly what the proposals were and to air any views or concerns. All details of their presentations and deposit locations of the plans had been put on the website and would also be placed on Facebook.
4. Declaration of Interests – Cllr Chew in regards to planning application 18/0144 and therefore took no part in any discussion concerning this.
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
As the Parish Council meeting was not quorate, all items would have to be referred to other members of the Council for agreement and confirmation.
• 18/0144 – Greenways, 77 Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LD – Detached bungalow with vehicle access and turning point – item to be referred to absent councillors for agreement.
• 18/0142 – 62 Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LP – Proposed Single Storey rear extension. No specific observations but to be confirmed with absent councillors.
• 18/0207 – Erection of Timber Lodge for holiday use and provision of two parking spaces following demolition of existing stable building. Land adjacent to Shard View, Shard Road, Singleton FY6 9BU – Leave for Planners to sort out as this land is prone to flooding.
• 18/0203 – Poolbrow Leisure Park, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton, FY6 8LY – Resubmission of Application 17/0891 for reconfiguration of ground levels on existing caravan site (part retrospective). Subject to confirmation by absent councillors, the Parish Council objects to the proposal following numerous complaints being received from residents. The objection is because the higher levels have caused overlooking to adjacent park homes on the next site and we have had complaints of a lack of surface water drainage. One resident has complained that he has difficulty accessing his home and is not able to take his refuse bins to the collection point because of the raised land levels.
• 18/0132 – The Croft, 117 Mains Lane, Singleton FY6 7LD – Application to discharge various conditions on planning permission 17/0807 – These have been complied with and the Parish Council has no specific observations.
6. Police Matters
Information received concerning changes to front counter service at Bispham and St Annes Police Stations. This is in addition to the earlier closures at Kirkham and Poulton-le-Fylde. The police stations themselves are not closing and details are on their website of where the nearest front counter is going to be. The Clerk will put this information on the website.
7. Traffic and Highway Issues
The Clerk had reported the pot hole on Lodge Lane to Lancashire County Council and Cty Cllr Paul Hayhurst, but this had not been attended to as yet.
Highways England had responded to the Parish Council’s complaint about traffic coming through the village, rather than use their diversion route during the works on the A585, by saying that they were aware that the diversion route is quite arduous but that the roads on the official diversion route must be of a similar standard to the road they were closing. However, if people are aware of shorter routes on more minor roads, unfortunately they could not stop them from using these. The roadworks are scheduled to continue until 10 April 2018.
8. Proposed New By-Pass
As reported earlier in these Minutes, Highways England is to hold public consultation exhibitions at Singleton Village Hall on Friday 23 March, Saturday 7 April, Wyre Civic Centre on Tuesday 10 April and at Fleetwood Nautical Campus on Wednesday 11 April. All details of these events have been put on the Parish Council’s website.
9. Correspondence
• Information received about a new Data Protection Regime which is to come into force by 25 May 2018. Noted.
• Blackpool North Rail line. The reopening has been put back by three weeks and is now to be 16 April. This has been due to the severe cold weather.
• County Councillor Paul Hayhurst’s presentation to the next District Parish Liaison Meeting (to take place on 18 April) has been circulated to all Parish and Town Councils. In this he explains the unfairness of the system in regard to parish election expenses and how this can be very hard on the smaller councils who have not enough council tax payers to share out the load fairly. Cllr Chew will support this on the Parish Council’s behalf at the next meeting.
• Sky Lanterns. Email received from Waste Enforcement and Environmental Protection Team at Fylde BC asking all parishes to discourage the use of Chinese style lanterns because of the fire risk. These are now banned on all Borough Council owned land and Fylde would like to see Parishes dissuade the use of them at events in their locality too. To be agreed.
• Singleton Gala Committee – Letter asking for support towards this year’s annual Gala. This was provisionally set at £100 – to be agreed. Cllr Chew will pass on details to the Secretary of the Gala Committee of the Arts Council and a possible avenue of funding for the Committee.
10.
Update on Super SID
This is currently back with the suppliers and is expected to be returned in the next week or two.
11.
Update on Children’s Play Area
The quotation for the play area from Playdale Playgrounds Limited of £5,997.03 plus VAT had previously been circulated and agreed (copies on file). It was pointed out that the initial playground cost the Parish Council £30,000 nearly 16 years ago and that it only has a limited life. Items need to be replaced from time to time as to replace the entire equipment when it was all worn out, would now be beyond the Parish Council’s finances. The Clerk was instructed to order the equipment and for it to hopefully be done by July 2018.
12.
Car Park
Still one car being left on the car park overnight at the moment. We need to keep a check on this.
13. Accounts and Invoices to Pay – To be agreed via email
• T A Pawson – SID – £30.00 – Proposed Cllr Lee – to be seconded and agreed.
• Singleton Village Hall – Rent for 6 months – £96.00 – to be proposed, seconded and agreed.
• Fylde Borough Council – Annual repayment on loan – £1,775.00 – Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Lee.
• Clerk’s Salary and expenses for February/March – £287.04 – Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Lee.
• Singleton Gala Committee – Donation £100 – Proposed Cllr Lee – to be seconded and agreed.
14. Any Other Business
• Cllr Chew would like this Parish Council to dissuade people from using plastics and instead to use compostable items or reusable items when catering at the village hall. She would like eventually to see Singleton being plastic free.
• Spring tubs – to be put on the next agenda.
• Cllr Chew commented that in the annual grant funding, Fylde Borough Council always spends the vast majority in the urban areas and the rural areas are discriminated against. On this year’s council tax bills all the major spending is going to Lytham and St. Annes with £300,000 going to Lytham Hall, another large amount of money going to Lowther Pavilion and match-funding going to Fairhaven Lake. She is going to bring this up at the next District Parish Liaison Meeting.
15 Dates and Times of next meeting
These were provisionally set at:-
Thursdays – 19 April at 7.15pm,
“ 31 May – Annual Parish Meeting 7.00pm – Monthly meeting 7.30pm
“ 28 June at 7.15pm.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.35pm.
Signed …………………………………………… Dated ………………………………………
Verena Henderson
Clerk to the Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455