Next meeting with Agenda

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 27 May 2025 and any matters arising-

4.

Police Matters

5.

Declarations of Interest

6.

Planning matters and decisions –

23/0333 The Croft, 117 Mains Lane FY6 7LD – Single storey rear extension

24/0045 Appeal against refusal – Land southwest of Weeton Road (opposite Miller Arms)

7.

Traffic and Highways Issues

Update on request for general clean-up of by-pass and surrounding areas

Update on request for disabled parking at the Church

8.

New Bypass

Update on finishing list

9.

Update from Fylde Borough Council

10.

Village Green update

11.

Correspondence

12.

Storage Facilities for the Parish Council

13.

Accounts and any invoices to pay –

14.

Any Other Business –

15.

Date and Time of Next Meeting/s

1.

Apologies for Absence – Cllr Clifford.

2.

Open Forum – None

3

Minutes of previous meeting held on 24 April 2025 and any matters arising

The Minutes of the previous meeting, having already been circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct copy by Cllr Bailey.

Matters arising :-

·       Car park lights – These had been promised to be attended to shortly after the last meeting.  They still do not appear to have been repaired.  The Clerk will chase this up again.

·       Cllr Carruthers will visit a local business and see if they would be agreeable to house another defibrillator to serve Little Singleton.  The Clerk had received an offer for a defibrillator at a price of £599.  This comes with an eight-year warranty.

·       Proposal for electric vehicle chargers in the car park.  The Clerk had completed and returned the Initial Enquiry Form in April 2025 but was still awaiting further contact with the facilitator.

·       Community Payback projects.  Still nothing heard from the organiser of this organisation.  A request had been made in April for a clean-up of the now closed section of Garstang Road East.  Several complaints received of litter and dog bags on this section of road.  The Clerk will try again.

·       Nothing has happened yet regarding verge cutting and sweeping along Garstang Road from the Shell Garage to the traffic lights on the new by-pass.  The Clerk will request this again.  Cllr Carruthers reported that pedestrians are having to walk in the road again.

·       Parking for disabled visitors to the Church.  The Highways Disabled Parking Bay Scheme does not extend to providing marked bays on the highway for visitors to premises, including a church.  The Clerk had enquired if the Parochial Church Council (PCC) would consider putting a sign on their boundary wall requesting an area to be reserved for Disabled Drivers.  Unfortunately, the PCC responded that in the light of LCC’s stance and given their inability to police or enforce such a request, they had decided not to proceed with the signage suggested.  The Parish Council was very disappointed with this response.

4.

Police Matters

The reported crimes for the 4 parishes of Elswick, Little Eccleston, Singleton and Greenhalgh for March 2025 were as follows: –

Anti-social behaviour – 13; Violence and sexual offences – 9;

Criminal damage and arson – 4; Drugs – 3.

5.

Declarations of Interest – None

6.

Planning matters and decisions

No new planning applications to consider this evening.

Decisions

25/0203 – 8 Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LF – Use of existing detached garage as a residential annex … Granted

25/0262 – Land to the East of Weeton Road and West of Stanley Villa Farm, Weeton PR4 3NJ. Prior Approval not required for formation of hard surfaced agricultural track.

25/0184 – Bankfield Lodge, Pool Foot Lane, Singleton FY6 8NA – Alterations and extensions to dwelling. Granted.

7.

Traffic and Highways issues

County Councillor Singleton was congratulated by the Chairman on being elected to serve as the Borough Councillor for Singleton once again and was thanked for all his hard work for the parish.

Cllr Singleton submitted his monthly report giving updates on the many things he has been following up for the Parish Council.  Details as follows: –

·       Station Road – This will be a much bigger job than originally anticipated to remove the metal plates on the carriageway under the bridge due to the size and alignment of the chamber underneath the road.  Network Rail are to chase up the project to obtain an update on likely dates for the work, but it will necessitate a road closure.

·       White lining on Mile Road has been completed.

·       Church Road has been added to the surface dressing list.

·       Report all highway issues via Love Clean Streets App. Any member of the public can do this. If no reports are received, the Lancashire Highway team considers the highways in Singleton parish are good.

·       A new general enquiry system will shortly be made to available to residents by LCC.

·       Higher fines for those found guilty of fly-tipping are being brought forward

The Clerk will request the boundary and Singleton signs to be replaced now that the roadworks have been completed on Mains Lane. These signs are also for Shard Road and had been held back by Fylde BC until the roadworks had been completed.

Missing bollard on Lodge Lane Lay-By.  The Clerk will chase this up with LCC.

8.

New By-Pass 

Cllr Singleton congratulated Cllr Carruthers on his extensive list of finishing works still needed on and around the new by-pass.  Some matters had been resolved as much as they are going to be sorted but many were still outstanding.  Cllr Carruthers will forward the revised list to Cllr Singleton of the items still needing attention.  It would be extremely useful to have a list of contact details of who is responsible for what, i.e. National Highways, LCC, Fylde BC.  Kier should sort out any problems on behalf of National Highways during the 5-year period.

It was considered that a good job had been done of restoring the compound.

The Clerk will request that Fylde BC does a road sweep at the end of Lodge Lane and at Poulton Junction on the new by-pass.  There is a lot of gravel on the by-pass particularly, which is causing problems to motorists crossing the by-pass from Singleton towards Poulton-le-Fylde and is dangerous for motorcycle users.

9.

Update from Fylde Borough Council

Cllr Lee reported that there had been a problem with the renewal of the Asset of Community Value in regard to the Miller Arms.  Confusion had arisen as Cllr Lee had been advised that this could only be requested by the Borough Council when in fact it could only be done by the relevant Parish Council as he had tried to do in the first instance.  This process would need to be started again, and the Clerk will contact the relevant officer at Fylde BC.

A lot of work is taking place on the new local plan.

There is a new Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner who is continuing the work Andy Pratt had been doing and she has been having various meetings with people.  She comes with a lot of experience.

The Clerk had attended a Fylde Area Committee Meeting at Kirkham where the Chief Executive of Fylde BC gave a summary on the proposed Local Government Reorganisation 2028 for the 15 authorities in Lancashire – 12 districts, LCC, Blackpool and Blackburn.  Still no decisions made yet as to how Lancashire will be divided up and which districts will be merged with others, but the Government is pressing for a decision by November 2025.  There will be an interim period before the final vesting day of 01/04/2028.  Town and Parish Councils will remain in place and will have an important role to play in representing their own local areas.

10.

Village Green

All approved so far on Fylde BC’s side.  One problem is that the Trust wants the land to be leased to the Parish Council, but Fylde is not in agreement with this.  The Trust wants clarification from the Charity Commission in this regard and they need to check this out before transfer.

As regards the funding needed for the Parish Council’s share of this project, Cllr Lee proposed that a top figure of £30,000 be earmarked from the Parish Council’s reserves. This was seconded by Cllr Cholmondeley and Agreed.  The Clerk had pointed out that this would dramatically reduce the amount of money the Parish Council had in the bank and maintenance of the village green would be costly in the future.  All this would have to be considered seriously when deciding on the level of precept in future years so that the reserves could be maintained at a healthy level.

11.

Correspondence

Email received from the Gala Committee to advise that this year’s Gala would take place on Sunday 15 June.  Cllr Lee proposed that the Parish Council grants the Gala Committee £300 to help with financing this community day, this was seconded by Cllr Carruthers and Agreed.

Thank you letter, received from the North West Ambulance Charity regarding the Parish Council’s donation of £100 in recognition of the work done by their representative on two sessions of training on the new defibrillator recently carried out at the village hall.

12.

Storage Facilities for the Parish Council

Storage facilities for the Parish Council records are needed in the future and the Gala Committee would like to use these facilities too.

This was brought up at the last meeting and Cllr Cholmondeley reported that he had been offered a timber cabin which could suit both the Parish Council and the Gala Committee and perhaps they could proceed with the purchase of this as a joint venture.  The price would be in the region of £1,500 and the cabin would be sited on the car park.  The Parish Council would also need a lockable cabinet.  This would be discussed again at the next meeting.

13.

Accounts and Any Invoices to pay

·       First Cut Grounds Maintenance – £517.68. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.

·       Gallagher Insurance – Annual Payment – £1,094.29.  Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed.

·       Litter-picker – 5 weeks, £533.75. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Carruthers. Agreed.

·       Clerk, Salary and Expenses for April/May – £411.09.  Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed.

14.

Any Other Business – None

15.

Date and time of next meeting – Thursday 19^th June 2025 at 7.15pm.

As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 9.15pm.