Next meeting with Agenda – Singleton Parish Council

The next two scheduled meetings will take place on TUESDAY 21 November 2023 and THURSDAY 21 December 2023 at 7.15pm at Singleton Village Hall. 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: 01995 670455

Singleton Parish Council

SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL

A meeting of the Parish Council will be held at

The Village Hall, Singleton on

Tuesday 21 November 2023 at 7.15pm

Your presence is requested

A G E N D A

1.	Apologies for Absence
2.	Police Matters
3.	New grass-cutting arrangements
4.	Open Forum – The Council will open the meeting for 15 minutes for any questions from the public
5.	Minutes of previous meeting held on 24 October 2023 and any matters arising
6.	Declarations of Interest
7.	Planning matters and decisions –
8.	Traffic and Highways Issues Feedback following consultation on Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs)
9.	New Bypass
10.	Correspondence
11.	Update from Fylde Borough Council
12.	Village Green
13.	Accounts and any invoices to pay
14.	Any Other Business (including any items for the Wish List) Christmas card; Bowling Club request.
15.	Date and Time of Next Meeting – 21 December 2023

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

DRAFT MINUTES TO BE FORMALLY SIGNED AT THE MEETING

SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council

Held at Singleton Village Hall on 24 October 2023

Present: – Cllrs Ibbotson (Chair), Cllr Cholmondeley (Vice-Chair), Bailey, Clifford and Lee and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. PCSO Jake Giddins and one member of the public also attended.

1.	Apologies for Absence – County Cllr Singleton
2.	Police Matters The Chairperson welcomed PCSO Jake Giddins to the meeting. PCSO Giddins then circulated a sheet containing useful contact details as well as a Road Safety link to the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership – www.lancsroadsafety.co.uk. PCSO Giddins was told about a recent problem with parking outside the school, especially in the zigzag area, and a particular problem had been highlighted by some parents on social media. He was asked if a Police presence could be made from time to time in a morning and at the end of the school day to remind parents of the importance of parking safely. He undertook to do this as when available and also to liaise with LCC and their Parking Wardens as it was an offence to park on the zigzags. The Chairperson said that if he could report back, this would be helpful. LCC are to carry out a risk assessment for an appropriate site for the Police to do a Community Speed Watch. Any information on speeding, vehicle registration numbers, data from the SpID machines etc should be sent to the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership link. This link will be put on the website for members of the public to use. The Parish Council used to get a monthly report on reported crime in the parish but hadn’t had one in a long time. This information is now available online and PCSO undertook to send the Clerk a link. PCSO Giddins was thanked for his attendance.
3.	New Grass-cutting arrangements – Deferred until November.
4.	Open Forum The matter of overgrown hedges and vegetation on footpaths was brought up by the member of the public. The Parish Council has been trying to tackle this with the help of Cty Cllr Singleton for the last 3 months. LCC has undertaken to sort out some of the pavements with a team from Highways in a few months. The Clerk will write to the owner of one property which is causing a particular problem, including obscuring a traffic sign. Cty Cllr Singleton’s report is covered later in these minutes.
5.	Minutes of previous meeting held on 26 September and any matters arising – The Minutes of September’s meeting, having been previously circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct copy by the Chairperson. Matters arising The Clerk had written to the owner of the property regarding rubbish accumulating on or adjacent to his land and a skip has now been placed there so it is hoped that this rubbish will soon be cleared up.Advertising boards on Mains Lane. This had been reported to Fylde BC.The damaged planter has been replaced and all planters have been planted with bulbs and violas.
6.	Declarations of Interest – None
7.	Planning matters and decisions – No new applications
8.	Traffic and Highways issues SpID. The Chairperson and Cllr Clifford met with the officer from LCC to survey appropriate sites for the SpID to be erected. The Parish Council now needs to consult with the local community before the poles can be erected. A consultation document will be put up on the website and all noticeboards with an end date for comments of 7 November 2023. Information received from LCC Highways of a night-time road closure on Garstang Road, Singleton and Garstang Road East, Poulton from 2100 hours until 0500 hours on 6^th – 10^th November to enable asphalting and planning works to be carried out. Query from resident concerning two electronic counting devices being located on two areas of Pool Foot Lane. LCC know nothing about this, and the Clerk is trying to find out who was responsible for placing these machines and what their reasoning was. Cllr Lee reported that Blackburn and Darwin County Council have started to use their own speed guns but the Police there are charging the council to send out letters to drivers who are caught speeding. Councils are disputing this at the moment. Wrea Green is considering buying a camera and other parishes are monitoring this to see how it goes. County Cllr Singleton’s report Metal plates on Station Road – These plates covering a collapsed culvert belong to Network Rail and are a temporary solution. It may be some time before Network Rail present a permanent solution. Cllr Singleton has now a contact number and will chase this up.Footway deterioration on Lodge Lane. LCC has inspected the area and agree there are signs of footway deterioration which they believe is due to vehicles working on the new by-pass. The Highway authority will arrange a full inspection of the surrounding area once the project is completed.Footway from Barnfield on the new road – LCC says this is between Kier and the Parish Council.Overgrown grass/vegetation – LCC Highway’s team have a copy of the plan with all the areas in Singleton which require vegetation from the footway.Overgrown hedges – LCC is in possession of the plan of all hedges which require trimming from the public footway. The landowners need to be identified.
9.	New By-Pass Kier still maintains that traffic will be using the new road in December. The entrance to Barnfield Manor is to be closed at a date to be decided for work necessary to level up the road surfaces. Residents are still trying to get a footpath between Barnfield Manor and the Singleton Hall entrance as the traffic island in the centre is not deemed wide enough to enable pedestrians to cross there. Residents there are getting increasingly concerned about the safety of crossing Lodge Lane at this point as traffic often speeds along this stretch, ignoring the 40mph speed limit. As regards the underpass, it is thought that the Parish Council needs to monitor adequate planting of trees and vegetation along the sides. The Clerk had received confirmation from Kier that cyclists would be encouraged to use the de-trunked Mains Lane and decommissioned Garstang New Road to join the bypass on a shared pedestrian and cyclist pathway.
10.	Correspondence Letter received from Rev Keighley regarding the tree in front of the Village Hall which had needed branches lopping off it. This tree remains the responsibility of the Church and they had to pay out more than £3,000 to have the necessary work completed. He would be approaching all interested parties to see if they could contribute towards this. The Parish Council had thought this had been the responsibility of the Diocese and had received complaints about the safety aspect of the tree and had approached the Diocese on the complainants’ behalf. Unfortunately the Parish Council had spent all the Community Funding on 2 new noticeboards and new planters throughout the parish and was currently focusing on acquiring a Village Green, together with Singleton Trust. Any grants obtained would have to be match-funded and therefore, certainly for this financial year, it could not afford to grant too much. Cllr Ibbotson proposed that a goodwill gesture of £250 be granted to the Church with more consideration being given in the future. This was seconded by Cllr Clifford and Agreed.Email received from the Village Hall Committee asking for help towards the cost of electricity used for flood lighting on the car park. Some complaints had been received about the lighting not being as efficient as it should be, and it was needing attention. Again, the same situation regarding finances for this financial year, but the Parish Council would arrange to have the lighting checked and serviced at its own expense. The Clerk will arrange this.More information received about the proposed Morecambe Bay Offshore Wind Farm. Consultation will be open until 23 November 2023.
11.	Update from Fylde Borough Council 10/10/2023 – District Parish Liaison Meeting at Fylde BC. The Clerk had attended this (remotely). These meetings would be programmed to precede the main District Parish Liaison meetings. Notes are on file.18/10/2023 – District Parish Liaison Meeting – Notes awaited.04/11/2023 – Meeting for Parish and Town Councils at County Hall. Cllr Lee will be attending with the Chair of Weeton Parish Council, and they will bring up the problem of speeding in rural villages.
12.	Village Green update Cllr Cholmondeley had attended the meeting with members of the Trust on 27 September. Minutes of that meeting were circulated. Cllr Lee reiterated that all the work involving design and funding would be done by Fylde Borough Council and he would advise members of the Trust accordingly. The situation at the moment is that an application has gone in for the funding and this has been approved by Executive Officers at Fylde. Nothing will probably happen now until January 2024. The next meeting with the Trust will be on November 1^st. Unfortunately, Cllr Lee is unable to attend this but will liaise with the Trust beforehand.
13.	Accounts and Any Invoices to pay – Litter-picker (4 weeks) – £411.00 – Proposed Cllr Ibbotson, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed.Handyman – Planting of tubs – £710. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Ibbotson. Agreed.Clerk, Salary and Expenses for September/October including annual internet security fee – £526.38. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed.Village Hall – Rent to September 2023 – £124.00. Proposed Cllr Ibbotson, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed.St Annes Church – Contribution – £250.00. Proposed Cllr Ibbotson, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed.
14.	Any Other Business Car park – There have been a couple of queries regarding the car park recently with a wedding party wanting to have a pizza van parked there and objecting to a skip which the Bowling Club wanted to have there whilst renovating work was carried out. In the end the Bowling Club’s work hadn’t been carried out during the same period but they have been asked to liaise with the Parish Council when the work was due to start. Congratulations were extended to Cllr Bailey who had recently celebrated his 80^th birthday. Cllr Bailey has been a Parish Councillor for a good many years and has contributed much during that time.Christmas cards. Cllr Ibbotson will look at some vintage photographs she has been offered for this year’s Christmas card and report back.The handyperson would be asked if he could repair the pothole which has appeared on the car park.A wreath would be obtained by the Chairperson and the Clerk would ask for permission for this to be laid during the Remembrance Service on Sunday 12^th November 2023.
15.	Date and time of next meetings – Tuesday 21 November and Thursday 21 December 2023. As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.50pm.

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

Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council,

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