SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council
Held at Singleton Village Hall on 24 April 2025
Present: – Cllr Cholmondeley (Vice-Chair), Cllrs Bailey and Carruthers and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. County Councillor Singleton also attended.
Cllr Cholmondeley took the chair for this meeting.
| 1. | Apologies for Absence – Cllrs Lee and Clifford |
| 2. | Open Forum – None |
| 3. | Minutes of previous meeting held on 24 March 2025 and any matters arising The Minutes of the previous meeting, having already been circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct record by Cllr Bailey. Matters arising Car park lights – apologies received from the contractor for the delay, but the lights will be attended to this week. The Clerk had requested a sweep of Garstang Road and the footpaths there being given the same attention as Lodge Lane. This had been acknowledged by Fylde BC. The Clerk will forward contact details to Cllr Carruthers. Electric Vehicle Chargers in the Parish – The Clerk had completed the form and returned it to the facilitator. Storage facilities at the Village Hall. Unfortunately, the Village Hall Committee had responded that they were unable to help with the storage of Parish Council records. Cllr Cholmondeley told the meeting that the Gala Committee was also looking at acquiring storage facilities and wondered if the Parish Council and Gala Committee could join forces in this regard. Obviously, the Parish Council would need a lockable cabinet, but this will be discussed further at the next meeting. The Clerk had emailed the person in charge of the Community Payback Scheme requesting their help in having a clean-up of the closed section of Garstang Road East. A response is awaited. Response received from Shell UK about the Parish Council’s request for assistance with installing another defibrillator at the Shell Garage. Unfortunately, Shell only supports community projects in and around their operations and so declined to help. Cty Cllr Singleton advised the Clerk to contact Fylde BC asking for help from their Community Fund. Also another location will be sought. Parish Church’s Village Celebration on Sunday July 27th. Posters have been put on all noticeboards. Name badges – These have been ordered for all councillors through Fylde BC. |
| 4. | Police Matters Crime figures for February 2025 for the 4 parishes of Elswick, Little Eccleston, Singleton & Greenhalgh were as follows: – Anti-social behaviour – 15; Violence and sexual offences – 11; Theft – 4; Other crimes – 4 |
| 5. | Declarations of Interest – None |
| 6. | Planning matters and decisions 25/0184 – Bankfield Lodge, Pool Foot Lane, FY6 8NA – Alterations and extensions to dwelling comprising extension to living accommodation into new basement level – No significant comments. 25/0203 – 8 Mains Lane, FY6 7LF – Use of existing detached garage as a residential annex. No significant comments. 25/0229 – Granvin, 137 Mains Lane FY6 7LD – Application to vary condition of approved plans for vehicle access. No significant comments. |
| 7. | Traffic and Highways issues Cty Cllr Singleton presented his report as follows: – Metal plates under the railway bridge on Station Road. This is a much bigger job than originally thought and would mean closing the road for a longer period. No date for starting the works has been announced yet. Mains Lane is in the process of being de-trunked, but no date has been set for the changeover yet. Until this date is set, it is still in the ownership of National Highways. Church Road surface. LCC has added this to the surface dressing list. Unfortunately, the Disabled Parking Bay Scheme does not extend to providing marked bays on the highway for visitors to premises. This was investigated after disabled people had found difficulty parking at the Church for services. Highways would not object to the Church introducing ‘Please reserve this area for Disabled Drivers’ signs on their own boundary wall. A585 Windy Harbour to Skippool by-pass. Several dates have been arranged by Kier for overnight checks on lighting columns and signage light testing. Also, there will be changes to the traffic light sequence at Skippool Bridge junction to allow more time for pedestrians to cross safely. Cllr Bailey informed the meeting that he had witnessed the aftermath of another accident on Mains Lane just before the Shard Road junction. There is now no turning filter for traffic turning right from Singleton and this has led to confusion. The Clerk had reported an incident of fly-tipping on Garstang Road East to Fylde BC. The Clerk had reported the missing bollard on the lay-by on Lodge Lane to LCC. |
| 8. | New By-Pass Cllr Carruthers had compiled a very comprehensive list of finishing works needed on the by-pass to be carried out by Kier before they leave the area. Cllr Carruthers was congratulated for his work in this regard. He has liaised with Kier and will send a copy of his list to Cty Cllr Singleton for him to take forward. |
| 9. | Update from Fylde Borough Council Fylde Area Committee Meeting on Thursday 22nd May 2025 for Chairs of all Parish and Town Councils and the Clerks. The Clerk will attend. Consultation request regarding the M&M windfarm and Local Impact Report. Many parishes are affected by this with very wide channels needing to be dug out to accommodate all this work. Mayor-Making at Fylde BC will be taking place on 7th May at 2.00pm at the Lowther Pavillion. The Chairman will be attending, and the Vice-Chairman will see if he is available. Fylde Local Plan to 2042 – Call for sites for development of homes, commercial, industrial and retail for the period to 2042. Notification received that weed spraying will be taking place across the borough. |
| 10. | Village Green The Village Green project has taken a massive leap forward and is up for debate with Officer recommendation for approval at the Executive Committee on 29 April. If this does go through, it will then go to Full Council in June. The Chairman has kept the Trust informed of progress. |
| 11. | Correspondence – None |
| 12. | Accounts and Any Invoices to pay Grass-cutting contract – £517.68. Proposed Cllr Cholmondeley, Seconded Cllr Carruthers. Agreed. Litter-picker – 4 weeks – £443.00. Proposed Cllr Carruthers, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed. Annual Data Protection Fee to Information Commissioner’s Office – £52.00. Proposed Cllr Bailey, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed. Clerk, Salary and Expenses for March/April – £360.92. Proposed Cllr Cholmondeley, Seconded Cllr Bailey. Agreed. Invoice sent to Greenhalgh Parish Council for half payment of the full year for the waste collection bin from Fylde BC. This amounts to £666.38. Query from the Groundsman about the grassed areas needed to be cut by him. The area at the end of Pool Foot Lane was changed because of the roadworks. All the area at the end of Pool Foot Lane should now be included and perhaps a new area at the beginning of Lodge Lane. Another new area has been created at the front of Old Mains Lane which should be added to the contract. Quotation received from the Handyman for clearance and disposal of winter flowers in the tubs and replacing them with summer plants and compost. This would be £767. The tubs would be as last year with large plants in the middle surrounded by begonia non-stops and lobelia. There are 24 tubs in all. All Agreed. The handyman also suggested putting the primroses and tete-tetes from the winter tubs into a box outside the fire station for villagers to help themselves to as these were perennials. This was thought an excellent idea. |
| 13. | Any Other Business Telephone call received from an anxious resident concerning building works proposed in his area without planning permission. He was advised to keep an eye on the situation and if anything happens then contact the Enforcement Planning Officer at Fylde BC. |
| 14. | Date and time of next meeting Next month there will be two meetings, one being the Annual Parish Meeting which will be followed by the monthly meeting. The date for this will be Tuesday 27 May with the Annual Parish Meeting starting at 7.00 pm and the monthly meeting following at 7.30pm. As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 9.00pm. |
Signed ……………………………………………… Dated ………………………………
Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council,
Tel: 07530 605 291: email: Clerk@SingletonParishCouncil.org