SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council
Held at Singleton Village Hall on 3 February 2026
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Cllr Cholmondeley (Vice-Chair), Carruthers and Clifford and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
| 1. | Apologies for Absence were received and accepted from Cllr Bailey and County Cllr Singleton. |
| 2. | Open Forum – None |
| 3. | Minutes of previous meeting held on 16 December 2025 and matters arising – The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 December 2025, having previously been circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct record by the Vice-Chairman. There were no matters arising. |
| 4. | Police Matters The Police Sergeant at Kirkham had arranged for two officers to visit Barnfield Manor following previously reported incidents of strangers wandering around properties late at night. A good discussion took place, and it is hoped for improved communication in the future. The crimes reported in November 2025 for Singleton parish were as follows: – Skippool area – 1 report of theft – Singleton crossroads/Singleton Village – 1 report of criminal damage and 1 report of Violence or sexual offence. The Sergeant at the Fylde Rural Task Force continues to hold his team meetings with his next one being on 16 February 2026. He has provided much information about crime statistics in the area and prioritises on road safety, anti-social behaviour, theft from motor vehicles and parking. |
| 5. | Declarations of Interest – None |
| 6. | Planning matters and decisions 25/0665 – Permission in principle for the erection of up to nine dwellings at Shard Bridge Farm, Little Singleton FY6 9BU. The main concern the Parish Council has is around egress problems with vehicles exiting the site onto Shard Road. 25/0650 – Application to vary approved plans to 29 Mains Lane, Singleton FY6 7LI. Concerns that this work has already been started with many of the proposed changes already carried out. Concern had been expressed from a resident about a planning application for a foster home in Little Singleton. The Clerk enquired about this but was informed by the Head of Development Management at Fylde BC that there is no current application at the property in question or anything received for any form of development or change of use at that site. Information received that the Trust was successful in its Appeal for the building of 4 houses opposite the Miller Arms. |
| 7. | Traffic and Highways issues County Cllr Singleton’s monthly report had been received. The main points were as follows:-The de-commissioned road at Singleton crossroads is not open to vehicles at present and is now under LCC management, although its long-term status is still being considered and it may in future reopen as a public right of way. LCC will be servicing the gullies on Garstang Road East from Poulton junction to Little Singleton as part of their cyclic program. This should take place between April and August 2027. They will make reactive visits where necessary where flooding risks are present. Grass verges will be cut during the spring when LCC contractors carry out cyclical verge maintenance. The A585 trunk road remains the responsibility of National Highways. This includes the junction with the A586 Garstang Road East. Mains Lane is now adopted by LCC between the northern junction with the A585 trunk road and the junction with Pool Foot Lane, A586 Garstang Road and Lodge Lane. LCC is responsible for this junction and the junction with Shard Road, including the traffic signals. Carriageway repairs took place on Church Road on 23 January 2026. Future roadworks include The Village, Singleton 25/02/26 – 03/03/26 – works by Electricity North West Limited; and A585 National Highways – Lane closure from Northbound Windy Harbour junction to Skippool Junction to install, repair and maintain lamp columns on 27/02/26 and 28/02/26. Fly-tipping has continued to be a problem on the closed section of Garstang Road and also on Mile Road. The Parish Council is grateful to Fylde BC for its work in repeatedly clearing this. The Parish Council is convinced that access has been made via the by-pass and is to ask LCC for the plastic bollards to be replaced by concrete ones and for an additional one to be put on the grassed area to deny anyone access from this point. A resident has requested a waste bin be put at the beginning of the closed section of Garstang Road as there has been an abundance of dog-poo bags found in the area. The Clerk has requested such a bin be provided by Fylde BC. (N.B. Fylde BC provided a bin on 04/02/2026). |
| 8. | New By-Pass The Kier compound on Garstang Road East has been plagued with fly-tipping in recent weeks, and Kier has arranged for this to be cleared. This has not been straightforward as it has included a large amount of asbestos which required the involvement of a specialist removal company. They have also put a camera on site to deter future offenders. This compound remains under the control of Kier until it is in a fit condition to hand back to the landowner. More complaints received about the state of the bypass with all sorts of litter including tyres, crates and plastic sheeting all over and especially bad in the laybys. Although there are bins in the laybys, these are not emptied enough and just add to the overall mess. Cllr Clifford complained about the mess left behind at junctions by Kier which despite having previously been complained about it, has never been cleaned up. Stones, pebbles and debris can be seen at every junction. A survey has been received from National Highways to help them build better working relationships for 2026. Cllr Carruthers volunteered to complete this. |
| 9. | Update from Fylde Borough Council Fylde Borough is still working on its new Local Plan. Sites for development have been identified. Some have been rejected on various grounds and there will be a public consultation in May. Local Government reorganisation continues to dominate. Still no firm decision made as to which other councils Fylde will join. The Government will make the final decision. Cllr Lee will press Fylde to do litter-picks along the new by-pass and to empty the bins more frequently. |
| 10. | Correspondence Letter received on behalf of The Trust regarding Leylandii Trees in the Village Hall Car Park. Following a recent inspection carried out in November 2025, the large leylandii trees on the boundary between the village hall car park and bowling club grounds were found to have a limited life potential, a mechanically weak structure and were overhanging the playground and parking area. The recommendation was to fell and replant. The Trust undertook to have this work done with a hawthorn hedge replanted to match in with the existing boundaries. This work cannot be undertaken without planning consent, as the trees are within the Singleton Conservation Area, and the Trust wanted to ensure that the Parish Council was happy for the work to go ahead, outside of the bird nesting season. The Parish Council would be happy for this work to go ahead as long as the replanting of the hedge happened straight away and there was not going to be a period before replanting of the hawthorn hedge. It was crucial that the children’s playground was keep secured for safety reasons, to prevent children running onto the car park. |
| 11. | Precept for 2026/2027 The Clerk circulated a balance sheet up to 20 January 2026, together with information received from Fylde BC about this year’s proposed precept. The annual Precept is the main source of funding for Parish and Town councils. The only other funding the Parish Council receives is from a refund of VAT payments, Singleton Trust’s donation towards the cost of litter-picking and Lancashire County Council’s reimbursement for cutting areas of grass on land belonging to them. This year, Fylde BC proposed that the annual precept for Singleton parish would be £26,356. From the balance sheet, it could be seen that this year the Parish Council had already spent £26,938 with remaining commitments up to 31 March 2026 being £5,994, making a total of £32,932. The main commitments for the Parish Council are for regular maintenance checks on the children’s play equipment, payable to Fylde, BC, of approximately £5,000 a year, grass-cutting, litter-picking, Clerk’s salary and expenses, planted tubs, insurance and maintenance of the car park. In addition, the Parish Council had recently replaced a broken Speed Indicator Device at a cost of £3,108 and another older one has just been written off. The Parish Council also wanted to invest in the Children’s Play Area in the next financial year. Cllr Cholmondeley proposed that the Parish Council asks for a 12% rise in this year’s Precept. This was seconded by Cllr Clifford and Agreed. |
| 12. | Gates to the Village Hall Car Park Complaints had been received from Fylde BC’s maintenance team that they could not get access to check the children’s play equipment due to the gate to the car park being padlocked. This had also proved to be a problem in the summer when the Police arrived for a meeting at the Village Hall. Cllr Cholmondeley thought that there was a key safe by the gates and he would check on this. It was thought to be a good idea to get a key safe if one was not already present and the Clerk would advise Fylde BC accordingly. |
| 13. | Parish Council’s website Arrangements were made for the Clerk and the Chairman to work on updating the website on 9th February 2026. |
| 14. | Christmas cards and Christmas lights Cllr Clifford had sorted out this year’s Christmas cards, which had included the times of the Church services this year on a separate page. The Christmas tree lights were now stored at the Village Hall. The Church had expressed its gratitude for the inclusion of this information. Cllr Clifford asked that next year could the service information please be printed inside the card as the extra work involved in sorting out putting all the cards and separate pieces of paper into envelopes took up much more time than it needed to. The cards were distributed by Cllrs Clifford and Carruthers, and they had enjoyed meeting the members of the local parish. |
| 15. | Accounts and Any Invoices to pay First Cut Grounds Maintenance – £643.67. Proposed by Cllr Bailey, prior to meeting for payment mid-January, Seconded by Cllr Cholmondeley and Agreed. Litter-picker – 4 weeks – £443.00. Proposed by Cllr Bailey, prior to meeting for payment mid-January, Seconded by Cllr Cholmondeley and Agreed. Clerk – Salary and Expenses for December 2024 – January 2026 – £338.22. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Carruthers. Agreed. One-Com – Support for website – £7.19. Proposed Cllr Cholmondeley, Seconded Cllr Carruthers. Agreed. |
| 16. | Any Other Business Concern expressed at protecting trees for future developments. Cllr Clifford would contact the Tree Preservation Officer at Fylde for advice. The path at the start of Lodge Lane from Singleton garage has still not been improved. It is thought that new kerbs would be needed. This should be added to County Cllr Singleton’s list to pursue with LCC. The Clerk was asked to buy a thank-you gift for the gentleman who had tried to repair the faulty Speed Indicator Device. Apparently, after examination, a fault had been found which had damaged and blown the circuit. He was unable to guarantee that this would not happen again and to get a full repair would therefore not be cost-effective. |
| 17. | Date and time of next meeting – Tuesday 10 March 2026. As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 9.15pm. |
Signed ……………………………………………… Dated ………………………………
Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council,
Tel: 07530 605 291: email: Clerk@SingletonParishCouncil.org