SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council
Held at Singleton Village Hall on 19 June 2025
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 27 May 2025 and any matters arising The Minutes of the previous meeting, having been already circulated and agreed, were signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman. Matters arising – Car Park lights – These had been repaired and simply needed switching on from inside the Village Hall. The caretaker was informed. Asset of Community Value regarding the Miller Arms – the relevant officer at Fylde BC is progressing this. Community Payback projects. Still no response from the organiser of this. The Clerk will contact Justice.gov.uk direct. New Road Signs for Singleton – Fylde BC had ordered these last year and will chase them up. |
| 4. | Police Matters No details of crime figures available on the Police website for April or May yet. The Police had arranged a community event in the car park of the Village Hall on Saturday 31st May. They had contacted the Village Hall about this but had been advised to contact the Parish Council, which they did on 28 May 2025. Permission to use the car park was gladly given for this event but the Police had not been able to access the car park due to the gate being closed. The Parish Council was surprised to hear that the gate was closed, as this is normally opened and closed every day. Cllr Cholmondeley asked that he be informed of any future events that the Police wish to hold so that he can check that access is clear. The Parish Council was unclear as to whether this community event had been advertised by the Police. Report from a resident of Little Singleton that an abandoned car had been left on Mains Lane on 12/06/2025. This had been blocking the bus pull-in and very close to the Shard Road junction traffic lights. This was reported to Highways who said, after two days, that it was not their responsibility. It was then reported to the Police on 14/06/2025 who took no action then. It was eventually towed away by the Police on 19/06/2025. |
| 5. | Declarations of Interest – None |
| 6. | Planning matters and decisions 25/0333 – The Croft, 117 Mains Lane, FY6 7LD – Single storey rear extension – No significant comments. Appeal Against Refusal of Planning Permission – Land southwest of Weeton Road (Opposite the Miller Arms), Singleton pursuant to outline planning permission 20/0846 for a residential development of 4 dwellings. All former representations will be sent on to the Planning Inspectorate by Fylde BC. The Clerk was asked to duplicate the previous response and to confirm that the Parish Council stands by its original stance. |
| 7. | Traffic and Highways issues No report received from Cty Cllr Singleton this evening in view of his absence. The Clerk had reported to Fylde BC that gravel had been left on the road following the work on the new by-pass and that this was dangerous to cyclists and motorcycle users crossing the traffic lights. Fylde had since swept the area around the 5 lane ends traffic lights. Garstang Road still hasn’t been swept. Verge cutting along Garstang Road has been requested but not happened yet. Problem observed regarding the traffic lights by Singleton Petrol Station for traffic coming from Poulton. One of the accesses to the Petrol Station has been blocked off, leaving just the one by the traffic lights. Cars are not pulling up to the lights to leave access open for cars wanting to enter the Petrol Station. Because they are not pulling up to the lights, the lights are not changing, and queues are forming for quite some time before someone intervenes and gets the cars to move forward. There is no fault with the lights as they change very quickly once a car is in place. Disabled Parking at St. Anne’s Church. Conversations have taken place between the Vicar and members of the Trust, and they are now looking at spaces on the Puzzle Wood side of Church Road with two signs being made, one either side of the lych-gate requesting that space be left for disabled drivers. The Parish Council was pleased to hear that progress is now being made. |
| 8. | New By-Pass Kier’s representative has been working hard to tackle items on the long list of finishing works before Kier completely leaves the site, but still issues remain. Litter is a big problem on the stretch from the new pedestrian bridge to Windy Harbour. Who is responsible for cleaning this area? The Parish Council needs to know who is responsible for what area – i.e. Highways, LCC or Fylde BC. The Chairman then sent an email to Fylde BC to check who is responsible for litter-picking on the by-pass. Complaints have also been made to Kier by Singleton Hall regarding the state of the paddock. That has been tidied up for now by Kier but who is responsible for that in the future? |
| 9. | Update from Fylde Borough Council Fylde is still working on its new Local Plan, which will be in force until 2035. The Government is imposing numbers of new-build houses on all borough councils and the local government reorganisation could have a knock-on effect on the final number of houses needed in Fylde, as the needs of Blackpool could well be included. Blackpool does not have much land left to build on and its numbers may have to be absorbed by Fylde and Wyre or whoever is joined in with Blackpool following the reorganisation. Still a lot of uncertainty as to which councils will be merged together. |
| 10. | Village Green Still on-going with a meeting held recently between the Trust and Fylde BC. |
| 11. | Correspondence Thank-you email received from the Gala Committee in respect of the Parish Council’s donation of £300 to its funds. The Clerk was asked to write and pass on the Parish Council’s congratulations for an excellent Gala and also a very successful fund-raising night prior to this. Thank-you email on behalf of the Chalet Park on receipt of the new pads for the defibrillator recently donated by the Parish Council to the park. |
| 12. | Storage Facilities for the Parish Council Records Cllr Cholmondeley had been to see the timber cabin which had been offered for sale to the Gala Committee and Parish Council to share. He thought that this cabin would be too large but would check the specifications and report back. As regards the Parish Council records, all that was really needed would be a lockable cabinet, ideally in the Village Hall. |
| 13. | Accounts and Any Invoices to pay The Clerk reported that the annual accounts to 31 March 2025 had now been audited and agreed by the internal auditor and that all appropriate forms had been completed and sent off to the Official Auditor on 18 June 2025. First Cut Grounds Maintenance Ltd – Grass-cutting – £517.68. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Carruthers. Agreed. Summer planting of tubs – £767. Proposed Cllr Cholmondeley, Seconded Cllr Lee. Agreed. Litter-picker – 4 weeks. £443.00. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Carruthers. Agreed. Clerk, Salary and Expenses for May/June – £611.36. Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Cholmondeley. Agreed. |
| 14. | Any Other Business The local postman had asked that the hedges be cut back around the post box at the end of Station Road. The Clerk will ask the Grounds Maintenance to do this. Mile Road. The street sign is missing and the sign at the end of Grange Road is damaged. The Clerk will report this to Fylde BC. Cllr Clifford reported that he had received three separate complaints about the state of the footpaths, blocked drains etc along Lodge Lane. These had been reported before but would be followed up. |
| 15. | Date and time of next meeting – Tuesday, 15 July 2025 at 7.15pm at the Village Hall. As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.50 pm. |
Signed ……………………………………………… Dated ………………………………
Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council,
Tel: 07530 605 291: email: Clerk@SingletonParishCouncil.org