Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on Thursday 28 February 2019 at 7.15 pm
Present: – Cllrs Lee (Chair), Chew, Gallagher and Smith, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies for Absence were received from Cllr Bailey who would be going into hospital. The Parish Council wished him all the very best for a speedy recovery.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 January 2019 were previously agreed via email but could not be signed as Cllr Bailey had chaired that meeting and was not in attendance this evening. These Minutes would be held over for signature until his return.
Matters arising from previous minutes
• The Development Manager at Fylde Borough Council had confirmed that the works in removing the hedging along Lodge Lane were in accordance with the planning permission granted.
• The Clerk had written to Newton Parish Council to see if they would be willing to share a Speed Indicator Device (SpID) but no reply had been received as yet. LCC had not responded regarding any recommendations.
• The bus shelter had been fully repaired, presumably by Fylde BC, and this had included replacing the glass.
3. Open Forum – None
4. Declaration of Interests- None
5. Planning Matters and Decisions
No new planning applications received but information received that planning application no. 18/0872 – 29 Mains Lane, Singleton FY6 7LJ for seven detached dwellings, had been granted.
Cllr Chew had voiced the Parish Council’s concerns to the Chief Planning Officer that all the recent developments granted in Singleton Parish had been for less than 10 houses. The Government’s limit for developers to pay Section 106 payments to local parishes for improvements is for 10 or more houses. Hence although a lot more than 10 houses have been built in Singleton Parish over the last two years, the developers don’t need to pay anything towards community improvements because the individual developments had been for fewer than 10 dwellings.
6. Illegal Caravan Site on the Weeton/Singleton Border
The Parish Council had been alerted to an illegal caravan site on the Weeton/Singleton border by the Development Manager at Fylde BC on 18 February. This site had been previously passed for the building of stables but a number of caravans have been brought on to the site and are unauthorised. Fylde Borough is actively investigating options for enforcement if the caravans are not removed from the site.
Already the Parish Council has received numerous complaints from local landowners of intimidation and aggressive behaviour towards them. The Parish Council is also concerned that the planning system is being abused in this way. The Parish Council wrote to the Chief Planning Officer in January 2019 voicing its concerns about the number of caravan sites in the area and the drain these are having on limited and over-stretched resources. The Parish Council will write to the Police to advise them of the intimidation being experienced by some residents.
7. Police Matters
The crime figures for January received from the Police showed that no crimes were reported for that month. However, two crimes were reported to councillors, but the residents had not reported these to the Police as they felt nothing would be done.
The Clerk had written at the end of January asking the Police to keep eye on the Children’s Playground as youths had been hanging round there until 11.00 and 12pm on some nights.
8. Traffic and Highway Issues
Fylde Borough had sent the road sweeper to Garstang Road and Mains Lane in January and the kerbs and gutters looked much better. Cllr Chew has asked for a litter-pick along Garstang Road. A resident from Hambleton had complained several times to Cllr Chew about litter on Shard Lane. He had been referred to Fylde BC.
The traffic lights at Windy Harbour are not working correctly and without warning just go off and then sometime later just come on again. Apparently there is a fault and the system becomes overloaded. Highways England has installed a generator to try and even out the load. The Clerk was asked to contact Highways England to ask if they could make these lights more reliable as this was a very dangerous situation for local people travelling from the A586.
Information had been received from Highways England about improvement works planned for the A585 Norcross roundabout junction. Work had taken place on Mains Lane overnight for two nights, but no information had been received about this from Highways England. The Clerk will write to Highways England asking for notification of all works carried out in Singleton Parish.
No response had been received from LCC as yet in regards to the Parish Council’s request to be considered for a zebra crossing in the village. The Clerk will write again to County Councillor Paul Hayhurst asking for his help in this regard.
9. Proposed new By-Pass
Information received from Helen Batey, Highways England, that the next meeting of the Focus Group will take place on 14 March at 6.30pm at Singleton Village Hall. Unfortunately this clashed with a Borough Council meeting for Cllr Chew and Cllr Bailey would probably still be unavailable to attend. If any other councillor could attend they should please advise Cllr Chew. Otherwise Ms Batey had offered a private meeting with Cllr Chew.
10. Update on SID – Nothing to report.
11.
Correspondence
• Email received from Fraser Monteath, Ranger at Fylde BC. They are working with Singleton C of E Primary School and will be releasing hedgehogs with the children on Monday 11 March. Fraser will take photos and send copies to the Parish Council. A programme of walks in Fylde has also been published with one “Discover Rural Singleton” taking place on 20 June from 1 – 3pm and will be suitable for all walkers. The Parish Council is very pleased with the work currently being carried out by the new Ranger Service of Fylde.
• Fylde BC had circulated their Budget Consultation document for 2019/20. Unfortunately once again this showed that all the money allocated had been granted to the main coastal areas of the Borough with nothing for the smaller rural parishes. The Clerk had brought the Parish Council’s disappointment to the attention of Fylde’s Financial Officer.
• Wyre Local Plan – The Inspector’s Report has now been published on Wyre’s Local Plan from 2011 to 2031. This is available on Wyre Council’s website.
• Minutes from the District Parish Liaison Meeting held on 13 February 2019. Noted.
• Information received that it is time to renew the subscription for the Garden Waste Collection Service which will be £30 per green bin to cover the period 1/04/19 to 31/03/20.
• Request from YMCA for financial assistance towards Kirkham Baths. It was felt that local people generally went to Poulton-le-Fylde for the swimming baths and that residents in Singleton did not use the baths at Kirkham.
• Information received from the Environment Agency regarding Cuadrilla’s application to vary their environmental permit for fracking at their Preston New Road site. Noted.
12.
Parish and Town Elections – 2 May 2019
The relevant paperwork was handed out to all councillors present for the forthcoming parish elections on 2 May 2019. Cllr Lee will hand-deliver Cllr Bailey’s copy. Further copies are available from Fylde BC and the Electoral Commission website.
13. Website
The new website is making good progress and is halfway there. The Parish Council looks forward to renewing the existing website.
14. Accounts and Invoices to Pay
The Clerk had reclaimed VAT for the year 2017/2018 to the value of £1,323.91. This was awaited.
• T Pawson – Mounting of SpID – £30.00 – Proposed Cllr Lee, Seconded Cllr Smith. Agreed.
• S Butcher – Litter-picker – £139.60 – Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Gallagher. Agreed.
• Clerk – Salary and Expenses for January/February 2019 – £198.10 – Proposed Cllr Chew, Seconded Cllr Smith. Agreed.
15. Any Other Business
• Another lorry has hit the bridge on Station Road. The Parish Council had long thought the warning sign was inadequate and had previously asked for a better one. The Clerk was asked to write to LCC requesting a more adequate sign as this was happening too frequently.
• A resident had asked Cllr Chew to enquire what Fylde BC was doing about the people who are living on the holiday parks all the year round. It would appear that more are now doing this and the resident wondered what checks and enforcement procedures there were in place. The Clerk will write to the Caravan Licences Officer to ask them to check all the local caravan sites.
16 Date and Time of next meeting – 21 March 2019 at 7.15pm at the Village Hall.
As there was no further business, the meeting closed at 8.15pm.