Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a correct record.

James Thomson, Deputy Director of Finance will deliver a short presentation and take questions.

James Thompson (Deputy Director of Finance) delivered a presentation which sought to brief members on the Council’s 2022 Budget. The presentation also provided an overview on the additional revenue investment.

The Chair thanked James for his attendance and presentation.

Background

limiting the floral displays themselves. It will likely be an Issue for several parishes and Chorley Council.

The Vice-Chair Councillor Kim Snape presented this item on behalf of Adlington Town Council and explained that there was concern that the charge had been implemented without any consultation with parishes.

County Councillor Berry explained that she had challenged the £30 charge for hanging baskets as she thought it was unreasonable. Members questioned whether the charge had been in place for some time, but not enforced. County Councillor Berry highlighted that the policy on Lancashire County Council’s (LCC) website had not been updated since 2018 and she had received a draft policy.

Members expressed concern that Parish Councils were unaware of the charge and had not allocated for it within their budget. As it is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Parishes would want to hang flowering baskets to make their areas look nice to celebrate.

Graham Ashworth (Heath Charnock) questioned how long the licence to hang baskets from the lamp post would last after paying the charge and confirmed that Heath Charnock Parish Council would support Adlington in escalating this issue with LCC.

Terry Dickenson (Wheelton) also offered the agreement and support of Wheelton Parish Council.

Councillor Kim Snape commented that it would also be beneficial for individual parishes to write to County Councillor Edwards alongside the letter from the meeting.

Agreed:

A letter would be sent from Members of the Chorley Liaison to County Councillor Charlie Edwards, including all County Councillors for the Borough, to explain the concern of members surrounding the £30 charge.

Background

The Parish Council would like to know what help is available from the Planning Department for residents who need advice on planning  issues, other than being referred to generic information on the website.

No representative from Croston Parish Council was in attendance to present this item.

The Director of Communities explained that advice would be different dependent upon what planning matter residents were contacting officers with. The team had suffered during the pandemic and had experienced a large increase in applications and planning appeals.

Officers were able to give enforcement advice and an enforcement officer was available. Pre-application planning advice was also available alongside general information which can be found on the Council website.

Terry Dickenson (Wheelton) explained that his Parish struggled to access planning applications in A3 format and asked if it would be possible to provide Parish Councils with A3 printers. The Director of Communities agreed to look into this matter further.

Background

The Parish Councillors have raised concerns about the amount of rural fly tipping and would like information on the number of offenders caught and the level of fines.

As no representative from Heapey Parish Council was in attendance the Chair, Councillor Gordon France presented this item.

Councillor France explained that the Council has an excellent Streetscene team who kept the area tidy and would respond to fly tipping enquiries as soon as possible. Often, the manager would already be aware of issues should they make their way onto social media. Councillor France explained that it was difficult to prosecute individuals for fly tipping as they do it in an area where there are no CCTV cameras or witnesses. Unless someone left evidence implicating themselves, it was very unlikely that a prosecution would be made.

Councillor Berry mentioned there was an increase in fly tipping on Higher House Lane and asked if a message could go out about ensuring residents use a proper waste removal operator who had a correct licence.

Members asked if there was a way for residents to check who has a licence to dispose waste. In response, the Director of Communities advised that trading standards had a safe trader scheme at LCC but there was no list of licensed waste carriers that the public could access.

In order to allow members of the Liaison and members of the public to raise issues of local concern, a period of 20 minutes has been set aside.

A member of the public may speak for no more than 3 minutes.  Members of the public are not required to give notice of the issue they intend to raise, although it is expected in the case of service issues that the appropriate mechanisms for resolving the issue have been explored. 

Where a question is raised which cannot be answered at the meeting, a record will be kept by officers supporting the meeting and it will be responded to via the appropriate mechanism.

Terry Dickenson (Wheelton) raised concern that Southlands High School were looking to reduce the number of admissions to the School to provide a better quality of education.

Members noted that if the Development at Botany Bay were undertaken, children would have to travel outside of the Borough to attend school.

County Councillor Berry explained that it was the decision of the academy how the school was ran, but there was concern that there would be an increase of children travelling outside of the Borough. The council would be able to disagree and the matter would be taken before a national adjudication officer.

Agreed:

A letter would be written on behalf of Members of Chorley Liaison to County Councillor Jayne Rear (Cabinet Member for Education and Skills) to express deep concern about the proposed number of pupils at Southland High School numbers and the impact on secondary school numbers within the Borough.

This item will be re-considered at the meeting on 20 July 2022.

A schedule setting out deadlines for items to be requested on the agenda for the Chorley Liaison and dates for future meetings is enclosed. 

This was noted.

There was no further business.