Silverdale Parish Council

Annual Parish Meeting

Minutes from the Silverdale Parish Council Annual Assembly 2023
13348. UNCONFIRMED minutes of the Annual Assembly of the Silverdale Parish Council held on Thursday 16th
March 2023 at 7pm at the Gaskell Hall, Emesgate Lane, Silverdale.
13349. Present:
Chairman: M. Fletcher (Mike)
Leader of Lancashire County Council & County
Councillor (Cllr) for Lancaster Rural North P. Williamson (Phillippa)
Lancaster City Cllr: J. Greenwell (June)
Police Sergeant (PS):
(Lancaster & Morecambe) L. Brown (Lindsay)
Clerk: L.D Challenor (Denise)
Deputy Clerk: K. Lambert (Katie)
Members of the Public: 82
13350. Apologies for Absence – Silverdale resident, Mrs J Lambert, emailed her apologies to the Chairman but
wished to record her thanks on behalf of the Parishioners to the Parish Council for all their efforts.
13351. Approval of the Minutes from the Previous Annual Assembly – the minutes of the Annual Assembly held at
the Silverdale Village Institute on Thursday 17th March 2022 were APPROVED and passed to the Chairman for
signing.
13352. Matters arising from the Minutes of Previous Meetings, not Covered by the Agenda – none
13353. Report of Relevant Matters from Police Sergeant (PS), L. Brown – thanks given to PS Brown for his
attendance at the meeting to give the following verbal report on matters affecting Silverdale over the past 12
months:
a) Reported crimes – pleased to confirm that Silverdale is an extremely safe place to live, with an average last
year of 6 recorded crimes per month on the National database. Whilst not to diminish the impact on those
who have been affected by crime, to put the statistics in context, Caton recorded 20/30 per month and
Morecambe 170/200 per month. The top category in Silverdale is violence, which may not be truly reflective
given the large presence of caravan and camping sites in the area. Secondary to this is burglary which is seen
by Lancashire Constabulary as the main threat to residents of Silverdale. Residents can be complacent with
security, but over the last 12 months, together with the Parish Council, Lancashire Constabulary has been
disseminating information on how residents can better protect themselves against such crimes and PCSO’s
are readily available to visit residents to carry out a crime prevention survey and offer advice. Residents are
to be assured that in the majority of cases, the criminals are known to the police and most investigations are
still ongoing; it just takes time to secure enough evidence for a conviction.
b) Investments – the Police and Crime Commissioner has invested heavily in tackling rural crimes with multiple
cross-border operations with the Rural Task Force. Following the large nationwide recruitment campaign last
year for police officer, recruits are now starting to come through and their presence should be felt this next
year.
c) Questions from the public – none
13354. Report of Relevant Matters from Lancaster City Councillor, June Greenwell – many thanks given to Cllr
Greenwell for her dedication and support to the Parish Council and the residents of Silverdale as it was noted she
will be stepping down as her Party’s representative at the forthcoming elections in May. No questions were raised
from members the public.
Report of Relevant Matters from Lancashire County Councillor, Phillippa Williamson – thanks given to County Cllr
Williamson for her attendance at the meeting and for the written report circulated to all attendees and appended to
these minutes. No questions were raised from members of the public.
13355. Report of Relevant Matters from the Silverdale Parish Council Chairman, Mike Fletcher – a copy of the report
was circulated to all attendees and has been appended to these minutes. No questions were raised from members
of the public.
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13356. Presentation from Guest Speaker, Mr Tim Narey, on the Proposed Eden Project North in Morecambe:
Now officially titled Eden Project Morecambe, the £50m from central government has now been confirmed from the
Levelling-Up fund and initial ground investigations have begun. Soil samples will now be sent for analysis to help in
the further detailed design and the future construction.
a) Brief history – having worked on the original Eden Project in Cornwall as part of the Millennium Commission,
they wondered whether this could be done again. The Cornwall site was a former china clay pit which had
become too ecologically damaged to ever replenish itself naturally. Taking only 2½ years to construct the
project opened its doors on 17th March 2001 and welcomed 1.2m visitors in the first year. Over its 22 years
of operating, it has had an economic impact of over £2.2b on the local area with 80% local procurement.
Eden is not a Cornish company coming to Morecambe, this will be a Morecambe charity aiming to connect
people with the natural world.
b) Why Morecambe? – Morecambe Bay is an environmental jewel in terms of scientific research with its diverse
patchwork of landscapes from sands, mudflats and salt marshes to limestone grasslands and woodlands. It is
also very well connected and has the closest beach to any motorway in the country. As a once thriving
holiday resort, the town boasts a fantastic stock of housing and architecture but since the decline in tourism
from the late 1970’s plus the installation of the power station the demographic of the town has changed
dramatically and has consequently fallen on hard times.
c) Aim of the project – to attract over 700,000 visitors each year by creating a seaside destination for the 21st
Century. Within every space there will be ground-breaking immersive experiences that encourage visitors to
be curious about the natural world and to make Morecambe Bay itself a place that is understood and
celebrated. More than 50% of the 45,000m2 site, including the promenade, will remain within Public Realm
to ensure the external spaces and landscaping will link the venue sensitively to Morecambe Bay and to the
town to encourage social and economic ambitions for the area. The project will also work alongside the 425
schools within the 25mile radius on the Morecambe Bay Curriculum; a community-curated, place-based
approach to learning about sustainability, from early-years through to postgraduate, that focuses on
preparing young people for the jobs of the future.
d) Key dates – construction to begin November 2023, allowing Morecambe a full summer season of business
and for Vintage on the Bay festival to take place. Completion is aimed by the spring of 2026 however
depending on how the construction develops, a phased opening is preferable.
e) Key partners – Lancaster City Council, Lancaster County Council, Lancaster University and the Lancashire
Enterprise Partnership.
f) Questions from members of the public:
i. Have rising sea levels been taken into consideration when planning? – flood modelling was part of the
planning application so the building has been designed to cope.
ii. The sands are constantly shifting, will there be any construction going out into the bay? – no, the site is
bound by the outer promenade.
iii. How will the domes be constructed? – the project is hoping the frames can be constructed in timber then
covered in ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) which is a lightweight material alternative to glass. It is also
allows excellent light and UV transmission, is self-cleaning, has a low flammability (270°C) and is considered
to be self-extinguishing.
iv. How are you going to manage visitor numbers? – The forecast is for 3,750 visitors/day at peak and between
1,200/1,500 off peak which is no more than what the Morrisons attract in a day. There will be timed
ticketing to help manage the flow on local traffic with the possibility of using a shuttlebus from the M6 Park
and Ride at Lancaster. You do need private cars to come into Morecambe as the town itself needs to feel the
economic benefit.
v. Has the visitor impact assessment covered as far as Silverdale? – No, not directly. Cumbria Tourism and
Marketing Lancashire are the DMO’s (Destination Management Organisation) who will hold all the relevant
data on the area and have been excellent to work with. Morecambe Bay Partnership will also have access to
various transport data which may be of use.
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vi. Will there be any investigations into the pollutants in the Bay, particular the high levels of PFAS
(perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances) recently discovered flowing in from the River Wyre?
Lancaster University are keen to measure the bay continually however the role of the project is to educate
people and to be a genuine catalyst for environmental improvement. Firstly, you need to raise awareness as
to the current ‘health of the bay’, instigate behaviour changes, then make sure policies are in place to help.
Eden are trying to demonstrate a better way of living and to change people’s mindset.
vii. Is there any commitment to improving other areas of Morecambe? – The Eden site is just one piece of a
jigsaw and has to be part of a wider redevelopment strategy for it to succeed. Firm believer in success must
be shared and will be looking to link with smaller community projects from Barrow to Fleetwood as well.
Another way they will encourage the economic regeneration is by housing the back of house admin and
finance teams off site and into the town itself.
g) Thanks given to Tim Narey from Chairman Mike Fletcher on behalf of the Silverdale PC and residents for his
attendance at tonight’s assembly and for his excellent, and well received presentation
13357. Matters Arising from Members of the Public – none
13358. Meeting Closed – 9:30pm

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Appendix 1 – Circulated Report from Lancashire County Councillor, Phillippa Williamson
Hello,
Once again, it has been a very busy but enjoyable year represen?ng Silverdale and all the residents of Lancaster Rural
North as your County Councillor.
Looking back over the year, the Queen’s Pla?num Jubilee celebra?ons were a par?cular highlight. The community
spirit was incredible locally and across the county with schools and village centers transformed into a sea of colour
and adorned with majes?c decora?ons to mark the occasion. The County Council’s registra?on service even gave a
special commemora?ve coin to parents who registered the birth of their child over the Pla?num Jubilee Bank Holiday
weekend!
Very sadly, only four months later, we received the news of Her Majesty’s death and the County Council’s role was to
help enact the na?onal plan for this eventuality whilst also marking the succession of King Charles Ill. As a permanent
reminder of-Her Majesty, her service to the country and mark her special rela?onship with Lancashire as our Duke of
Lancaster, we have renamed the Assembly Hall to the council chamber at County Hall the Pla?num Jubilee Room.
In February we all also watched on in horror as the Russian invasion of the Ukraine began. The County’s Refugee
Integra?on Team is leading work with districts and other partners on the Homes for Ukraine scheme. So far we have
supported more than 1,200 people who have rese?led in Lancashire and many families in Silverdale but also across
our district have generously opened up their homes to Ukrainian guests.
A great deal has happened throughout the year so here are just some highlights of what the County Council has been
doing:
Delivering be?er services
• Launched our Love Clean Streets App to make it easier to report highway faults on the go.
• Repaired more than 67,000 potholes on our roads.
• Launched a pilot average speed camera scheme on five of the county’s most high-risk A-Roads. Two of those
roads are in our area – the A683 from junc?on 34 of the M6 to Kirkby Lonsdale, and the A6 in Lancaster
between the city center and J33 of the M6.
• Collaborated in a ground-breaking TV documentary series following the work of Lancashire’s Coroner’s
Service.
• Held the inaugural Lancashire Choir of the Year compe??on.
• Launched ‘Crowd Fund Lancashire’ – Lancashire’s £500,000 Culture and Sport Fund to support community-led
ideas for cultural and spor?ng ac?vi?es.
• Hosted two Parish and Town Council conferences – I am proud to say Silverdale and the other parish and
town councils in Lancaster Rural North were very well represented. As a result liaison and collabora?on
between the County Council and our local parish and town councils is maturing – so we can all do more to
support and improve services and ameni?es in our area.
Caring for the vulnerable
• Improved adult and children’s social care so these services are be?er joined-up with those delivered by our
partners, such as the NHS. This is helping avoid hospital admissions and ge?ng pa?ents out of hospital as
soon as possible.
• Improved our Children’s Services – now graded by Ofsted as GOOD.
• Built a new specialist adult care home and a new children and adult short break center.
• Launched our Warm and Welcome scheme focused on the library network. Working with parish and town
councils and local community groups over 150 places have been established for residents to go to where they
know they will get a warm, friendly welcome together with hot drinks and advice if they need it. Carnforth
Library was the first in the county to launch the scheme.
Protec?ng the environment
• Lancashire held its first Climate Summit and unveiled its climate and environment strategy.
• Petrol and diesel cars in the council’s fleet were replaced with electronic vehicles.
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• Installed hundreds of electric vehicle charging points and pilo?ng new ways of EV charging for people who do
not have off-street parking (66% of housing in the county is terraced), including charging points integrated
into street ligh?ng columns and pavement cable channels to allow charging at home, hiding the cable under
the pavement.
• The county’s first rubber roads were laid using technology that will revolu?onise road repairs, help the
environment, and save money.
• Enhanced our Household Waste Recycling Centers – including Keer Bridge – to provide vital support to
residents and businesses.
Suppor?ng economic growth
• Published our first ever Economic Strategy.
• Secured planning permission for a new first class cricket ground in Lancashire on land owned by the County
Council in a commercial partnership with Lancashire Cricket Club. The year-round facility will host top .class
mens and womens compe??ve matches each year, as an alterna?ve site to Emirates Old Trafford. It will also
provide a new training base for all Lancashire’s mens and womens teams, from age-group to the first team.
The new facili?es will be made available to the local community, including for local cricket clubs and schools
across the whole county.
• Successfully bid for over £200m of projects in Lancashire from the second round of-4-b_ government’s
Levelling Up Fund. This included £50m to develop public transport, walking and cycling projects and £50m
towards Eden North.
• We published the Lancashire 2050 strategic framework at the Speakers’ Rooms in Westminster. Broadcast
live by the BBC, we showcased all that is great about Lancashire in the heart of Government in our drive to
a?ract more investment to the county.
Lancashire is a huge county – around 1200 square miles, 80% of which is rural and with a popula?on of 1.2m people.
To deliver all the front-line services residents expect and more costs just over £1bn a year (our 620+ schools are
funded separately by the government).
Of that £1bn budget, 65% is spent on adult and children’s social care and £163m is available for highways, transport
and ‘ac?ve travel’ (walking/cycling). Running the libraries, museums, conserva?on, archive and music services;
suppor?ng economic development ac?vity and helping over 3000 businesses, takes up the rest of the budget.
We all contribute to that £1bn through our council taxes and it is essen?al we get value for money. Over the last year
the council has been impacted by rising cost? like the rest of the county. But these pressures have been met whilst
maintaining the full range of services.
For 2023/24. Council Tax will increase by 3.99%. This is the same increase as last year and means the county council
will deliver balanced budgets for the four years ahead, as well retaining healthy financial reserves to protect against
any future economic vola?lity. In contrast, over 80% of county councils across the country are raising their council tax
bills by 4.99% – some by up to 10% and many do not have reserves of similar levels as Lancashire to call on if needed.
Please get in touch – It is an enormous privilege to be your County Councillor. It is also a great pleasure to work with
residents and your Parish Councillors who each work so hard to support the community and improve ameni?es in
the village.
The County Council has introduced a number of small grant schemes to help parish and town councils and local
community groups. These include grants to improve public rights of way and biodiversity which are well used locally.
But there are other funds available and as your County Councillor I also have grant funding to support grass roots
community projects – this grant has been increased by £500 this coming year to mark the corona?on of King Charles
Ill.
So, if you think that a project you are working on may benefit from this type of funding, or if there are any issues you
would like my support with please let me know and I will do my absolute best to help.
County Councillor Phillippa Williamson Leader, Lancashire County Council Lancaster Rural North
E: Phillippa.Williamson@lancashire.gov.uk
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Appendix 2 – Circulated Report from Parish Council Chairman, Mike Fletcher
This represents a summary of the major activities of your Parish Council during 2022/23. I will enlarge on this during
the meeting when there will be an opportunity for clarification and questions.
Budget and Parish Precept
Our principal funding source is the Parish Precept. The precept request for 2023-24 is £57,857 which equates to an
average cost to each property of £80.37.
The planned expenditure for next year includes the following;
a) Parish Council administration, approximately £16,255. These include staff costs, auditors’ fees, insurances,
room hire, website costs, association of local councils’ membership, a nominal expense allowance to each
Councillor and some planned communication improvements including a new website.
b) Routine maintenance costs, approximately £24,736. This covers maintenance of all the sites and facilities
that the Parish Council is responsible for including cleaning and consumables for the public toilets, grass
cutting at the playground and electricity and maintenance of the parish clock.
c) Donations under Section 137 of the Local Government Act, about £1,400. These include local Air Ambulance
and the AONB unit and a small amount set aside for additional benefits to the village.
d) Planned expenditure provisions. These are determined each year based on what are identified as necessary,
but affordable requirements within the parish. Next year this will include: £7,500 towards a medium-term
replacement programme for the playground equipment, £6,300 on woodland and wells management, £500
on refurbishing public benches and notice boards, £600 on road safety and defibrillators and finally £400 on
street decorations.
Parking
Various options to alleviate the parking problems in the village are under review but since the Parish Council does
not own suitable or accessible land these options are severely restricted.
Public Toilets
It is recognised that in the longer term we will be faced with the need to replace the facility completely but the costs
of doing so will be very high. In the meantime, faced with increasing maintenance and service costs and occasional
damage due to vandalism the budget will have to be continuously adjusted accordingly.
Public Benches
We now have a total of over 50 benches distributed throughout the village and the renovation project to replace
older, deteriorating parts. This will avoid the need for attention for many years whilst retaining the appearance and
comfort of traditional seating. Residents continue to arrange purchase of additional benches as a memorial.
Working Groups
You may recollect that we introduced working groups to reduce the time taken at Parish Council meetings on
detailed discussion. Each group structure consists typically of three or four councillors with appropriate specialist
knowledge together with co-opted members of the public expressing an interest. Meetings can take place outside
formal Parish Council meetings. The concept has worked well. Not only have the formal meetings been shortened
but topics requiring a rapid decision such as planning applications can be resolved.
The most recent Group, now 14 in total, has been created to help residents understand the implications of the new
legislation and make suggestions on how to contribute to the trend towards Net Zero Carbon emission. This is a
significant subject – if you read nothing else then study the information from the CSE report for Silverdale civil parish.
A pdf version is available from us – just sign the sheet as you exit the meeting.
Playground
A second allocation of trees from the Landscape Trust will be used to supplement the existing hedge on the northern
side and to replace any that have died since last year. Council is grateful for the kind contribution of additional
specimen trees donated in memory of loved ones.
Risk Assessments
Recognising the potential danger in and around the village wells, Council is considering how best to reduce any risks
involved. Warning notices are already in place at Bankwell, Burtonwell and Woodwell.
May Elections
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The term of office of all parish councillors ends in May and a local election will be held on May 4. All residents on the
electoral role are eligible to stand and details can be obtained from the Clerk, Denise Challenor (tel: 01524 761824,
email: clerk.silverdale@gmail.com). Full information can be obtained on line from:
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/candidate-or-agent/parish-council-elections-england
In conclusion, I offer my sincere thanks for all the support and patience so generously given to me during what has
been a steep learning curve as chairman. In particular, I single out my councillor colleagues, Denise our ever-vigilant
clerk and her deputy, and our City and County councillors June and Phillippa. Without their help, so freely given, my
task would have been so much more difficult.
Mike Fletcher
Chairman, Silverdale Parish Council

The Annual Parish Assembly
will be held in the Main Room of the Gaskell Hall, Silverdale on
Thursday 16th March 2023, at 7pm with light refreshments; for a 7.15pm start.

Only persons registered as local government electors for the Parish will be entitled to vote at the meeting, but the meeting will be open to the public during the proceedings unless the Parish Meeting, by resolution, directs otherwise.

AGENDA
1. To receive apologies for absence.

2. To approve and sign the Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on the 17th March 2022.

3. To consider matters arising from the Minutes, not covered elsewhere on the Agenda.

4. To receive a report from Sergeant L Brown.

5. To receive a presentation from Mr Tim Narey on the Eden Project proposed for Morecambe.

Annual Parish Meeting

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