MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF BILLINGTON AND LANGHO PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON
Monday, 25th May 2026 at 7.15pm
AT THE COMMUNITY HALL
PRESENT
Parish Councillors. Brian Haworth, Martin Hincks, Dennis Johnson, Katie Swingewood, Cllr Tony Austin,
In attendance –2 x members of the Public, R Greenwood – clerk
ITEM 1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
1.1 There were apologies for absence from John Aspden, Eva McPrice and Michael Collins.
ITEM 2 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
- Register of Interests – Councillors were reminded of the need to update their register of interests.
- No members disclosed a personal interest in any matter to be discussed at the meeting.
ITEM 3 ACCEPTANCE OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING
3.1 Minutes of the meeting held April 2026 were accepted and signed as a true record.
ITEM 4 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
4.1 The two people who are archiving the parish council records attended the meeting. The Annual minute book from 1895 to 2008 has been scanned and digitised onto an external hard drive. The parish council needs advice on how best to make these a public record and to link with other local history sites on the internet. The archivists were thanked by all members and they have taken old parish maps and minute books to work on.
ITEM 5 PLAYGROUNDS
5.1 No report was received from the Lengthsman.
5.2 The works at Billington Playground for the play safety surface has been completed and signed off.
5.3 During a playground site inspection it was found that memorial plaques had been placed on the pony fencing above the brook. These are in the name of Hicking. The pony fencing is due to be repaired and replaced and the parish council would like to contact the Hicking family to make arrangements for the plaques.
5.4 There has further complaints of dog fouling in Langho Playground. The dog warden has been contacted and signs put up.
5.5 Langho Playground vehicle barrier – the parish council has recently had the barriers installed on the driveway into Langho Playground. This due to an incident with a child and a car. On a recent playground inspection, it was found that these barriers have been deliberately vandalised and will now need replacing again. This has led to cars again accessing the playground. The police have been informed regarding the vehicle and the vandalism.
ITEM 6 ACCOUNTS
6.1 The following cheques were presented for payment.
| Cheque 202741 | RVBC for the Domain name | £19.32 |
| Cheque 202742 | Lalc Subscription | £755.47 |
| Cheque 202743 | Void | |
| Cheque 202744 | Travel | £27.76 |
| Cheque 202745 | void | |
| Cheque 202746 | No dogs allow signs for Langho Playground | £27.97 |
| Cheque 202747 | HMRC Employers NIC Month 1 | £20.97 |
| Cheque 202748 | HMRC Employers NIC Month 2 | £20.97 |
| Cheque 202749 | HMRC Clerks Nico | £10.40 |
| Cheque 202750 | Clerk Salary month 2 | £546.43 |
| Cheque 202751 | Open Office – internal audit | £60.00 |
| Cheque 202752 | Bluebell Northwest Ltd – (see 6.2) | £9459.00 |
| Cheque 202753 | Void | |
| Cheque 202754 | Old Langho Church grass cut x 2 | £500.00 |
| Cheque 202755 | C Walton Lengthsman | £276.92 |
6.2 The Cenotaph is in need of repair, RVBC have given the parish council a grant for this works Bluebell Northwest Ltd are to undertake the work commencing June 2026. The cost of which is £31,530. This is the 30% down payment on the works.
The bank statement was presented and signed.
6.3 The AGAR was accepted and signed.
6.4 A quote was accepted to undertake the repair of the seesaw in Langho Playground.
.
ITEM 7 PLANNING
7.1 The following applications were received and considered.
3/2026/0274 Riding Cottage – no objections.
3/2026/0319 and 3/2026/0323 Field Barn, Old Langho. The clerk to write to planning as the map does not show where the location of the building is and there is not design statement on the either application.
ITEM 8 HIGHWAY
8.1 No reports were received.
ITEM 9 OFFICERS REPORT
9.1 Borough Councillor Tony Austin continues to voice the concerns of the parish council about the removal of removal of some of the consultation processes on planning applications (the number of objections required to trigger decision-making at the actual Planning Committee and also the operation of the ward councillor Call-in).
he will be attending the LALC meeting to speak about this. In addition he is concerned about the Local Plan issued by RVBC, this too will be highlighted at the LALC meeting.
ITEM 10 FLOOD CONCERNS AND UPDATE
10.1 No reports have been received.
ITEM 11 LENGTHSMAN CONTRACT
11.1. The Lengthsman contract is up for renewal. A form of word has been approved to be displayed on the three parish notice boards and onto social media. Anyone with an interest in taking on this role should email the clerk – email address at the bottom of the page.
ITEM 12 DEVOLUTION
12.1 There are no updates.
ITEM 13 CORRESPONDENCE.
13.1 Emails were received regarding an overgrown hedge, this has been reported on Love Clean Streets App. A letter of thanks has been received from both Langho in Bloom and Ribble Valley Rail.
.ITEM 14 DATES OF NEXT MEETING. All at 7.15pm.
29th June 2026, 27th July 2026, 28th September 2026, 26th October 2026 and 30th November 2026
A request was made that the Annual Meetings were moved from the bank holiday date.