Please find below the minutes for the latest Formby Parish Council meeting. A copy of the minutes is available to download at the bottom of the page.
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
21 July 2025
Present: Maria Bennett (Chairman), Colin Appleton, Derek Baxter, Sandra Baxter, Dawn Brodie, Luke Brodie, Jill Butler, Karen Cavanagh, Dave Irving, Yvonne Irving, Joe Riley, Mike Weild and Paul Wiencke.
In Attendance: Claire Jenkins (Clerk) and 2 members of the public
28.0 Apologies for Absence
There were apologies received from Cllrs Hunt and Millington.
29.0 Members Declaration of Interest
29.1 There were no declarations of interest.
30.0 Public Forum
The meeting was adjourned for this item.
30.1 A Member from Formby Village Sports Club addressed the Council regarding a request to have a gate from their club to gain access to the Platinum Jubilee Park to retrieve stray balls from the Padel Court. There used to be an old gate on the fence line between the park and tennis club and they would like to reinstate this gate further along the fence.
30.2 A committee member from the Formby British Legion addressed the Council regarding the Remembrance Service in November. They can’t use the Gild Hall as they have been told that it is closing and they have been informed the Police have withdrawn their support to police the parade. Sefton Council have given them funding to have security at the parade. The parade will be different this year and start from the church after the service up to memorial gardens and back to the church. There will also be a service at Proctor Road at 12pm on 16th August to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.
The meeting was reconvened.
31.0 Minutes of the Previous Meeting
31.1 Minutes of the Ordinary meeting held on 16 June 2025
It was resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2025 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
32.0 Matters of Report from Previous Meeting
Minute 21.0 43 Bushby’s Lane – Cllrs D Irving, Y Irving and the Clerk met with a Police Officer from the Rural Crime Unit. Despite having photographs from nearby residents with wildlife including red squirrels in their gardens, it can’t be proved that the dreys or nests were in the trees at 43 Bushby’s Lane. An ecological report was done on the site, which the site owner has submitted to the police and Natural England as part of their investigation. The report is confidential, and the police can’t share this.
33.0 Chairman’s Report
33.1 The Chairman commented on how lovely the village floral displays were this year.
34.0 Planning Applications
34.1 Formby Employment Site – the objection was submitted to Sefton Council, but no additional information has been added to the application. Cllr D Baxter will write to the Environment Agency about the Ground Report. Sefton Council have asked for a piling report for best practical means and a hierarchy of planning methods starting with the quietest option and justifications.
34.2 Brackenway Site – the Environment Agency haven’t signed off the plans yet for the development. Work has begun on the access point from Formby Bypass with a temporary 30mph limit in place. Concerns were raised that the flood mitigation plans haven’t been signed off.
34.3 Shorrocks Hill – this is a hybrid application. The road (widening to 12m wide) and the housing and car park applications will go to planning committee this week. No affordable housing will be on the site.
35.0 To Discuss and Resolve the following.
35.1 To discuss the request from the tennis and sports club at Rosemary Lane to have an access gate into the park at Lonsdale Road for the purpose of retrieving tennis balls.
The item was deferred and will be further discussed at the Environment Group.
35.2 To approve a grant of £1,000 for a laptop and funding for the holiday at home scheme run by the Formby Befriending Scheme.
Members discussed the application for a laptop which has been purchased already due to the old one breaking and needed to be replaced immediately which has given them a shortfall to pay their insurance. Our rules state that items cannot be retrospectively applied for, but we do have a clause stating under exceptional circumstances we can do this.
It was resolved to approve the grant £1,000 for the laptop and holiday at home scheme.
35.3 To approve a grant of £1,500 for the family space after school club, run by Compassion Acts, for equipment and supplies and training for volunteers.
Members discussed the application and raised questions, there was previously an after-school club (Grub Club run by the Lighthouse Church) which failed, how will they ensure that this new attempt will not fail? Can they guarantee that the money will be spent in Formby and not distributed elsewhere? Why is it not run in the summer holidays? It was decided to defer the item and ask for someone to attend the next Finance meeting to answer the questions they have.
35.4 To approve a budget of £5,000 for hampers for vulnerable families at Christmas.
It was resolved to approve a budget of £5,000 for the hampers for vulnerable families at Christmas.
35.5 To approve an estimated cost of £1,300 net for the purchase of a Christmas Tree and £850 net for the dressing of the Christmas Tree.
It was resolved to approve the estimated cost of £1,300 net for the purchase of a Christmas Tree and £850 net to dress the tree.
35.6 To approve the estimated cost for the removal of the catenary wire and the replacement electrical cabling in the streetlamps on the north side of Chapel Lane.
Following repeated failure of the catenary wire infrastructure, the term contractor has recommended replacing the catenary wire with a heavier duty cable and installing a waterproof box with a rectifier for each motif within the lampposts to minimise failure risks and replace the existing underground power feed box for the real Christmas tree with a higher ingress protection level box to prevent future failure.
It was resolved to approve the cost of £1,930 net subject to approval from Sefton Council Streetlighting.
35.7 To approve the estimated cost of a replacement for the imitation tree that sits on Chapel Lane roundabout. It was noted that the old tree is no longer serviceable. Members discussed the proposal for a new conical tree to include a new enclosure, breaker and timer within the new power feed on the roundabout.
It was resolved to approve the estimated cost of £2200, for the new conical tree that sits on Chapel Lane roundabout, subject to approval from Sefton Council Street lighting department.
35.8 To approve the estimate cost of purchasing spiral lights on the lighting columns
It was resolved to approve the estimate cost of £720 to purchase spiral lights for 12 of the lighting columns.
36.0 Payments
- Employer expenses – £1.983.90
- Office lease, Sefton MBC – £291.66
- Office phone and broadband, BT – £77.90
- Flagpole lock, House of flags – £82.80
- Annual subscription, Zoom – £155.88
- Board writing, ESB Publicity – £70.00
- Headphones, Amazon – £37.93
- Annual Subscription, Gravity Forms – £45.24
Total £2,745.31
It was resolved to make the payments as listed above.
37.0 The following reports were noted (circulated with the agenda):
- Minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Group Meeting
- Minutes of the Environment Group Meeting
38.0 Date of Next Meeting:
The next Ordinary meeting of Formby Parish Council will be held on Monday 15 September 2025, 7pm, at Formby Library, Duke Street, Formby.
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