Archive for category: News

Road Closure Notice

Between 08:00 on Monday 20^th January 2025 to

17:00 on Friday 24^th January 2025; or, until completion of the works within this period

Silverdale, Stankelt Road will be closed for essential utility works to be carried out

During the works,

Service 49 will not serve Silverdale and will commence opposite Leighton Moss Nature Reserve on Storrs Lane

Service 51 will continue serving Silverdale except for Silverdale Green

For enquiries, please contact: Stagecoach on 01524 422217

 

TWO VACANCIES

CLERK AND RESPONSIBLE FINANCIAL OFFICER (RFO)

MINUTE TAKER ROLE

7th January 2025

CLERK AND RESONSIBLE FINANCIAL OFFICER (RFO)

Required to work on average 35 hours per month.

Salary dependant on experience and qualifications. NJC Scales: LC2 18-23, dependent on experience and qualifications.

As Parish Clerk you will be home based with your own equipment (except laptop which is provided) and work closely with the elected parish councillors, using your knowledge and expertise to help develop and maximise the facilities and services we have to offer our village.

You will ensure that all legal, statutory, financial, and other governing provisions relating to the Council are observed, all Council meetings are properly administered, and decisions effectively implemented whilst developing healthy working partnerships with key local and regional bodies.

Suitably qualified, highly motivated, enthusiastic and community focused, you will bring sound leadership, administrative, communication, IT, financial and organisational skills and be flexible in approach and able to meet deadlines.

We offer excellent nationally based terms and conditions of employment for this post which will involve working some evenings.

Meetings are generally held on the first Tuesday evening of each month with an additional Annual Assembly in March.

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Organising and attending council meetings, preparing agendas, and writing minutes when required.
• Maintaining/updating files and documents
• Implementing the Council’s decision’s
• Attending to all correspondence including letters and emails
• Distributing relevant information to Councillors
• Ensuring that the Council’s obligations for risk assessment are met
• Maintaining an Asset Register
• Acting as the Responsible Financial Officer, managing and reporting on the Parish Council’s finances, including HMRC PAYE, annual budget preparation, payment of invoices, reclaiming VAT and preparing the accounts for the annual audit, liaising with both internal and external auditors
• To apply, monitor and report on any grants/funding which is applied for
• Monitoring planning applications and circulating to the Council
• Liaising with District and County Councillor, LALC and NALC
• Ensuring that the Council conducts its business properly and provides independent, objective and professional advice and support.
• Enter information on the website:  www.silverdale-lancs-pc.gov.uk

MINUTE TAKER

Required for 10 to 16 hours per month to take the Minutes of the Meetings normally held on the first Tuesday of the month (except in Election year) plus an extra meeting in March.  To ensure they are confirmed by the Council as correct.

There is an initial 6-month probationary period for both posts.

APPLICATIONS INVITED FOR EITHER VACANCY TO THE CLERK.

 

Silverdale Parish Council has received funding to explore developing local, low carbon, public transport options.

The ‘clean energy’ grant, from a regional £2 million Community Energy Fund, will enable the Parish Council to look at green options to link Silverdale railway station, village and the surrounding National Landscapes of Arnside and Silverdale, by making Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles or EV available. The parish council has appointed consultants The TAS Partnership to produce a ‘Silverdale Sustainable Transport Study’ to identify options to improve transport in the local area for residents and visitors.

It’s hoped this will reduce private car use and associated CO2 emissions and improve public accessibility to healthcare facilities.

Now, people across Lancashire are being encouraged to apply for a slice of the fund to develop ‘clean energy’ projects in their area.

The Community Energy Fund can help groups get projects off the ground, such as solar panel networks, wind farms and hydro power, rural heat networks, electric vehicle charging points and car clubs.

Aimed at helping local communities to generate and cut their consumption of fossil fuel based energy, the scheme means community groups and eligible voluntary groups in urban and rural communities can apply for a part of £2million available locally to develop energy projects in their areas.

It’s being rolled out locally by the North West Net Zero Hub, one of five regional hubs nationwide, in conjunction with Lancashire County Council and funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as part of a national £10million programme.

County Councillor Shaun Turner, cabinet member for Environment and Climate Change at Lancashire County Council, said:

“We’re absolutely committed to protecting Lancashire’s environment and as an organisation it is one of our four key priorities.

“Reducing greenhouse gases, ensuring infrastructure and services are resilient to climate change and clean, affordable energy are all incredibly important.

“As a council we also know how crucial it is that we work with communities and partner organisations so that we can achieve these aims, as we cannot do it in isolation.

“We want to build on all the good work that has already been done and I’m really looking forward to seeing more clean, affordable energy schemes in Lancashire.”

CONSUMER ALERTS – JULY 2024

The following alerts have been published by Lancashire Trading Standards…

Bogus property repairers

Beware cold callers knocking on doors offering property repair work.  An older resident agreed to a small external painting job for what initially seemed a reasonable price but quickly escalated to nearly £1000 for less than an hour’s work.  The traders revisited the Preston resident later the same day wanting more money and threatening to cause damage.

This resident was cold called, but the same trader also used flyers to generate business.  Be very wary about contacting traders via flyers.  Best advice is to always use known local trusted traders.

Trading Standards advice is to always say no to cold callers.  The Safetrader scheme can help you find a trader in your area, contact 0303 333 1111 or go to www.safetrader.org.uk.

Mattress scam

Beware being caught off guard by mattress sellers in your area.  A resident in the Fylde area came back from the shops to find a white van partially blocking their drive.  The driver stated he had a Premier Inn mattress for sale, surplus to requirements.  The £150 mattress was sealed but has since been found to not have appropriate flammability labelling and looks to be of poor quality.

Cold callers offering household goods

Reports of door knocking throughout Lancashire have been received.  The sellers offer household goods such as tea towels, dish cloths and other homewares.  Often the sellers can make you feel uncomfortable or sorry for them.  Never feel pressured to buy anything on your doorstep, the goods may be sold at inflated prices and be of poor quality.

Email voucher request scam

This hacking scam has recently been reported by two Lancashire residents.  Beware receiving an email from a close friend or acquaintance that initially states “I’m unable to speak over the phone due to serious throat pain caused by laryngitis.  Let me know if you receive this email.”  If a response is obtained the sender requests an e-gift card from Apple, Amazon, Apple Tesco, Sainsbury’s or Morrisons be sent directly by email to a friend of theirs who is seriously ill.  In one case the friend had liver cancer, in another case it was for a niece who had a type of blood cancer.  This scam aims to prevent you ringing the person whose has been hacked and preys on recipients’ kind natures.  Unsuspecting recipients lost between £250 and £300.

Be suspicious of unusual, out of character email requests from people you know, double check the email address the email has been sent from.

Driveway scam

Beware cold callers knocking on doors in the Lancaster area offering to spray your driveway to kill weeds and/or power wash your drive.  One resident paid £250 and suspects no weed killer was used.  Another resident paid £200 upfront as part payment for the job, the traders did not return to carry out the work.

Trading Standards advice is to always say no to cold callers.  The Safetrader scheme can help you find a trader in your area, contact 0303 333 1111 or go to www.safetrader.org.uk.

Dating investment scam

A Lancashire resident lost £6,000 after meeting someone on a dating site who claimed to be a stock trader.  After a number of conversations, and a future plan to meet, his date convinced the complainant to go into business with her, asking him to take out a loan in his name, which they would pay back together. The money was to be used to invest in stocks to generate additional profit which would then be invested into the business.

However, when it came time to pay the loan back, the scammer vanished with the money. This was a very professional scam, with an untraceable website and a plausible back story. Never send money to someone unrecommended, who you do not know, no matter how good the business opportunity sounds.

Message scam

Be suspicious and use caution if you receive a text or What’s App message from a family member or close friend from a mobile number you do not recognise asking for money.  Typically, the message can allege it is from your son or daughter saying this is their new number and the request for money will sound urgent.

Fraudulent Virgin calls

Beware receiving a scam call from Virgin Media.  One householder, on answering the phone call, stated they were not with Virgin but the caller managed to convince them they were carrying out improvement/ modernisation work for all internet providing companies.  The caller managed to obtain personal information and shortly after tried to obtain money via the internet users Paypal account.

Another similar internet related scam call claims to be checking internet speeds, claiming the speed the user is getting is much less than they are paying for.  This then leads to the caller advising they need to connect your hub to the main server and ask you to download an App to your phone, potentially enabling the caller direct access to your computer.

Report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via www.actionfraud.police.uk.

Scam emails can be reported via report@phishing.gov.uk.  Suspicious text messages can be forwarded to 7726.

For information on current scams see www.facebook.com/StanleyDards/.  Contact the Trading Standards Service via the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133.