01Jul 2017 by Saddleworth Lib Dems
North West Ambulance Award for Saddleworth Liberal Democrats

North West Ambulance Award for Saddleworth Liberal Democrats

Saddleworth News
[caption id="attachment_160" align="alignleft" width="300"] Cllr Garth Harkness with Lisa Stanway from NWAS (who supported us with the scheme and supported the nomination)[/caption] Oldham and Saddleworth Liberal Democrats have won an award from North West Ambulance Service. Councillor Garth Harkness attended the North West Ambulance Cardiac Smart award on Friday 23rd June 2017 in Leyland. The awards were presented to groups who have helped make the local area more resilient in terms of improving the clinical outcomes of those who have unfortunately suffered a cardiac arrest. Saddleworth based Liberal Democrat councillors Alan Roughley, Garth Harkness and Derek Heffernan ran a campaign to get a defibrillator in every village in Saddleworth to be accessible 24 hours. Councillor Garth Harkness said “It is a great privilege to be receiving such an award which…
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01Jul 2017 by Saddleworth Lib Dems
Lib Dems fighting Labour’s LAND GRAB in Saddleworth

Lib Dems fighting Labour’s LAND GRAB in Saddleworth

Saddleworth News
The Liberal Democrats have welcomed a rethink of the controversial Greater Manchester Spatial Framework. Following pressure from Liberal Democrats, the recently elected Greater Manchester Mayor has appointed Salford’s Mayor Paul Dennett to oversee a review and rewrite of the proposals. As part of the proposals, Saddleworth is at major risk from massive over-development of open spaces for housing in two phases. Phase one grabs large strategic sites like Fletcher’s Mill and neighbouring Green Belt. Phase two focuses dozens of local sites that have been offered by landowners for development and profit across Saddleworth for hundreds of new houses affecting every village. Many of these sites are in really sensitive open spaces and would have a devastating effect on our local communities if developed. Local Liberal Democrats are encouraging residents to…
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01Jul 2017 by Saddleworth Lib Dems
Alan Belmore open letter to Saddleworth South residents

Alan Belmore open letter to Saddleworth South residents

Saddleworth News
[caption id="attachment_152" align="alignleft" width="300"] Cllr Alan Belmore[/caption] Dear Neighbour, My name is Alan Belmore, and for the past two years I have served as the Saddleworth Parish Councillor for Greenfield and also as leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the council. During that time, I have seen a Parish Council that is in urgent need of radical reform. Too often it is focused on squabbling and petty bickering, and fails to achieve anything for the people of Saddleworth. The Parish Council could be a body which campaigns for Saddleworth and delivers real benefit to the people living here. There are so many things which a united team could achieve on that council. I have therefore today committed to building the right team of people who can shake up the…
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21Jun 2017 by Saddleworth Lib Dems
Garth Harkness writes to Manchester Mayor

Garth Harkness writes to Manchester Mayor

Borough news, Saddleworth News
Liberal Democrat Councillor Garth Harkness wrote the following letter to Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham: Congratulations on being elected Greater Manchester’s first Mayor. I am sure you are aware that this week is Refugee Week. On behalf of the Oldham Council Liberal Democrat Group, I would like to raise with you the issue of the support we offer in Greater Manchester to refugees seeking employment and how we could enhance it. As you will be aware, refugees are former asylum seekers whose claims to remain and work in the UK have been allowed by the Home Office. Refugees in Greater Manchester want to work, but experience unemployment on a scale hugely disproportionate to the wider population. According to research published by the Manchester Refugee Employment Partnership in 2013, at that…
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31May 2017 by Saddleworth Lib Dems
There would be more nurses, teachers and Police in Oldham area under Liberal Democrats

There would be more nurses, teachers and Police in Oldham area under Liberal Democrats

Parliamentary news
The Liberal Democrats plan for a brighter future, with pledges to reverse Conservative cuts and increase funding for the NHS, schools and police. The Liberal Democrats would put a penny on income tax for health and care would raise £18m for the NHS in Oldham enough to fund 107 more nurses and £7m for social care. An additional £36.37m of funding for schools in Oldham paid for in part by reversing Conservative cuts to corporation tax, would be enough to pay for 200 more teachers. Meanwhile an additional £15.6m funding for Greater Manchester Police would pay for 312 more officers, helping to cut crime and ensure a stronger police presence in the area. Other key policies in the Liberal Democrat manifesto include plans for a £100bn infrastructure fund to build more homes, improve road and rail links and install fibre-optic…
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19May 2017 by Saddleworth Lib Dems
Tories lunch grab of children in Oldham

Tories lunch grab of children in Oldham

Parliamentary news
Conservative plans will take lunches away from 7,766 children in the Oldham borough 7,766 schoolchildren in the Oldham borough will lose out on free lunches, under plans announced in the Conservative manifesto. Free school lunches for pupils from reception to Year 2 were introduced by the Liberal Democrats in government, but Theresa May now plans to scrap them. The changes would cost families an average extra £480 a year for every child. The Liberal Democrats have called on Conservative candidates Kashif Ali and Christopher Glenny to make it clear whether or not they would vote for the plans. The Conservatives are also proposing to make older people pay for social care costs from the value of their own homes when they die. This means on average, families across Greater Manchester…
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09May 2017 by Saddleworth Lib Dems
Lib Dems penny for the NHS would raise £25m extra for the Oldham area

Lib Dems penny for the NHS would raise £25m extra for the Oldham area

Parliamentary news
The Liberal Democrats have announced they would plug funding gaps for the NHS and social care by putting a penny on income tax, in their first major manifesto commitment of the election campaign. The tax would raise an additional £25 Million for the Oldham area, with £18 m for the NHS and £7m for social care each year. The Liberal Democrats’ manifesto will also set out a ‘five-point recovery plan’ for NHS and social care services in their manifesto. At least 70% of Britons would happily pay an extra 1p in every pound if that money was guaranteed to go to the NHS, an ITV poll found last October. Jonathan Smith, Parliamentary candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth said: “Only this weekend a lady in Saddleworth told me she had to go all the way to Bury by…
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01May 2017 by Saddleworth Lib Dems
Greenfield Post Office Victory

Greenfield Post Office Victory

Saddleworth News
[caption id="attachment_134" align="alignleft" width="200"] Alan Belmore shows his letter from the Post Office, committing to keeping our facilities[/caption] Post Office Ltd has agreed that Greenfield Post Office will move to the Newsagents on Chew Valley Road, near to Road End, after a statutory public consultation. This follows the successful public Campaign To Keep a Post Office in Greenfield led by Richard Knowles and Councillors Alan Belmore and John McCann. Richard Knowles says “It has taken many months of lobbying and a site meeting in the newsagents to obtain Post Office Ltd’s agreement. The combination of our excellent newsagent (who still delivers newspapers) and the Post Office provides a viable future for both businesses. Public services are vital for the life and vitality of our village communities and I am delighted…
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19Apr 2017 by Saddleworth Lib Dems
Lib Dem petition to save the Green Belt and green spaces

Lib Dem petition to save the Green Belt and green spaces

Borough news, Saddleworth News
[caption id="attachment_130" align="alignleft" width="300"] Cllrs Garth Harkness and Derek Heffernan by a threatend site in Scouthead[/caption] The Liberal Democrats have started a petition to Oldham council to call on them to withdraw from the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework At the meeting on 22nd March the Liberal Democrat group proposed a motion calling Oldham Council to withdraw from the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) and to instead develop a local plan for housing and commercial development in the borough. They were frustrated by an amendment that means Oldham will now not withdraw Saddleworth North Councillor Garth Harkness said “It is frustrating that Labour, lacking the honesty to vote openly for keeping GMSF,   ‘amended’ and wrecked  our proposal by taking out the resolution to leave.  So Labour will wring its hands but make sure…
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