fairer council – Page 2 – Saddleworth Liberal Democrats

21Sep 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Councillor Sykes offers condolences after the death of former council leader Jean Stretton

Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE has offered condolences to the family of former Oldham Council Leader Jean Stretton. Councillor Sykes said: “I’ve known Jean since she was first elected for Hollinwood in 2003 and I’ve worked closely with her in number of roles; not least when she was Leader of the Council between 2016 and 2018.” “She was Oldham’s first female Leader and a great advocate for so many causes during her time on the council, including Oldham Foodbank and the Credit Union. Jean will be sorely missed by all who worked with her and today my thoughts and prayers go with her husband John, her two stepchildren, five grandchildren and her great granddaughter at this very difficult time.”

07Sep 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Oldham Council bosses secretly blacklist twelve

Borough news, CSE, fairer council

After recent chaotic council meetings, Oldham Council bosses have not only beefed up security, but also secretly blacklisted 12 people who are banned from attending council meetings. Liberal Democrat Councillor Mark Kenyon said: “My colleague noticed security staff with a list of names and photos of 12 people. He was told they were the people banned from Oldham Council meetings.” The councillor for Grotton, Springhead and Lees has requested a copy of the blacklist from senior council officers only to be turned down. He continues: “Behaviour at council meetings from some people – both councillors and those watching – has been abhorrent and behaviour does need to improve but banning people and keeping that ban secret is just plain wrong. Me and my colleagues were elected, in part, to ask…

24Aug 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Change in law barring sex offenders from standing for or holding elected office is welcomed

Borough news, CSE, domestic abuse and violence, fairer council

After years of campaigning, Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has welcomed the news that laws will be changed to prevent people on the sex offenders register holding elected office. Councillor Sykes said: “I am pleased that the common-sense law change is finally coming into effect. Rishi Sunak announced that the government would adopt this proposal back when he was a Local Government Minister in 2018 but he’s dragged his feet on getting the law changed.” The changes to the Local Government Act were finally put before MPs in June and were signed off by both Houses of Parliament on July 6th. The Statuary Instruments (S.I) to make this law have now also been approved. The new regulations come into effect immediately for all local elections in England.…

24Aug 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Council must support the 3,000 pensioners currently losing out on pension credits

Borough news, fairer council, health and social care

Shaw representative and Oldham Liberal Democrat Group Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has called on council leaders to act after it was revealed that 3,033 over-65s in Oldham are currently not receiving their full pension entitlement. The figures were uncovered in research conducted by the charity Independent Age, who say that on average, pensioners are missing out on payments of £63.54 each month. Councillor Sykes said: “Pensioners are already facing severe cost-of-living pressures with energy bills and the cost of the weekly shop rocketing, an extra £60 per month could make a massive difference. Oldham Council must play a proactive role in reaching out to and helping these pensioners claim what they are entitled to.” Independent Age research also shows that 51% of over-65s across the north of England are…

01Aug 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

First community meeting post-Covid

Borough news, fairer council

Crompton Liberal Democrat Councillor, Diane Williamson, and her Shaw and Crompton colleagues, hosted the first Community meeting, since the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions. “It was so nice to see local residents, officers and Councillors at the Lifelong Learning on Wednesday 27 July. GMP and FCHO officers were in attendance as well Mike Barker, the new Accountable Officer appointed for NHS Oldham, who came to speak to the meeting about the significant news about the new Shaw and Crompton Health Centre.” Residents mainly came to speak about issues on Durden Mews and Queen Street. Meetings have already taken place, organised by the Shaw Liberal Councillors, where officers from FCHO and GMP are working with them to investigate and resolve the problems. “The next meeting is on Wednesday 31 August at…

26Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Government plans for council finance watchdog will do nothing to improve frontline services

Borough news, fairer council, Parliamentary news

Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has hit out against government plans to introduce new financial oversight measures for local government spending. Councillor Sykes said: “We’re in the eye of a cost-of-living storm right now and what we need is a government that empowers local councils to direct funding to frontline services across social care, housing and health. Instead, we have Conservative ministers who are making local councils jump through hoops, count beans and increase bureaucracy and red tape.” The Government announced that it would introduce a new regulator to audit council spending. But the Liberal Democrat Leader and representative for Shaw dismissed the plans as “unnecessary red tape that will do nothing for ordinary residents and just increase costs for councils”. Councillor Sykes argued: “Local councils need…

23Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

No Pride in Policing!

Borough news, fairer council

In shock news, Greater Manchester Police has pulled its rainbow livered pride car from appearing at Oldham Pride. Crompton Liberal Democrat Councillor Louie Hamblett recently received the news as a member of Oldham Pride committee. Cllr Hamblett said: “With a force now in special measures you would think they would want to be doing all they can to work with the community to rebuild trust and confidence in policing. Decisions like this from Chief Constable Watson seem counterintuitive and to drag policing backwards into its hard-line, unpassionate past. “Supporting community groups goes hand-in-hand with active neighbourhood police work. Building good relationships with people means that police are more aware of what is going on locally, and have the knowledge and awareness to better combat crime that is affecting communities. This…

18Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Lib Dems Blast Barnes

Borough news, fairer council

Wednesday’s Oldham Council meeting was another extraordinarily chaotic affair after which local Liberal Democrats have condemned Conservative Councillor Robert Barnes who represents Chadderton South. https://twitter.com/CharGreenLDR/status/1547546189222010881?s=20&t=lx_hR9HtOut7XKr83D5R6w Mark Kenyon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grotton, Springhead & Lees, said: “Local Conservative voters must be wondering what exactly it is they’ve done wrong to deserve a Tory councillor quite like Robert Barnes. “I speak to voters every single day and Conservative people tend to be fierce advocates for the value of tradition and playing by the rules. They also tend to be keenly interested in the council getting things done rather than waffling on. He continued: “So there must be a lot of head scratching going on after seeing Barnes’ performance on Wednesday. Barnes repeatedly refused to follow the rules, completely ignored the Mayor…

13Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Liberal Democrats deliver more transparency on public decisions

Borough news, fairer council

Oldham Council is changing its approach to recording Cabinet decisions after local Liberal Democrat councillor Sam Al-Hamdani raised concerns over a lack of transparency when making commercially sensitive decisions. Until last month, when decisions were made using information from reports which were not put in the public domain, the minutes of the decisions simply showed “that the recommendations as contained within commercially sensitive report be approved”. Councillor Al-Hamdani said: “That is simply not good enough. That report is not made public, so that minute simply doesn’t tell the public what the Cabinet has agreed to do, and they have no means of finding out. “We work for the people of Oldham, and all the decisions that we take should be transparent. No-one should have to hunt to find out what…

11Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Putting local children first

Borough news, CSE, fairer council

Oldham & Saddleworth’s Liberal Democrat councillors have said that the report into historic safeguarding and CSE in the borough is a challenge to put children at the heart of everything the Council does and so have submitted a motion for the next Council Meeting on 13th July. Mark Kenyon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grotton, Springhead & Lees, said: “The implications of Newsam & Ridgway’s report will take a long while to unpick – we have 50 outstanding questions alone – but there’s two things we can do straight away to make a change. Our motion for the next Council meeting asks that all future Council decisions made either by officers or councillors be explicitly weighed against the potential risk to children and on the level of Council spending locally.” Mark…

Category: fairer council