24Mar 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Time to say thanks to our schools and education staff, say Oldham Liberal Democrats

Time to say thanks to our schools and education staff, say Oldham Liberal Democrats

Borough news
At Wednesday’s full meeting of Oldham Council (24 March), the Oldham Liberal Democrats will be proposing all Councillors give a big vote of thanks to Oldham’s school and education staff after a year in which they have been hard at work delivering tuition in the most trying post-war circumstances. Saddleworth North Liberal Democrat Councillor Garth Harkness is proposing the motion. He works in an academy in Manchester with pupils with special needs and knows from first-hand experience how hard his Oldham colleagues will have been working through the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking of the motion, Councillor Harkness said: “Everyone will be aware that all students have now returned to their classrooms and workshops from March 8 of this year, but some people will be unaware that teachers and education staff have…
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24Mar 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
£2.5M cut from elderly and vulnerable yet only six paper responses to the proposals received

£2.5M cut from elderly and vulnerable yet only six paper responses to the proposals received

Borough news
With £2.5M in cuts that will hit the elderly and vulnerable in the next few months, Oldham’s Labour Council has failed to ask for the opinions and feedback from the very people who will be most affected by these cuts that will start to bite from April. Local Liberal Democrat campaigner, Mark Kenyon said: “Despite the Conservatives promising to help with Covid financing, Oldham’s Labour Council is proposing nearly £2.5 million of cuts to services for those in sheltered housing, adult social care and supported living. Many users of these services don’t use the internet.” Mark Kenyon continued: “Despite receiving assurances that those without the internet would be consulted, only six paper responses were received. More than 9,400 homes in Oldham do not have access to the internet. Digging deeper,…
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23Mar 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
£2.5M cut from elderly and vulnerable yet only six paper responses to the proposals received

£2.5M cut from elderly and vulnerable yet only six paper responses to the proposals received

Borough news
With £2.5M in cuts that will hit the elderly and vulnerable in the next few months, Oldham’s Labour Council has failed to ask for the opinions and feedback from the very people who will be most affected by these cuts that will start to bite from April. Local Liberal Democrat campaigner, Mark Kenyon said: “Despite the Conservatives promising to help with Covid financing, Oldham’s Labour Council is proposing nearly £2.5 million of cuts to services for those in sheltered housing, adult social care and supported living. Many users of these services don’t use the internet.” He continued: “Despite receiving assurances that those without the internet would be consulted, only six paper responses were received. More than 9,400 homes in Oldham do not have access to the internet. Digging deeper, it…
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15Mar 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Local Liberal Democrat Councillors seek Council action over Shaw St Paul’s ‘travesty’

Local Liberal Democrat Councillors seek Council action over Shaw St Paul’s ‘travesty’

Borough news
Two years on from its partial collapse, and after £300,000 spent making the site safe, the pile of rubble that was the historic St Paul’s Church at the corner of Rochdale Road and Crompton Way remains a blot on Shaw’s landscape, and Shaw Liberal Democrat Councillors think action by Oldham Council is long overdue. Councillor Howard Sykes MBE has written on behalf of all three Shaw Liberal Democrat Councillors to the Leader of the Council asking for urgent Council action and funding to address the ‘travesty’ of St Pauls, reminding the Leader of his promise to the people of Oldham that the Creating a Better Place funding was to be used to make improvements across the whole of the borough, and that includes Shaw. Councillor Sykes said: “With Council intervention,…
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10Mar 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Labour axe health centres but carry on spending another £68M on Spindles

Labour axe health centres but carry on spending another £68M on Spindles

Borough news
Labour in Oldham voted against the construction of three health centres in Shaw & Crompton, Chadderton and Saddleworth, while voting to carry on spending more than £68 million on the renovation of Spindles shopping centre in the next five years. Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani said: “During the council meeting, there was a very emotive speech by one of the Labour councillors about being unable to put money towards health centres while there was hunger in the borough. I don’t understand why that doesn’t apply when it comes to spending on shopping centres.” The £68.3 million spending is in addition to the original purchase price for the centre, which was more than £10 million. Councillor Al-Hamdani continued: “Regeneration of the town centre is vital. We need to have ambitious plans…
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08Mar 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Protect Crompton Moor and other Green Spaces call from local Liberal Democrat Councillor

Protect Crompton Moor and other Green Spaces call from local Liberal Democrat Councillor

Borough news
Crompton Moor may have featured recently on a BBC Countryfile programme as a place of beauty and wonderment, but Shaw Liberal Democrat Councillor and Chair of Crompton Moor Users Group, Howard Sykes MBE, is concerned that the protection of the moor and our borough’s other much-loved open spaces is threatened by the Council’s failure to properly publicise the local orders that prevent irresponsible behaviour. Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) allow local authorities to proscribe certain types of behaviour, imposing financial penalties upon those offenders who choose to ignore them. On moorland, a PSPO would typically prohibit the lighting of fires, the use of Chinese lanterns and irresponsible cycling and motor-cycling other than on certain defined routes, and place certain restrictions on dog-walking, hunting and dog fouling They are intended to…
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01Mar 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Liberal Democrats table Council budget amendment to make Oldham ‘Healthier, Greener, and Cleaner’

Liberal Democrats table Council budget amendment to make Oldham ‘Healthier, Greener, and Cleaner’

Borough news
Councillor Chris Gloster, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance and Green, is looking forward to presenting the budget amendment of the Liberal Democrat Group to next week’s Budget Council (Thursday 4 March, 6pm). “The Oldham Liberal Democrats want to make further efficiencies in civic centre bureaucracy to squeeze out more money for our priorities, and those of the public – more cash to spend on front-line services,” said Councillor Gloster. “As we begin to emerge from the nightmare of COVID-19, we wish to look at building back better in our Borough by focussing on making Oldham healthier, greener and cleaner.” The Liberal Councillors are proposing to repurpose part of Labour’s capital investment programme and find more money from cutting bureaucracy and waste elsewhere in the Council’s budget to: Invest £18 million…
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09Feb 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Shocking three year wait for disabled people left isolated without parking bays

Shocking three year wait for disabled people left isolated without parking bays

Borough news
The Liberal Democrats have revealed the shocking truth that some disabled people in Oldham have had to wait for almost three years for a parking bay. And, sadly, there seems no end in sight as Oldham’s Labour Administration has not allocated any funding for the creation of disabled parking bays in the last two financial years. Disabled parking bays require minimal work, the area designated as the bay is painted onto the highway and they only require a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) to be issued. Councillor Howard Sykes MBE wrote to the Deputy Chief Executive of Oldham Council in January taking up the issue of the wait time on behalf of one of his Shaw constituents. He was seeking answers about what was happening with the backlog, and found those…
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07Jan 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Oldham Liberal Democrats ‘disappointed’ at Boundary Commission’s refusal to cut councillor numbers by a third and save cash

Oldham Liberal Democrats ‘disappointed’ at Boundary Commission’s refusal to cut councillor numbers by a third and save cash

Borough news
The Oldham Council Liberal Democrat Group was disappointed to hear that the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) has refused to cut Councillor numbers and costs. Liberal Democrats suggested a reduction in Councillors in their submission to the LGBCE late last year. Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council currently has twenty electoral wards, represented by sixty elected councillors. The Boundary Commission called for responses to a consultation to review the number of councillors in November. At the meeting of the full council (4 November 2020), the Labour Administration backed a report proposing that the status quo be maintained, but in the vote the Liberal Democrats abstained. The Liberal Democrats instead submitted their own proposal that the number of Councillors be reduced to two per ward believing that less councillors are now…
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07Jan 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Council staff can be ‘eyes and ears’ in ongoing fight against child sex abuse

Borough news
Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Councillors want Oldham Council staff to be trained to become ‘eyes and ears’ in the community to help detect instances of child sexual exploitation. Oldham Council has recently asked all Councillors to complete a mandatory training module into combatting child sexual exploitation. This is being delivered by experts in this field from the renowned Barnardo’s Charity. Councillor Sykes would like to see similar training made available to Council staff who regularly meet the public in person or speak to residents over the telephone, such as street cleaners, refuse collectors or call centre operatives. He said: “Although social workers and child care workers would routinely receive such training and would be aware of what signs to look out for, it would be very valuable to have other council…
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