Q1 Leaders Question 14/12/22: Oldham must break free of top-down housing targets and protect our green belt

Madam Mayor over recent days we’ve seen a massive government U-turn on housing targets. 

We in the Liberal Democrat Group have said for a long time, that mandatory, top-down housing targets – imposed by central government – will not deliver the housing developments that we need in Oldham Borough.

All that top-down targets do is force councils to sacrifice good planning and open green spaces to meet an arbitrary number of units without considering local need. 

The Labour Group themselves have always maintained that government targets were forcing them to concrete over green spaces and Green Belt and that they had no choice.  Locked in – as they were – to these mandatory targets. 

Well clearly that is no longer the case Madam Mayor. 

With Michael Gove’s U-turn, Greater Manchester now has two years during which to rethink and re-position its housing strategy.

 
What we need is the power and resources to redevelop brownfield and ex-industrial sites. 

What we need is for the decisions affecting our Borough to be taken in our borough and in a way that takes account of local need. 

And we need assurances that this Council will protect our Green Spaces.

So, the question that the Leader needs to address is:

Will her administration now stop the land grab and rethink the housing policy now there are no compulsory targets?

Or will they come up with some other excuse to concrete over our Green Belt?

Q2 Leaders Question 14/12/22: Joint scrutiny of Northern Care Alliance

Madam Mayor, I now want to turn to our NHS services.

Tomorrow, members of the Royal College of Nursing will strike for the first time in their 100-year history.  Could there be a more damning indictment of this Conservative government Madam Mayor? 

The decision to strike will have been an agonising one for RCN members.  Nurses want to be at work – they care about their patients.

Nationally, the NHS is in free fall and it’s right that nurses are standing up for themselves and the future of our health service. 

They have OUR full support. 

By now it is all too clear that the Northern Care Alliance that runs our hospitals faces a myriad of complex and debilitating issues.

The pandemic has caused a huge backlog across the board, not helped by IT failures earlier this year.

In Oldham, we have some of the highest cancer waiting times in the country – with around 40% of patients not receiving an appointment within the two-week time frame.

I would like to welcome the announcement of the multi-million-pound extension to Oldham Royal Hospital.  I just hope they can find the doctors, nurses, and other health staff to populate it?

Last month, it was revealed that almost 80 million pounds is needed to meet Northern Care Alliances repair and maintenance budget.

Most frightening of all, is that  potential heart attack and stroke patients in Oldham are waiting half an hour longer for an ambulance than they should be.

And throughout all this, Northern Care Alliance faces no direct scrutiny from elected members.  Which means our residents have no voice? 

Madam Mayor, if we simply sit on our hands and wait for the Conservatives to save our NHS, we’ll be waiting in vain. 

These are big problems but there is an onus on elected members to ask the tough questions. 

So, will the Leader join me in calling for a joint scrutiny panel which will work with the Northern Care Alliance to make improvements where possible and to lobby government where it is needed, together and with one voice?