“Time for Oldham Council to finally start getting the basics right” say Liberal Democrats

Oldham Council’s Liberal Democrat Opposition is set to lay down a serious challenge to the ruling Labour Party at a forthcoming council meeting on July 12th. 

The Liberal Democrats, led by councillor Howard Sykes MBE will call on the council to “finally start getting the basics right”, as they table a motion demanding improved local services such as road repairs, park maintenance and action on environmental crime.

Councillor Sykes said, “People are sick of council services that don’t deliver.  You only need to walk around our communities, and you’ll see neglected parks and green spaces, overgrown footpaths and roads in a state of complete disrepair.  Meanwhile, littering, dog-fouling and fly-tipping offenders get off scot-free.  If the Labour administration take any pride in Oldham, they don’t exactly show it.”

Shaw Liberal Democrat representative councillor Hazel Gloster, who will second the proposal added, “When residents and councillors go to report these basic complaints, they end up being passed from pillar to post with no proper communication.  Nothing ends up getting done and it does tremendous damage to people’s trust in their local leaders.”

Crompton Ward councillor Dave Murphy, who will speak to propose the motion said, “Services across the borough are regularly falling short of agreed standards and this is about standing up for the people we represent.  If contractors or council departments are failing to get very basic things right, the first knock on the door should be coming from a member of the Labour ruling group.” 

“But that just isn’t happening in Oldham.  After 12 years in office, the Labour Party has become obsessed with flashy town centre projects that fail to deliver.  They have completely lost interest in the basic services that people rely on day in, day out.  The Liberal Democrats see it as our mission to put that right.”

Full council 12/07/2023 – Notice of Opposition Motion
Liberal Democrat Group

Time for Oldham to get the basics right

Proposed by: councillor Dave Murphy
Seconded by: councillor Hazel Gloster

This Council believes that:

Residents across Oldham Borough expect and deserve first class public services. 

Residents feel that services such as schools, maintenance of roads, planning, park maintenance and drain clearance represent some of the most significant work that the council does because they affect the everyday lives of the people we represent. 

When residents say they cannot rely on these services to be of consistent high quality, it undermines the trust that residents place in their council and their readiness to engage with services and that the Council should listen and take action.

Pride in service, strong communication, agility, resourcefulness and good interdepartmental cooperation are all essential values in delivering first class services across the board, and that these values must be set from the top down. 

This Council notes that:

There is a growing trend of complacent underperformance that affects much of the council’s key service delivery and it needs addressing.  This is keenly felt by our residents, who regularly tell us that they feel their council “does not get the basics right.”

Fly-tipping offences have spiralled out of control in Oldham, with the Borough seeing massive increases in offences when compared to other authorities across the North West.

Littering and dog-fouling offences continue unabated, with the council failing to issue Fixed Penalty Notices with any meaningful consistency or to come up with stronger solutions to tackle this ongoing issue. 

Oldham’s schools are falling behind, with more than half now deemed as ‘needing improvement and it cannot continue.

This Council resolves to:

Move away from vanity projects that do not materialise and refocus its priorities; directing as much effort and attention into supporting basic frontline services as it has done into regeneration projects.

To take this motion to Overview and Scrutiny to see what can be done to improve the situation and provide a report to council on their findings.