Beal Lane – PROPOSED TRAFFIC REGULATION ORDER

PROHIBITION OF WAITING AMENDMENT ORDER 2019

The Oldham Borough Council propose to make an Order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, as amended, the effect of which will be to prohibit waiting at all times on the north side of Beal Lane from Jubilee Street for 10 metres easterly and to introduce Limited Waiting Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm on the north side of Beal Lane 10 metres north of Jubilee Street for 78 metres easterly where a vehicle can wait for a maximum of 3 hours with a minimum period of 3 hours to elapse before a vehicle can return.

BealLaneplan-V1Download

Full details of the proposal are in the draft Order, which, together with a map (see above for map) and a statement of the Council’s reasons for proposing to make the Order may be examined at my office between the hours of 8.40am and 5.00pm on Monday to Friday Civic Entrance, telephone 0161 770 4836, Ref: LJM/TO19/28

Any objection or representations regarding the proposal should be sent to the Environment Group Solicitor to the Council, Civic Centre, West Street, Oldham, OL1 1UL in writing, stating the title of the Order to which they relate and the grounds for making them by 6th December 2019.  Any objections or representations will be made available for public inspection.

Dated 6th November 2019, Paul Entwistle, Director of Legal Services, Oldham Council

My two allowed questions at tonight’s Oldham Council meeting – 6 November 2019 – Oldham’s Brexit Preparations and Progress 8 in Oldham Schools

Q1: Oldham’s Brexit Preparations

Boris Johnson plans to take us out of the European Union and will implement his deal if he wins the General Election.

Oldham Borough has received and continues to receive thousands of pounds in EU funding.  

We still wait for any clarity on the ‘Prosperity Fund’ which is supposed to replace all EU funding. 

There is a real fear despite the promises that the ‘cake will be smaller’ and places like Oldham will lose out.

The UK Government has also paid Oldham Council £315,000 for so called “Brexit Preparations”.

Our future is now less clear and more uncertain, so we must prepare and prepare for the worst.

Of the £315,000 of UK Brexit preparation money, Oldham Council has currently spent £35,000 in total.

£20,000 has gone on foodbanks and £15,000 making sure that European child nationals in care receive settled status before the deadline of 31st of October.

So, that leaves a rather substantial pot of money £280,000 to be exact.

I am most interested to know what this Council has planned to do with the money.

I hope there are already measures in place, however if there are no detailed plans, can I be advised what the timeframe for release of the funds and a spending plan be put forward.

Q2: Progress 8 in Oldham Schools

The relatively new accountability measure for Secondary Schools, is called Progress 8.

Progress 8 tracks how pupils make progress from the end of Primary school to the final stages of High school.

Schools used to be judged on performance, whereas now this measure is based on pupil progression.

Once again in Oldham, as with other education matters, our score is below the nation average. 

Regrettably our Progress 8 score is also behind the national average.

What is even more concerning, is that four of our secondary schools fall into the well below average category.

To put this into perspective, those same four schools are in the bottom 12% of all schools, nationally.

This year, four out of 13 schools locally are well below average and five out of 13 are below average.

This is worse than last year; we have not improved; the direction of travel is in the wrong direction!

We are performing much worse than the national average, but also worse than our neighbours in Rochdale and Manchester.

Now credit where credit is due, Waterhead Academy is the only school that shows improved performance, others are deteriorating.

We have seen an overhaul of the SEN provision locally after Oldham Borough received a damming report by OFSTED in 2018.

Despite this, Oldham Borough persistently fails to give the standard of results that parents and pupils want and expect.

How will your administration address this perpetual underperformance in our Secondary Schools?

The situation is getting worse and not better.

I am interested to know when the Labour Council will reverse the stagnation or decline in standards that have plagued our local education system since 2011.

Councillor’s campaign for clean air in Oldham Borough

Children are now often exposed to unsafe levels of pollutants outside of schools at peak times.  Road transport is one of the biggest contributors to pollution in Oldham Borough.  Councillor Diane Williamson wants “No-Vehicle-Idling zones” around schools across the Borough. 

Harmful fumes from cars and buses waiting nearby schools can stunt lung growth and harm child development.  The Liberal Democrat team are bringing this new policy to Oldham Full Council on the 6th November 2019.

Councillor Williamson states: “Only a handful of schools across the country are trialling No Vehicle Idling zones, yet these schemes bring many health benefits.  Not having any measures to prevent air pollution poses a serious threat to the health of young people.” 

Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani, who is supporting the clean air motion criticises widespread inaction on this issue: “The Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan is vague.  So, this Council needs to do more and be proactive on this issue.  Why wait for the full plan, when we can act now?”

The Liberal Democrats want to look at what has been effective in other areas and repeat those same successes. Councillor Williamson wants as many No-Vehicle-Idling Zones, around as many schools in the Borough as possible.