Parliament Square transformation long overdue, says Liberal Democrat Leader

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The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has expressed his deep disappointment that work to transform Parliament Square is not yet complete.

Councillor Sykes remarked that: “Although we as politicians were all pleased to see the cinema opening, it is very disappointing that months later the work on improvement works to the square is still not complete.”

“My understanding was that this work was scheduled for completion by Christmas or very early in the New Year so I sorry to see that there is still much to do at the bottom end of the site.”

“We must only hope that the contractors are able to pull back the timetable and finish the work soon so that Parliament Square might finally become the high quality town centre focal point that we all wish for and not a building site.”

Oldham Sats Tests: Must do better, says Liberal Democrat Leader

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The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has expressed his disappointment and concern about the latest Sats results in Oldham.

Commenting Cllr Sykes said: “We simply must do better.  When Oldham’s Sats results were the tenth worst in England and the lowest in Greater Manchester it is self-evident that there remains an awful lot of work to be done.”

“There was some positive news – I would like to especially congratulate the pupils at St Martins CE Primary School in Fitton Hill for their excellent results, and those at the Richmond and Westwood Academies for their progress in improving their  performance in writing and maths – but overall these results make dismal reading.“

Cllr Sykes added: “In recent months we have focused on poor performance amongst some of our Borough’s secondary schools, and the need for action here has been highlighted in the recommendations published by the Oldham Education Commission, but it is clear that many of our children are being failed at a much earlier age and condemned to a life of academic underachievement as they move to ‘big school’”.

GM College Results represent wholesale failure, says Liberal Democrat Leader

201395_105610The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has condemned the recent poor performance at Oldham’s new GM University Technical College as a “wholesale failure”.

Commenting Cllr Sykes said: “This result flies in the face of the reassurances given by the Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Education that Oldham’s exam results are supposedly improving following the publication of the Education Commission report and they are also a condemnation of this new type of college.”

“It beggars belief that everything has gone so wrong at this college.  Despite an investment of many millions of pounds in a new purpose-built building and new teaching staff, not one of the forty six students that were in the initial cohort achieved a Grade C in both English and Mathematics.”

“This means that they will all have to re-sit these key subjects and is a singular demonstration of this College’s abject failure in getting the basics right.”

“Our young people, as a very minimum, need to be able to read, write and do basic maths when they leave school.  What we need now in Oldham is stability, not new gimmicks like the University Technical College and Free Schools, models that have not only failed to produce results, but have failed our young people.”

“Those who ultimately suffer are the students who have chosen to study there and who now must feel badly let down.  I ask myself why the problems in performance were not spotted earlier and why no heads have so far rolled amongst the senior staff and the mangers of the College.”

Could Air Pollution be causing Dementia?

is-there-a-connection-between-dementia-and-dirty-air-350x293According to the BBC, scientists in Canada have spent 11 years tracking people, their movements and dementia rates. Early results are suggesting that up to 11% of all dementia cases are found in people living within 50m of a main road. This comes at a time when other scientists have found higher than usual amounts of magnetite, one of many elements released into the atmosphere by cars and factories, in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

Living so close to a main road or in a city in general has long been linked to lung disease, but these results, if born out in larger studies, suggest there could be larger issues. It is worth noting that lifestyle choices and just living longer than ever before could also be reasons for the growing number of people with dementia in the world. You can read more about a possible link between dementia and air pollution here.