Refuge St Main Proposals Click on this link to view the proposals
Your Shaw Focus Team Howard Sykes, Rod Blyth and Mark Alcock Inspect the Plans for the Refuge Street Open Space
“There are still a few things to be finalised but after more than 10 years of continued effort we are now getting somewhere,” said Howard. He added, “This outcome is in no small part down to the persistence of your Shaw Focus Team.”
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The Beal Lane Roadworks may be finished in time for re-opening the road on Easter Sunday.
Howard Sykes said, “Following discussions with the project team, it appears the operational team doing the works may be able to finish a little earlier than planned over the Easter holiday.”
Howard continued, “My understanding is that this change means there may be some overnight restriction to Beal Lane later in April but that trade off seems acceptable in order to minimise disruption to local residents and road users.”
The local elections are just around the corner and Oldham Council is urging residents to ensure they are registered to exercise their democratic voice by taking part in the vote, which takes place on Thursday 3rd May.
The deadline for registering to vote is Wednesday 18th April. Residents can ensure they are registered by contacting Oldham Council’s election office on 0161 770 4718 or by email at “election@oldham.gov.uk” by this date. The process is simple – following contact by residents the elections office staff will send out a form by post which must be completed and returned.
Residents who may be planning to be away on 3rd May can apply for a postal or proxy vote. This can be done by visiting www.aboutmyvote.co.uk or contacting Oldham Council’s election office as described above. The deadline for applications for postal votes is Wednesday 18th April, and the deadline for proxy vote application is Wednesday 25th April. Should residents have a postal vote it cannot be changed to a proxy vote after 18th April.
DON’T DELAY – MAKE SURE YOU CAN USE YOUR VOTE TODAY.
If you are interested in the result of the local election on 3rd May, Oldham Council’s Elections Office have 100 tickets for residents to view the verification and count process from the public gallery. The verification and count will be held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 3rd May at 10pm. Residents can request tickets by writing to Elections Office, Room 222, Civic Centre, West Street, Oldham, OL1 1UL, stating their name and address. Alternatively, requests can be emailed to “election@oldham.gov.uk”.
Please note that tickets will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
The next phase of the Metrolink extension works will mean disruption to traffic in Shaw for four days from 6th April.
Howard Sykes said, “Your Shaw Focus Team and I have worked hard with the people managing this project to try to keep the disruption amd inconvenience to local residents to a minimum.”
The works will mean complete closure of Beal Lane from Britannia Avenue to Jubilee Street and will result in diversions via Hillside Avenue, Buckstones Road, Milnrow Road and Crompton Way. Please click on the link below to access a map showing the works and diversion route.
Beal Lane closure and diversion March 2012
As a result there will be additional no parking/waiting restrictions in some of these areas.
Please click on the link below to access a map showing the additional waiting restrictions on the diversion route.
A mixture of short (3hrs) and long stay parking is the outcome of the review of the scheme for Shaw Town Centre.
The long stay car parks are:
Kershaw Street, Baths/Community Centre and Milne Street.
The short stay car parks are:
Market Ground, West Way On Street and the two small car parks at the end of Beal Lane/Eastway.
Howard Sykes said, “This is good news for shoppers and traders alike. The final scheme has taken on board people’s comments and increased the amount of long term parking from that originally proposed.”
Please click on the link below to have a look at a map detailing the locations of the parking.
shaw centre parking a3 revised 2012 March 2012
A further outcome of the negotiations by Howard about the remedial works to Jubilee Bridge, Transport for Greater Manchester have agreed to use the original coping stone masonry in a local project.
Howard said, “I would welcome any comments or suggestions about how these stones could be used to decorative effect in the Dunwood Park neighbourhood so preserving and enhancing the heritage of the area.”
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In response to concerns of local residents, Howard and his Focus Team have been in discussions about the replacement parapet stones on Jubilee Bridge.
The shape of the parapet stone is laid down by law and so affects new and existing masonry. The power to enact replacement stones on the part of Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) in effect bypasses local planning processes then.
However, following the intervention by Howard and subsequent consultation and negotiations with both Oldham Council and TfGM, it has been agreed that the pointing will be redone and the old masonry washed to improve the look immediately and assist the weathering process.
Howard said, “Whilst the remedial work is not the ideal solution to improving the look of the bridge, it should be an improvement to the currently unacceptable situation, which I and your Focus Team shall continue to monitor closely.”
Updates will be posted on this site as they are available.
Howard Sykes, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in Oldham, has signed a letter calling on the Chancellor to introduce a threshold of £10,000 in earnings before deduction of income tax. The letter, endorsed by the leaders of Liberal Democrat Groups across the country, says,
“Dear Chancellor,
“We lead Liberal Democrat council groups across the country and are calling on you to listen to the Lib Dem call to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000 faster than originally planned.”
“Giving working people on lower incomes more support has to be a top priority. This will mean over two and a half million low wage earners across the country will not have to pay any income tax at all – and other lower earners will still get a substantial tax cut.”
“As councillors from across the country, we see and talk to these people every week. They are people like the working mum whose salary has not increased in recent years and is struggling with rising bills or the young person in his first job who is struggling to make ends meet, worried about unexpected bills and repairs.”
“We have heard many times about the need to make tough choices in these difficult times. One choice the government should make is to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share and speed up the plan for the burden to be lifted on the poorest.
This also means that if there is ever any reduction in the 50p top rate of income tax then new taxes that target the rich must be introduced so the wealthy pay their share.”
Howard said, “We shall see later today as to whether George Osbourne has listened to our argument, but make no mistake, we shall continue to make it because we believe it is the right thing to do for the people who trust us to represent them.”
On 30th January 2012, the Labour administration finally went public on the new swimming pool/leisure facility to replace the current Crompton and Royton facilities. Despite the massive chorus of opposition from over 700 Shaw and Crompton residents, the sham consultation by Labour concluded that the facility was to be built in Royton at the expense of Shaw.
Howard and the Liberal Democrat Group responded by calling in the decision to examine it further. The “call-in” asked Overview and Scrutiny to examine consultation flaws; why Cabinet made its controversial decision of 30th January 2012 to build the replacement Pool in Royton and, very importantly, why the huge number of responses from Shaw and Crompton were completely and utterly ignored.
Scrutiny of the decision took place on 1st March 2012 in the Civic Centre and was nothing short of chaotic. There were no protocols in place for the conduct of the meeting (a set of rules were hastily acquired from Rochdale MBC), inconsistent advice given by Council Officers, people in attendance who were not required and members of the Scrutiny Panel were being denied opportunities to question witnesses in order to properly scrutinise the evidence supporting the decision.
But the story doesn’t end there – barely three weeks after the swimming pool decision, and despite the call to examine the decision further, the Labour administration announce an agreement with a developer for a replacement Royton Precinct, which includes provision of a Leisure/swimming pool complex!
A chain of events which bear all the classic hallmarks of Labour deceit, dressed up as consultation. It seems the cries of ‘done deal’ and ‘sham’ were indeed accurate. Howard, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council said, “Labour’s contempt firstly and most importantly for the people of Shaw and the democratic process is self- evident. I can honestly feel satisfied that this shambles would never happen under a Liberal Democrat administration.”
