Councillors Rod Blyth, Mark Alcock and Howard Sykes.
Also Parish Councillors Aspinall, Farrell, Duffy, Hall, Stephens, Dodd, Robinson, Murphy and Wood will also attend.
7.30pm – 8.30pm, Lifelong Learning Centre, High Street, Shaw, OL2 8TB.
Thursday: July: 3, 10, 17
After being fobbed off for weeks since it’s closure in early May the council finally get round to issuing a press release saying it will not re- open.
The people of Shaw deserve better than to be treated like this.
Just £50k could have kept the Pool open for the hundreds of users, the swimming club and schools plus others.
Most people would regard that as good value and if this was elsewhere in Oldham Borough the cash would have been spent and the facility kept open.
However this is Shaw and Crompton and our Labour Council (and that is who have made this decision in secret) appear to not give two hoots about Shaw and Crompton and have just proved that again.
I investigated the above incident (ref. 01250936) and can confirm it was a repeat of another incident that was reported to us earlier. I traced the source to pollution to the a distribution centre in Shaw. Despite clean up it does appear that oil was not effectively contained at the time of the incident. I have therefore asked the operators to deploy booms and absorbent pads at the outfall to soak up any residual oil and I hope that this will resolve the problem.
Purpose: for carriageway patching
Time: Thursday 19th June 2014 for two days during working hours
Works Supervisor and contact number: Geoff Roberts 0161 770 3326
Some Brown bins have not been emptied and some Green waste bins not collected.
I have been in touch with Oldham Council and have been informed they will be collected on Monday. The reason for the service failure I have been given is a vehicle break down.
Councillors Rod Blyth, Mark Alcock and Howard Sykes.
Also Parish Councillors Aspinall, Farrell, Duffy, Hall, Stephens, Dodd, Robinson, Murphy and Wood will also attend.
7.30pm – 8.30pm, Lifelong Learning Centre, High Street, Shaw, OL2 8TB.
Thursday: June: 5, 12, 19.
NO APPOINTMENT REQUIRED
The Rt. Hon. Dan Rogerson MP
Parliament Under Secretary of State for
Forestry et al,
Department for Environment, Food &
Rural Affairs
Nobel House, 17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
Date: 22 May 2014
Dear Sir
In March I wrote to you Minster calling for urgent action to help save Britain’s ancient woodlands.
Since plans to sell off public forests were abandoned in 2011, I am pleased to say that this Government has worked with local communities, woodland users and other stakeholders like the Woodland Trust to make sure the estate is properly valued and sustainable for the future.
Recommendations were made by an Independent Panel on Forestry for a new management structure to care for the estate in 2012. These were agreed by the Government in 2013 when the Secretary of State for the Environment, Owen Paterson, promised to introduce the management structure in a new Forestry Bill. This has the support of all of the major political parties and many forestry stakeholders – so why hasn’t it yet happened?
Soon we will see the last Queen’s Speech in the current parliament. This announces legislative plans for the coming year.
On behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, I would urge you to press the Secretary of State to ensure that the Government takes this final opportunity to introduce a Forestry Bill.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Yours faithfully
Howard Sykes
As people will be aware the Pool is currently closed.
The information I have managed to extract so far is as follows.This is what I have been told – these are NOT my words!
“The problem is the hot water boilers and the solution could take anything from 4-8 weeks depending on which option is chosen. The Council is not yet at a point where a solution has been agreed on so timescales on the repair are still unclear.
They have had contractors out on site via Unity to look at what is required, what the risks are and what the estimated cost would be. Following the identification of the leak we had hoped that the tank could have been repaired. If a repair would have been viable we would not have needed to close.
However it now appears that the tank cannot be repaired and requires a replacement. It is uncertain at this point what the solution will be to replace this – time, cost etc. Apologies if the information appears sketchy at this point but until we have the estimates on work required back from Unity it is unclear what will need to be done. I have chased the information yesterday and will do the same now. As soon as we have clarity I will let you know.
I can report that we have been mobilising alternative arrangements for school swimming (12 out of 13 school lessons have now been successfully relocated from 2nd June after the school holidays), and all children on Crompton Pool lessons have been offered alternative lessons at either Royton or Oldham in the interim (they are contacting parents on an individual basis).
Crompton Swim club – Royton have accommodated all their swimmers in the interim.”
Below is my latest correspondence on this matter:
20 May 2014
Dear Mr Consterdine,
So it is now a week on from your last email and considerably longer since the pool was closed (Tuesday 6th May).
No update or any additional information I am aware of.
Can you please let me and colleagues know the latest situation please and when the pool will re-open.
I await your comments with interest as do hundreds of my constituents, many of which have been in contact with me and colleagues.
Best wishes.
Councillor Howard Sykes
Voting in these local elections will not change who runs Oldham Council, who runs the Government or whether Britain stays in Europe.
Instead these local elections are about electing councillors who, instead of posturing, will face the challenges in local government head on – delivering services you expect whilst squeezing better value from your Council Tax.
When the Liberal Democrats ran the council, we delivered award-winning local services whilst averting imminent financial disaster; in opposition, we have acted responsibly, challenging Labour where necessary and working with them whenever we can.
In contrast, what have the Conservatives done as an opposition party? The answer is simple: nothing – apart from voting with Labour!
We believe that the council must:
Get the basics right.
• Oldham people want clean streets, potholes filled and bins collected.
• Under the Liberal Democrats, Oldham officially had the cleanest streets in Greater Manchester – under Labour they are only getting dirtier.
• Under the Lib Dems, £10 million was found for highway improvements – under Labour only £2 million.
Save money on bureaucracy whilst protecting front-line services.
• In our last two alternative budgets, we found money to keep the Bulky Bob household collection service free, for more gully cleaning, and for better care for our elderly and looked-after children – ideas all dismissed by Labour and Conservatives.
Devolve real power and budgets to local communities
• Lib Dem councillors have always championed independent district partnerships. We also serve enthusiastically on two Parish Councils.
Find ways to generate new income.
• Liberal Democrats want council investment in renewable energy projects. This is good for our environment and the council’s finances too – bringing in sustainable income for at least the next quarter century.
Labour will no doubt blame the Liberal Democrats for ‘the cuts’.
They won’t tell you that cuts were only necessary because they left the country in financial ruin or that Oldham Liberal Democrats successfully lobbied minsters to stop further cuts in our finances.
Labour say they support the poor and make great play of their Council Tax freeze (paid for by Coalition Government money).
Labour last year hit everyone with a 3.7% Council Tax increase and forced our poorest citizens to pay Council Tax for the first time.
And they have only spent a third of the extra money given to them by this government to help the poor.
Liberal Democrats championed a plan to reduce the impact of welfare reform on the disabled and proposed a Council Tax hardship fund paid for by the airport dividend.
Labour say they support workers.
Yet they imposed a three year pay freeze on lower-paid Council workers
Instead the Liberal Democrats demanded that council jobs went to local people and that the council should become a National Living Wage employer.
Voting Liberal Democrat means supporting sound finance and reliable public services, and a party putting people and communities first.
It means you will elect a local councillor who will champion your community and area, and be on your side!
Cllr Howard Sykes
Lib Dem Group Leader Oldham Council
16th May 2014
There is a very small pocket of uncollected grey/black bins in the Kendall Drive area from today’s programmed collection.
Please note that I am informed this will be cleared first thing tomorrow morning (Saturday).