Shaw and Crompton Parish Council Grant – response to Oldham Council’s proposals to cut the £20K grant

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Further to your letter of 1st August 2016 regarding the possible reduction or withdrawal of the Council Tax Support Grant to the Parish Council with effect from 1st April 2017, please note the following response from Shaw & Crompton Parish Council in terms of potential impact –

Shaw & Crompton Parish Council relies on the Grant to support local community priorities within its annual plan, namely environmental maintenance and improvements, community events,  grant funding and the Citizens Advice Bureau advisory service. Although the Parish Council strives to make improvements and efficiencies, a reduction or withdrawal of the Grant would seriously compromise the Parish Council’s ability to continue to deliver sustainable activities for the benefit of local residents. The key priorities are outlined as follows:-

Environmental maintenance and improvements

The Parish Council has an annual contractual agreement with Groundwork Oldham and Rochdale covering a range of operations (litter removal, footpath maintenance, landscaping ) which keeps the visual appearance of areas within the Parish at a high standard and meets with local public satisfaction. In addition, The Parish Council also undertakes the treatment of public footpaths over and above the footpath maintenance programme carried out by the Borough Council. As such, any reduction in the Grant would put more pressure on Oldham Council’s resources in order to absorb this extra work. It should also be noted that the arrangement with Groundwork also adds value through involvement of local people in the Princes Trust work experience programme.

Community events

For the past 25 years, the Parish Council has organised a Family Fun Weekend and Vehicle Rally, which attracts upwards of 3,000 visitors. Incorporating the Chairman’s Charity Market, this is a key event in the diary and brings communities together to enjoy two days of fun and entertainment.  The Parish Council also arranges one Spring and one Winter Charity Market each year as well as a schools Christmas music festival. Next year (2017) marks the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Parish Council and a special, high profile celebratory event is already in the planning stage.  This is the largest community event in the Parish and special efforts are made to ensure all parts of the community are touched by the event especially the old and young.

Grant funding

Each year, the Council awards minor grants to support local church and voluntary groups and causes within Shaw & Crompton, ranging from Christmas meals for elderly residents to junior sports clubs, all run by volunteers who give something back to our community.  Some of these grants also act as match funding by levering in additional resources especially for our social inclusion projects and those with young people.

Citizens Advice Bureau

Oldham CAB is an established part of the town having delivered advice services from Crompton Library through partnership funding from Shaw & Crompton Parish Council for many years. Last year, the CAB provided advice to approximately 300 (of the more vulnerable) local people on matters relating to welfare benefits, debt, employment and housing issues. The Parish Council continues to fund this valuable service, which means that residents can receive advice locally on a weekly basis, which has resulted in tangible benefits to the most vulnerable people in the local neighbourhood.

In conclusion, the Parish Council seeks to continue the development of a pattern of civic life to benefit the whole community by fostering different types of activity. It does not have the resources to organise and run all varied and inclusive events and projects which make Shaw & Crompton into a thriving and cohesive community but is naturally grateful for the financial support it has received from the Council Tax Support Grant, which if withdrawn or reduced would mean that the Parish Council would have to consider its position in relation to the activities listed above, which we believe engender a sense of identity, aid community cohesion and promote a general feeling of well being resulting in a financial benefit to Oldham Council.

If Oldham Council is minded to remove this Grant, we would request that it is at least implemented in a phased manner so the Parish can plan and cope with the reduction in resources and re-profile its services in a measured and effective way, remaining cost effective and ensuring value for money, which is surely what Oldham Council would wish with the cuts it is suffering from Central Government.

Oldham Council celebrates Peace Week 2016

Peace-week-FB-large-2016 (2)Oldham Council will be celebrating action on peace between Wednesday 21 September and Monday 26 September.

Oldham’s Peace Week is a week of celebration, reflection and action on peace, starting on the UN International Day of Peace on Wednesday 21 September.

The week of activities aims to engage the public, schools, the community, faith groups and businesses in helping to make Oldham a more peaceful borough.

In 2015 Oldham Council became the first local authority in the UK to sign the Pledge to Peace; a commitment of intent that saw Oldham put in place projects and actions promoting a culture of peace.

13 local organisations have joined the council in signing the pledge and they have formed the Oldham Pledge to Peace Forum.

The council further showed their commitment to peace in 2016 by appointing the first Mayor of Peace, Councillor Derek Heffernan.

Various activities will take place throughout the week including a Peace Day celebration event at Oldham Gallery/Library on Saturday 24 September from 1 to 4 pm – with the launch of a new peace book section, live music, entertainment, poetry and book readings, and a technology section with Hack Oldham and Roamer the Robot.

The event will be followed by a Peace Picnic in Dunwood Park on Sunday 25 September with arts and crafts, face painting and family entertainment.

A webpage has been set up which includes more information and a full list of events www.oldham.gov.uk/peaceweek

Oldham Council 7 September 2016 – leaders questions from Councillor Howard Sykes

questions-to-ask-your-LASIK-doctorCouncil 7 September – Leaders Question 1

LOCAL PATIENTS FAILED BY ‘INADEQUATE’ TRUST DAMNED IN REPORT

Mr Mayor, my first question to the Leader tonight relates to the very disturbing findings of the report published last month by the Quality Care Commission (QCC) about our local Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust.

The Commission found the Trust to be providing ‘inadequate’ services overall, with several departments requiring ‘improvement’.

At the Royal Oldham Hospital, inspectors were concerned about ‘suitable and appropriate medical staffing’, especially in critical care, maternity, gynaecology and children and young people’s services.

In young people’s services it was found that there were no consultants in place after 5pm.  As though our children only get sick nine to five!

And in the high dependency unit, many standards for critical care were ‘not being met’ and that it was only during the inspection that ‘adequate’ staffing levels were provided, when for three years management knew of the shortfall.

Whilst none of us want to have to receive high dependency care, if we do, we surely have the right to expect to be treated to the highest standard in a unit with sufficient staff?

All of these deficiencies should be of great concern to us as the patients being most let down are amongst the most vulnerable patients in our hospital.

And can we be clear ‘let down’ means pain and death that could be avoided!

So where does the fault lie?

Not apparently with the staff described as ‘caring’ who continue to do their best with inadequate resources and numbers; instead it lies with the Trust Board and senior management whose conduct is described as ‘inadequate’.

I have been told that aside from health professionals, there are no Oldham residents directly involved in the Improvement Board and Plan put in place to attempt to address these serious concerns; can the Leader confirm if this is true?

If this is true why is there no Oldham citizen directly involved in making sure our Hospital and Pennine Trust improves?

This cannot, and should not, just be left to the so called health professionals; a number of which have close working and contractual arrangements with Pennine Acute Trust!

Does she agree with me this is a highly unsatisfactory state of affairs and a scandal that there is no one from our Borough representing our citizens?

Can the Leader also tell me what we are doing as an authority to put pressure on the Trust Board to address these shocking deficiencies in performance before the Trust goes into terminal decline?

Anything I am my colleagues can do to support her and her colleagues in this matter we will.

Council 7 September – Leaders Question 2

Pokémon Go

Mr Mayor, my second question tonight concerns one of the biggest social crazes to hit the UK in many a year and it is a craze that has been taken up across the whole nation by Britons of all ages but particularly the young and the young at heart – namely the phenomena called Pokémon Go.

According to Wikipedia Pokémon Go is “a free-to-play, location-based augmented reality game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices.”

What that means in plain English is that if you have the correct software on your portable electronic device that you can play ‘hunt the monster’ whilst visiting the park or crossing the street.

For those unfamiliar with the game, in essence you are able to track and catch virtual Pokémon creatures in real-world settings.

So what has this got to do with Oldham Council I hear you ask?

Well some novel ideas have been recently published about engaging Pokémon Go players with public services and in particular public health activities.

Our libraries are, whether they know it or not, virtual gyms, the only location where Pokémon players can go to ‘strengthen’ their monsters and meet with others playing the game.

Some libraries are taking advantage of this to let players know that they are welcome in to play and welcome to stay afterwards.

Some are even issuing badges to players who prove they have won a battle at the gym.

Other suggestions include:

Designating historical landmarks and public facilities as Pokestops, where special items are dropped and in-app lures can be set off, with Lure Parties to cash in on the fun;

Hosting meet-ups, and monster rather than art trails; Community get-togethers to search for Pokémon at the weekend and fund-raising events in partnership with charities.

Weight-loss and health campaigners can utilise one of the game’s key benefit – you have to walk to find the monsters and you are largely outdoors when you do so.

There is already some clear evidence of previous couch potatoes, or those holed up in their bedrooms playing Call of Duty on Xbox or Play Station are now walking and/or running around outside as they hunt on Pokémon Go.

Given the potential, I would like to ask the Leader what this Council is doing to harness this idea and whether we can work with our Youth Council to develop innovative ways in which we can use the power of this technology to connect our youngest residents with our public services?

And even more importantly use it to get people more active and therefore healthy and help tackle the ticking time bomb we have locally with obesity and in particular with obesity in young people.

Alex Rose Voucher News a disappointment, says Councillor Sykes

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The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has expressed his disappointment that the Alexandra Rose Charity (www.alexandrarose.org.uk) has chosen not to partner at this time with Oldham Council on developing a new pilot project to promote healthy eating to low-income mothers in the Borough.

Commenting Councillor Sykes said: “I commend the efforts of Council officers in putting together an excellent bid at short notice, and I thank the Alexandra Rose Charity for considering our bid and for their feedback, most of which was very complimentary.”

The Alexandra Rose charity has run three successful projects in London, where low-income women in recipient of Healthy Start vouchers, which are redeemed for fruit, vegetables and milk, receive additional vouchers from Alexandra Rose.  The charity had invited local authorities in Northern England to apply to partner with them in establishing pilot projects in their municipalities.

Councillor Sykes added: “The Alexandra Rose charity hopes to secure further funding to enable it to invite a second round of bids. I am sure that we will put together an even-better bid second-time around and, as we are clearly a Borough with a demonstrable need for such a project, I remain optimistic that Oldham will eventually partner with the charity.”

The Leader of the Opposition is though still concerned that the take-up of the existing Healthy Start scheme is still low and rather than see the Council sitting on its laurels want it to promote Healthy Start more widely.

He said: “When I wrote to Cabinet Members asking them to apply to join Alex Rose, I also asked them to look at the recommendations published in the ‘Beyond the Food Bank’ report which identified ways in which London Councils could promote the take up of Healthy Start.  Although many low-income families can claim it, only seventy five percent of those eligible do so.

“Healthy Start provides low-income mothers with vouchers to spend on good things that will help them maintain their health.  I would like to see Oldham Council take these recommendations forward locally, and I have written again to the Labour administration asking them to do so.  Like Community Shop, this represents another practical suggestion from the Liberal Democrats to help women in our Borough struggling to make ends meet and faced with food poverty.”

Oldham Borough should become a Alexandra Rose Voucher Pioneer, says Councillor Sykes

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The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has welcomed news that Oldham Council intends to put its hat in the ring to become a pioneer to promote healthy eating to pregnant women who are under eighteen or on a low income.

In June, Councillor Sykes wrote to Labour Cabinet Members asking them to consider putting Oldham Council forward as a partner of the Alexandra Rose Charity (www.alexandrarose.org.uk) and develop a new pilot project for the borough.

The charity has already run three successful projects in London, where women in recipient of Healthy Start vouchers, which are redeemed for fruit, vegetables and milk, receive additional vouchers from Alexandra Rose.

Commenting Councillor Sykes said: “We have to recognise that many mothers start out on a very-low income. Healthy Start provides them with an additional income in the form of vouchers, but this is a healthy income as it can only be spent on good things that will help them maintain their health.

“A partnership with the Alexandra Rose Charity would be exciting as Oldham Council would be amongst the first, if not itself the first, local authorities outside of London that would be able to provide an additional ‘top up’ to low-income and young mothers – and not only mothers because young children living in these families also benefit.

“Like the idea of establishing a Community Shop in our borough, this too represents another practical suggestion from the Liberal Democrats to help women in our borough struggling to make ends meet and faced with food poverty.

“The other benefit of the Alex Rose scheme is that these vouchers have to be spent in local markets or otherwise with local food suppliers helping to boost the fortunes of our local market traders and shop keepers rather than the profits of large supermarket chains.

“The deadline for submitting our expression of interest is 27 July and I am confident that our officers will meet it.  I look forward to the second round when we can expect to meet representatives from the Alexandra Rose charity visiting our borough to discuss taking my proposal forward.”

Liberal Democrat Common Sense Prevails in Oldham EU Brexit Debate

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At last night’ Oldham Council meeting, in the debate on the report about the local impact of the EU referendum, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition, urged Council to take action rather than simply noting the report presented to members.

Councillor Sykes had previously written to the Leader of the Council, Councillor Jean Stretton, requesting that a special report on the impact of Brexit be prepared by officers and brought to Council for debate.

Councillor Sykes said: “Although disappointed by the result, I am a democrat and accept that the UK and Oldham voted to leave.  However we should not bury our heads in the sand; as elected members, it is incumbent and expected of us to inform ourselves what the ramifications of Brexit are in terms of the impact on our local economy, Council and people, and that we take action to mitigate them or maximise the opportunities.”

Rather than resorting to rhetoric and the report was just to note, Councillor Sykes proposed two common sense suggestions to take forward.

The first was that the Administration writes to the new Prime Minister Theresa May seeking a guarantee that the Government will make up any shortfall in European funding once Brexit takes effect.

Councillor Sykes stressed that many other Councils, Cornwall, Farmers and the Local Government Association were already ahead in the queue making this demand and Oldham should join them as soon as possible.  Graciously, the Leader of the Council Councillor Jean Stretton assented and agreed to Councillor Sykes’s suggestion that both she and he should write this letter.

The second was that the Council Leader assign specific responsibility for EU exit issues to a cabinet member with the expectation that this cabinet member consult from time to time with Group Leaders and with other elected members, and that reports be brought back to Council periodically.  The Council Leader agreed on the spot to assign this responsibility to the Cabinet Member for Finance, her Deputy Leader Councillor Abdul Jabbar.

All Oldham Councillors approved both suggestions.

Giant Rats a Real-life Horror Story

The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, is calling for action to combat giant rats in Oldham Borough.

Councillor Sykes is proposing a motion on this issue to Wednesday’s full Council (13/07/16) and he explained why:

“The image of giant rats in our Borough may sound like a vision of horror from a James Herbert novel but the industry’s professional body, the British Pest Control Association, has recently issued a report identifying rats of increased size and with an increasing resistance to conventional poisons as a real problem in urban Britain.”

Commenting Councillor Sykes said: “In our motion we recognise that sometimes residents can inadvertently make the situation worse by resorting to ineffective off-the-shelf poisons.”

“This means that the rat problem is often not eliminated and repeatedly exposure to these poisons enables rats to become more resistant to them.”

Councillor Sykes is proposing that Oldham Council promotes the services of its professional pest controllers to residents, and the Chief Executive is asked to write to local MPs asking them to call for Government action in Parliament.

He explained: “Only a pest-control specialist has access to the most toxic poisons with the proven ability to eliminate even the most-troublesome and largest rodents.”

“Whilst calling the rat-catcher costs money it does provide a guarantee that the treatment will be effective and can be carried out without harm to family members and pets.”

Concluding Councillor Sykes said: “We have to recognise that Oldham Council and its residents can only do so much.  This is a national problem and our national Government needs to take action.”

The motion to Council reads:

Council 13th July 2016 – Notice of Opposition Business –

Combatting Super Rats

This Council notes that:

The British Pest Control Association (the BPCA) has said that rats are becoming immune to traditional pellets used by homeowners and that the poisons which can be purchased in supermarkets may actually be turning the rodents into ‘super rats’.

The Chief Executive of BPCA has said, “The rodents have become resistant and, in some cases, immune to off- the-shelf poisons to the point where they’re actually feeding off the toxic pellets, which means their size and strength is increasing.”

Genetic testing by Huddersfield University has revealed that the rodents have developed a mutation that allows them to survive conventional poisons.  In counties such as Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Wiltshire, a Suffolk, and Kent, all the rats tested were found to have immunity to poison.

Rodents are difficult to kill with poisons because their feeding habits reflect their place as scavengers. Rats will eat a small amount of food and wait, and if they don’t get sick, they then continue to eat.

Council further notes that.

Stronger rodenticides can be more effective, but most are subject to strict legislation and must only be used by professional pest controllers.

The BPCA is now predicting that rats are likely to seek to enter homes for warmth and food during the winter months

Rats can squeeze themselves through gaps as small as three-quarters of an inch and are often found living under floorboards, in the walls or in the loft.

In 2015, rats measuring 50-60 cm (2ft) have been captured in places as far apart as Cornwall, Kent and Liverpool.

Rats can carry illnesses which can be passed to humans, including Weil’s disease, which has flu-like symptoms initially but can lead to jaundice and kidney failure.

Rats chew on wood and electrical wires causing significant property damage and posing a fire hazard.

Council believes:

That rats are a danger to the health and wellbeing of residents

That the problem of an increasing rat population, which is immune to many standard poisons, must be addressed

Inexpert use of poison can make the problem worse

Council resolves to:

Ask the relevant Cabinet Member(s) to request officers publicise the risk posed by poison resistant rats and offer advice as to how residents can ‘rat proof’ their homes, by for example fitting strips to the bottoms of doors, filling small gaps in exterior walls, repairing roof damage and covering drains to prevent entry via pipes.

Ask the Chief Executive to write to our three local Members of Parliament asking them to lobby the Government for national action on the problem of super rats.

Oldham Liberal Democrats voice concerns over changes to waste collection to three weeks

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We believe that the devil will be in the detail with these proposals.

I am sure that we are not the only ones thinking that this is going to affect service across the whole Borough.

Already in Shaw and Crompton, because our collection day is a Friday, we are more often than not getting missed roads because there just is not enough time to finish the rounds off.  This means coming back on Saturday mornings.  What will happen to other areas?

  • How is the service going to manage in bad weather? 
  • How is the service going to manage the bank holiday collections? 
  • What will happen with the excesses of general waste and recycling around Christmas and New Year?

Residents expect the Council to get the basics right and this is most definitely one of the basics that can cause them problems if it is not right.

We understand that there are going to be some difficult choices to make but we need to learn the lessons from other boroughs that have gone to three weekly – it has not worked well.

As a responsible opposition we will hold the Administration to account and will be seeking reassurances that the residents are not left without a functioning service and that the Borough does not become ridden with fly-tipping.