Liberal Democrats seek Council Support for Shaw Economy in Advance of Shop Direct Closure

Following yesterday’s shock announcement that Shop Direct will be closing its Shaw depot in 2020, the Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group, Shaw Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has contacted senior Oldham Council officers seeking reassurance that the Council will offer a full range of support services to local businesses who lose trade, as well as local employees who lose their jobs, as a result of the proposed closure.

Shaw and Crompton councillors were informed via email by Shop Direct of their intentions at 12.00 hours on Wednesday 11th April 2018.

Councillor Sykes; speaking on behalf of all the Liberal Democrat Councillors for Shaw and Crompton; said:  “This will have a serious impact on Oldham’s economy, particularly in Shaw and Crompton.  Shop Direct is estimated to employ, directly or through agencies, around 2,000 staff in the north-west region; many of these are our local constituents and other residents of our Borough working at the Shaw depot (and in Chadderton).

Most will have to accept redundancy when these jobs are relocated with the company to a new purpose-built plant in the East Midlands.  But in addition to the loss of these jobs, we need to recognise that many of our small businesses in Shaw – newsagents, sandwich shops, pubs and taxi firms – rely on these workers for much of their trade and that they will suffer a significant downturn when the closure takes place.  The risk is that some of these businesses will also cease trading with the loss of yet more jobs.”

Shaw Councillor Chris Gloster added:  “My worry is that if we do not start planning for the future now, with the involvement of the company and with the involvement of the Council’s Get Oldham Working team and other agencies, we could see not only many hundreds of workers thrown onto the dole without alternate employment, but the closure of a good number of our local businesses and Shaw Town Centre taking another big hit on its footfall.”

“Unfortunately we are not inexperienced at this sort of situation, having been through this pain with the closure of Warburton’s Bakery, and we will do our utmost to help people affected by this announcement,” stated Councillor Howard Sykes.

Councillor Chris Gloster added: “although Shop Direct are moving out of town, they are not taking the fulfilment site with them, and as internet shopping is on the rise, and looks like it can only grow bigger, hopefully another fulfilment company will want to take this readymade site over thereby securing employment in Shaw’.

Councillor Sykes concluded:  “Yesterday I contacted senior Council officers, including the Chief Executive, asking them for reassurance about the support we will offer to these workers and businesses so that we can make the best of this terrible situation.   We have also offered our services as a facilitator using the established contacts that I already have with Shop Direct to arrange talks with company bosses at the highest level and at the earliest opportunity.”

Copy of Councillor Sykes Email and officer’s reply

From: Jon Bloor
Sent: 11 April 2018 17:07
To: Howard Sykes; Tom Stannard
Cc: Elizabeth Fryman; Eve Edwards; Cllr C Gloster; Cllr D Murphy; Cllr D Williamson; Cllr J Turner; Carolyn Wilkins
Subject: RE: Re Shop Direct in Shaw to close

Dear Howard,

Apologies I rang you earlier but you are in London today.

We met with the Shaw team in November to discuss working with them via GOW about developing a long term arrangement. So this is a shock, especially as there has been no contact with Midas or ourselves in terms of local relocation options.

However, we need to develop an appropriate and supportive response as we did with Slumberland and Warburtons.

We are meeting with the Operations Manager next week to discuss what can be done between now and 2020/21.

Re: Outplacement support.

I have spoken with Job Centre Plus who will only really get involved in 2 years time when the bulk of the redundancies will be made, and as such we need to recognise that whilst it is a huge initial shock we have two years to work with the workers that are affected.

We believe the numbers quoted in the press release are higher than expected but we shall come back to you when we have a clearer picture.

We shall develop a plan and share this with you re: our offer of support but it will largely be around developing a redeployment offer, using the Career Advancement Staff – and working with local employers to develop clear pathways (For example DPD will be opening during the latter part of this year).

I will keep you updated and thank you for the kind offer of your links this could be really useful but we need to follow their protocol and meet with their national Operations Manager first.

Kind regards

Jon.

From: Howard Sykes
Sent: 11 April 2018 13:28
To: Jon Bloor, Tom Stannard
Cc: Howard Sykes ; Elizabeth Fryman ; Eve Edwards ; Cllr C Gloster  Cllr D Murphy; Cllr D Williamson; Cllr J Turner; Carolyn Wilkins
Subject: Re Shop Direct in Shaw to close

Just seen this announcement.

Are we gearing up to provide support and advice like we have done in the past when a major employer closes down.

Welcome some early re-assurance of what we can do to help.

This will have a mega impact on the Borough and especially Shaw and Crompton.

Myself and Liz have some good contacts at the Shaw site.

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE

My two allowed questions at tonight’s Council meeting 28 March – Tackling Child Poverty in Oldham and Primary Health Care

Oldham Council 28 March 2018 – Leader’s Questions – Councillor Howard Sykes

Q1 Tackling Child Poverty in Oldham

Mr Mayor, for my first question tonight I want to refer to the report published last month by the campaigning coalition End Child Poverty into child poverty across the UK.

Overall the report found that Oldham was the local authority area with the 7th worst estimated prevalence of poverty in the UK.  Most shockingly Coldhurst was identified as the electoral ward with the highest estimated level of child poverty in the country, with over six in ten children living in poverty.

Regrettably Werneth, St Mary’s and Alexandra also featured highly with over fifty percent of all children in poverty.

But child poverty is not simply confined to these areas – there are children living in poverty everywhere in our Borough.

Sadly, you also find pockets of economic deprivation in Shaw, Saddleworth, Chadderton and Royton – all are a criminal indictment of the indifference of policymakers and financiers in the affluent nation that is 21st century Britain.

Of course, much of the blame for the increase in poverty must be laid at the feet of a Conservative Government which continues to insist on austerity and has punished the poor with a benefit freeze.

Yet there were previously investments amounting to tens of millions directed at our most deprived neighbourhoods, Coldhurst, Glodwick, Derker, Fitton Hill, Hathershaw, Limeside, Werneth, and Westwood during previous  Government’s including Labour.  I will mention just four!

  • The Single Regeneration Budget
  • Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
  • The New Deal for Communities
  • Housing Market Renewal

Despite their high sounding titles, very little seems to have changed on the ground.

Mr Mayor, this Administration talks a lot about the ‘game changer’ that the redevelopment of our town centre will represent, but for the children of these neighbourhoods who are hungry or ill-shod a real ‘game changer’ would be having enough food to eat and decent shoes and clothes to wear right now.

My first question to the Leader tonight is this – does this Administration along with its partners have a practical strategy, a ‘game changer’, with real achievable, measurable targets to address the poverty, and therefore the life chances of these disadvantaged children?

This is one league table we need to get off the top of and better still Oldham needs relegated to a lower division.  At least 4 wards in the top flight for poverty is not where we need to be!

If there is not such a strategy, does she not think it is about time that we put one in place as a top priority and as a cross-party priority – for I can tell her now the Liberal Democrats stand ready to help or is another generation to be condemned to poverty?

Q2 Primary Health Care

Mr Mayor, I would now like to return to another very important issue for many residents in our Borough – access to modern primary care facilities in their locality.

The NHS Clinical Commissioning Group has recently consulted on proposals to create five local ‘clusters’, each to serve approximately 50,000 patients at which local GP practices will be concentrated, along with a range of high-quality primary care services that will be tailored to the especial needs of the host community.

I am confident that patients and carers in Chadderton, Saddleworth and Shaw and Crompton will be excited to hear this news as they are currently obliged to attend health centres that are well past their best to say the least.

In fact their facilities are so poor that I would suggest that if a patient presented in such a condition they would be immediately referred for emergency treatment by triage.  They are quite literally falling to bits.

Mr Mayor, if we do indeed have a National Health Service that provides everyone with access to equal treatment at their point of need, why do we not have a Local Health Service that does the same?

Certainly the hard working tax payers in Chadderton, Saddleworth and Shaw and Crompton are being seriously short-changed with their current provision.

We have been promised new health centres in these areas for years; it would nice to see this finally happen – and soon.

The recent appointment of our own Chief Executive Dr Carolyn Wilkins, to a key position and leading role in our local NHS gives me some hope that things may now finally move in the right direction.

With this in mind my second question to the Leader tonight is when can we expect to see new health centres in all areas of our Borough that are fit for the 21st Century?

Cannes you believe it?  £10,000 would be better spent fixing our crumbling roads or providing care for our vulnerable children or elderly citizens rather than on French Seaside Spree, says Liberal Democrat Leader

The Leader of the Opposition and Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes, MBE, has questioned the value of Oldham Council spending more than £10,000 + VAT to send two Council officers to the French Riviera resort of Cannes at a time when Council services have been cut to the bone.

The two officers were representing Oldham Council at the three day Marché International des Professionnels d’Immobilier (MIPIM) property conference earlier this month.  Oldham Council was one of at least nine around the UK that the national press reported were sending representatives at public expense.

Commenting Councillor Sykes stated:  “The attendance by these Council officers at this conference at this time; at such expense sends; out all of the totally wrong signals when the Council is cutting services to the bone or just stopping them because of swingeing cuts in central government funding.”

He added:  “I am not suggesting that this simply amounted to three days of sunshine and champagne.  I am sure these officers were also meeting with potential investors in Oldham, but many residents in our Borough; who are struggling to pay their Council Tax bills; will rightly ask why this money could not have been spent on fixing potholes on our crumbling roads or providing care for our vulnerable children or elderly citizens rather than on jet travel and hotel bills for staff going to the French Riviera.”

Councillor Sykes is also still investigating whether this £10,000 bill represents the full cost to the Council, and he has an outstanding enquiry with officers in the Chief Executive’s team.

Vulnerable Adult Missing Persons Profile

This form is itended to assist care workers, partner agencies and the police if the person it refers to goes missing.

Please fill in these sections and keep it in a safe place. If possible please complete the electronic version of the form which is available to download from the GMP website.

Please keep the form in a safe place where it can easily be found. It will need to be located quickly at any time of the day, to begin the initial searches.

It would be helpful to make several copies that can be left with care workers, neighbours or relatives. Should the person relocate the form will need to go with them and be updated accordingly.

When completed the form will contain personal information and must be stored safely in accordance with data protection. However if the person goes missing sharing the information on the form with GMP in order to protect and safeguard the person will become necessary and justified.

For more information please visit the website.

www.gmp.police.uk/Herbert

Down load a form and complete it today: Herbert Form Word

Oldham Liberal Democrats call for Ban on New Hot Food Takeaways near Schools to help curb Childhood Obesity

Crompton Liberal Democrat Councillor Diane Williamson will be proposing a motion to the next full meeting of Oldham Council (Wednesday 28 March) calling for Oldham Council to prohibit new hot food takeaways within 400 metres of schools and is appealing to the Borough’s schools to apply a ‘stay-on-site’ policy at lunchtimes and ban takeaway deliveries to school gates.

In October 2017, the medical journal, The Lancet, reported that one in every ten young people, aged 5 to 19, in the UK was classed as obese. In Oldham, the situation is even worse. The Public Health England profile for the Borough, published July 2017, reported that one in five, 21.9%, of children at Year 6 were classed as obese.

Commenting, Councillor Williamson said: “Childhood obesity has risen to epic proportions and, if it is not addressed, it will mean future generations will be faced with massive health problems. Obesity into adulthood leads to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, strokes and certain cancers. The national picture is bad, but the Oldham one is worse; the Government needs to take urgent action, but as a Council we also need to take action as well.”

“Takeaway food is usually junk food; it may often be tasty but it is also unhealthy. It piles on the calories and is a major contributor to childhood obesity. The Oldham Liberal Democrats are therefore suggesting that the Council looks at imposing a ban on granting planning permission to any new takeaways within 400 metres of a school. At least twenty two other Councils have done the same.”

The motion is being seconded by fellow Liberal Democrat Crompton Councillor Julia Turner: “Deliveries on takeaway foods to schools are also an unacknowledged problem. In June 2016, the Royal Society for Public Health called for a ban on these deliveries after it found in a survey with young people that half had ordered fast food on their smartphone and a quarter had paid for these deliveries at the school gates.”

“The School Meals Service in Oldham is outstanding and produces delicious and nutritious meals every day that I hope every child would want to eat. The Oldham Liberal Democrats are calling upon every one of our Borough’s schools to help us combat child obesity by banning school gate deliveries and by enforcing a ‘stay-on-site’ policy on pupils at lunchtimes.”

Council 28 March 2018 – Notice of Opposition Business – Motion 3 – Restricting New Hot Food Takeaways near Schools

 This Council notes that:

  • Childhood obesity has risen to epic proportions. In October 2017, the medical journal, The Lancet, reported one in every ten young people, aged 5 to 19, in the UK are classed as obese;
  • In Oldham, sadly the situation is even worse. The Public Health England profile for the Borough, published July 2017, reported that 21.9% of children at Year 6 (660 in total) were classed as obese;
  • Obese children are more likely to become obese adults, putting them at risk of developing serious health conditions (such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain types of cancer);
  • Takeaway food, where it is unhealthy, so called junk food, is undoubtedly a contributing factor in the increase;
  • Although the Oldham School Meals Service is a Gold standard provider, regrettably some pupils chose to eat at or from takeaways;
  • In June 2016, The Royal Society for Public Health called for a ban on the delivery of takeaway meals to school gates. A survey conducted by the RSPH amongst young people  found half had ordered takeaways on their smart phones and a quarter had paid for fast food to be delivered to the school gates;
  • At least 22 local authorities have adopted Supplementary Planning Documents and Local Plans that include a prohibition on new fast food takeaways within 400 metres of local schools (a buffer zone);
  • In July 2012, Oldham Council adopted a Supplementary Planning Document which placed restrictions on the density of hot food takeaways, but which did not include any restriction on new takeaways within a specified buffer zone;

Council resolves to ask the Planning Committee to investigate the desirability and practicality of:

  • Introducing a prohibition on new takeaways within a 400 metre buffer zone as part of the Local Plan;

Council shall also contact all schools within the Borough to seek reassurances they:

  • Enforce a ‘stay on-site’ policy at lunchtimes;
  • Ban the delivery of takeaways to the school gates for collection by pupils;

And to ask them to do so; if they do not.

Tax Land to Pay for Council Services, say Oldham Liberal Democrats

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Saddleworth South Councillor John McCann, will be proposing at the next full meeting of Oldham Council (Wednesday 28 March) that the Council back calls for the introduction of Land Value Taxation to help pay for public services.

Councillor McCann said: “Land Value Taxes work successfully in over 30 countries across the world.  Landowners are charged an amount every year based upon the rental value of their land.  This amount is based upon the unimproved value of the land, in other words the amount is not increased if the land is developed upon with buildings or other infrastructure.  Two advantages to a Land Value Tax is that it is very cheap to collect and very difficult to evade.”

“Land Value Taxes can be revenue-neutral, by this we mean that they could replace other local taxation raised through the Council Tax and Business Rates,” stated Councillor McCann.  “This would reduce the financial burden placed upon our residents, particularly our lower-income households, and our small businesses in paying for Council services.”

Shaw Liberal Democrat Councillor Chris Gloster is seconding the motion. Commenting he said: “A Land Value Tax also has other benefits.  It would discourage land-banking, where owners simply hold onto vacant land in the hope that they can make more profit in the future if its value rises, and instead encourages them to develop them with homes or businesses more quickly, once planning permission is granted, to generate an income to help pay the charge.  This would provide more homes and jobs for people in our Borough, and, as many of these homes would be on brown-field sites, it will give us a greater chance to spare more of our precious and irreplaceable Green Belt from unwanted development.”

Council 28 March 2018 – Notice of Opposition Business –

Motion 2 – Land Value Taxation

This Council believes that Land Value Taxation (LVT) offers a credible means for local authorities to raise public revenue to fund local public services by making an annual charge upon landowners, based on the rental value of their land. This is typically levied against the unimproved value of that land, not taking into account any buildings, services or on-site infrastructure.

Council notes that:

  • LVT could be revenue-neutral; that is the revenue raised could replace taxation levied through Council Tax and Business Rates. This would lift some of the burden of meeting the cost of Council services from our Borough’s low-income households and small businesses;
  • LVT would encourage owners of vacant sites, particularly brown-field sites, to develop them for business or residential use more quickly, where planning permission has been granted, so as to generate an income rather than paying an annual charge on the unused land;
  • This would discourage developers from land-banking and lead to more house building and the creation of more businesses and jobs, meaning a more vibrant Borough and less pressure to build new homes on our irreplaceable green belt;
  • LVT is cheap to collect and very difficult to evade.

Council further notes that:

  • Some form of LVT is already successfully in operation in over 30 countries (including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and several US states);
  • The International Monetary Fund, the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development have all come out in favour of the tax;
  • A Private Members Bill was introduced in Parliament by Caroline Lucas MP supporting LVT, and the proposal has cross-party support in principle;
  • The Scottish and Welsh Governments are currently investigating the options for implementing such a tax;
  • The Parliamentary Communities and Local Government Committee have just conducted an enquiry into the efficacy of various taxation methods to ‘capture’ increases in land value;
  • The Government has appointed a panel of experts, chaired by Sir Oliver Letwin, charged with carrying out a review to ‘explain the gap between the number of planning permissions being granted (for houses) against those built in areas of high-demand.’