I am informed there has been a vehicle breakdown and that the Council we has about an hour of outstanding refuse outstanding this evening, around Oak Street in Shaw and The Rises in High Crompton.
Residents are advised to leave out their bins as they will be back first thing in the morning to collect.
In April 1987 Shaw & Crompton Parish Council was formed.
30 years later, the 2016-2017 Chairman, Councillor Angie Farrell, decided to mark this event by having a display covering the last 30 years.
She asked her friends, former Chairmen and founder members of the Parish Council, Alan Griffiths (also a former Mayor of Oldham) and Brian Karran, to help her with this.
It was decided that the timing of the display would also coincide with the annual Family Weekend in June.
The items have been mainly provided by Alan and Brian, with additional material by former Chairmen, including Mike Hambley, Hazel Gloster and others, and give a fascinating picture of the early days of the Parish Council.
The display is in Crompton Library and will be there for the next two weeks, until Wednesday 5th July.
Fun and events for all ages and the whole family.
Please note Market Street will be closed during the day over the weekend and some additional parking restrictions will be in place to accommodate the Fair and other activities.
The Car Rally is on Sunday on Market Street and the drive round Shaw and Crompton takes place between 12noon and 1.00pm.
This event is marshalled and some minor disruption to traffic can be expected for short period at various junctions on the route.
If you see the ‘convoy’ give them a wave or a toot on your horn, which I am sure they will appreciate.
Please be aware I have been informed that some small areas within Shaw and Crompton have not received food and garden waste today.
Residents are advised that a collection crew will be back to collect at some point tomorrow morning so residents should leave their containers out for collection tonight.
The Leader of the Opposition and Liberal Democrat Group Leader on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, have written to the new Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham to welcome his rethink of the controversial Greater Manchester Spatial Framework. The newly-elected Mayor has appointed Salford’s Mayor Paul Dennett to oversee a rewrite of the proposals.
Cllr Sykes said: “Much of the Green Belt land in Oldham that was proposed for housing development is located in the two wards represented solely by six Liberal Democrat Councillors, namely Shaw and Crompton. Over three thousand new homes are proposed in these two wards. Local residents are rightly up in arms, fearing that not only will the current plan mean that their precious Green Belt will be lost forever under a carpet of concrete, but also that the existing medical, school and leisure infrastructure, which is already severely stretched, will be completely swamped with the extra demand.”
The Liberal Democrats have a clear aspiration for future housing development in Greater Manchester. Cllr Sykes explained: “Development should be on brownfield sites first, particularly sites with outstanding planning permission, coupled with mill and factory conversions to housing and a drive to bring existing empty homes back into occupancy, whenever this is practicable.”
In his letter, Cllr Sykes has made the new Mayor an offer: “I am pleased to say that the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council enjoyed a cordial and constructive relationship with your predecessor. We look forward to establishing a similar relationship with yourself so that we might together work to make Greater Manchester, and its ten constituent local authorities, greater still.”
“We hope that you will offer us the opportunity to work with you and Mr Dennett to establish a revised plan that is acceptable to local ward members and our constituents, which mirrors our aspirations for housing and economic development in Greater Manchester.”
Attached letter to Mayor Andy Burnham
22 May 2017
Mr. Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, GMCA, Churchgate House, 56 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 6EU
Dear Mr. Mayor,
Many congratulations on your recent election. I am pleased to say that the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council enjoyed a cordial and constructive relationship with your predecessor. We look forward to establishing a similar relationship with yourself so that we might together work to make Greater Manchester, and its ten constituent local authorities, greater still.
We welcome your recent commitment to revise the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework and your appointment of Salford’s Mayor Paul Dennett to oversee the rewrite.
We hope that you will offer us the opportunity to work with you and Mr. Dennett to establish a revised plan that is acceptable to local ward members and our constituents, which mirrors our aspirations for housing and economic development in Greater Manchester.
The original plans for Oldham proposed that 13,700 new homes be built and almost 700,000 square metres of land made available for new factories and warehouses in the borough. Approximately 3000 were to be located in sites in Shaw and Crompton, and other tracts of land were designated for industrial development.
To the six Liberal Democrat Councillors representing Shaw and Crompton, this plan represented a massive and inequitable land grab in our area with the loss of our much-loved Green Belt and OPOL (other protected open land).
Our constituents have rightly been up-in-arms about it, and have participated in demonstrations at Tandle Hill Park and in Albert Square to protect their Green Belt. As their elected representatives, we have supported their aspiration not to see any development of the Green Belt.
Labour colleagues representing Royton and Chadderton are also upset at plans to devastate Green Belt in their areas and I know they would also welcome the chance to participate in a dialogue with Mr Dennett and yourself.
It is the view of the Liberal Democrat Group that there is no justification for the construction of a large number of properties (or indeed any properties) on Green Belt or OPOL land before new homes are first built on Brownfield sites, on sites where planning permission for housing development has already been granted and upon the many derelict and the unloved sites in our town centres and districts.
We also believe that every empty mill and factory should be converted used for housing and that the large number of empty homes across Greater Manchester should be brought back into use.
We also wish to see the apportionment of housing and commercial development across every ward within every borough rather than the disproportionate imposition of development on a few wards such as ours.
It is our belief that Shaw and Crompton lacks the necessary infrastructure to meet the needs of the residents of more than 3,000 new homes. Our primary schools are full and overcrowded; we have a secondary school that is falling apart; a dilapidated Health Centre that is near cardiac arrest; no swimming facilities or dry leisure provision; precious few youth facilities and no municipal tip.
New homes with growing families need primary and secondary school places; more GPs and dentists; leisure and shopping facilities; and new highways and more buses and trams to get them there.
Mr. Mayor, I hope that in light of these facts that you will wish to engage the Oldham Liberal Democrat Group in the re-write and, with this hope in mind, I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours sincerely
Howard Sykes
The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has described as ‘poo’ the disappointing response eventually received from Oldham Council to his suggestion that the successful PooWatch scheme be introduced to Oldham Borough.
Councillor Sykes wrote to senior Council officers in January 2016 about the PooWatch scheme just then introduced in Worcester. He explained: “PooWatch is a free web app for smartphones, tablets and personal computers. Through the Poowatch app, residents can record any dog litter they spot in the city. The information they provide helps identify dog litter hotspots so action can be targeted in areas of greatest need.”
After ten months, a report was finally brought to the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Board in November 2016. Promisingly, the Board was informed that:
“Here in Oldham the use of a GIS system and a GPS locating mechanism for a device as a reporting facility is currently being explored. When this has been finalised it is proposed to examine the potential to link in a reporting mechanism for dog fouling that could mirror the Worcester example.”
“Once timescales and resources are highlighted officers will be able to make more meaningful contact with equivalents in Worcester to expand our knowledge as to how they have supported the technology with resources and if there are any lessons learnt that will allow Oldham to improve its reporting mechanisms for residents.”
Councillor Sykes was therefore disappointed to hear early this month that moves towards the introduction of a PooWatch scheme in Oldham have been stifled.
After asking for a progress report Councillor Sykes received an email from Ray Ward, Executive Director, Corporate and Commercial, he was informed that the Council is championing an Environmental Health project “developing online reporting for a number of transactions including fly tipping and noise nuisance. This is due to go online in the next three to six months. This does not currently include dog poo as other high volume transactions have been prioritised by the service.”
Councillor Sykes described the decision not to tackle dog fouling as a priority as “Poo”.
He added: “Local Councillors get more complaints from the public about dog fouling than most other issues. PooWatch empowers the public to take action by using a smart phone to report real incidents of dog fouling in real time to enable prompt action to be taken against irresponsible dog owners and to contribute to both a more co-operative and a cleaner Borough. It has proven to be a value for money, effective solution in Worcester so why can’t we have it here?”
Thursday: June: 1, 15, 22, 29.
All at Shaw Lifelong Learning Centre, High Street, Shaw
From 7:30pm to 8:30pm
Councillors: Sykes, Blyth, Gloster, Williamson, Murphy and Turner
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY
Following approaches from a number of residents I am pleased to report that a new Book of Condolence will be opened at Crompton Library, Farrow Street East in Shaw this afternoon (Friday) and will be available to the public during normal library opening times (including from 9.30am to 1pm on Saturday), for Alison Howe (44) and Lisa Lees (43) the two Royton mums who were killed in the Manchester bombing.
We are also taking part in a Greater Manchester-wide Book of Condolence where comments can be summited online at: http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/TKKJ2/
Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on the Board of Transport for Greater Manchester, has condemned as “scandalous” Northern Rail’s imposition of a third increase in many rail fares in nine months.
From Sunday 21 May, Northern Rail has increased some fares by nearly ten per cent; adding 50p to the majority off-peak single and return tickets within Greater Manchester.
Cllr Sykes said: “This is the third rail fare hike in nine months, with previous increases in September 2016 and January this year. Northern has targeted the off-peak fares which are not regulated by the Government.”
“At a time when we should be encouraging drivers to get out of their cars and take the train to reduce road congestion and air pollution, and when we should be encouraging train passengers to make more use of the quieter off-peak services, Northern has decided to make things harder for them by once more hiking the price.”
“This is crazy and shows that Northern is more focused on making more profits for its parent company, German state rail operator Arriva, than it is on helping the cash-strapped rail passenger.”
Following a vehicle breakdown this afternoon I have been informed there are two very small pockets of work outstanding as follows: paper/card collections on Rochdale Road, near to Crompton House School and Alfred Street, Shaw area.
Given this is a small amount of work we will return first thing Monday – leave bins out or re-present before 07:15 on Monday.