Issues with tractors and trailers and other vehicles

I am regularly contacted about the above so have drawn together the following information below so residents can report matters direct to the appropriate agency.

It is only via such reports these matters get any priority attention.  I would encourage all with concerns to do so.

Parking

If vehicles are causing an obstruction, residents should report times and number plates to the Police.  This can be done online, through 101 number, online live chat or via Crimestoppers.

  • 101 Number
  • CrimeStoppers: crimestoppers-uk.org Tel: 0800 555111
  • GMP Live Chat: http://www.gmp.police.uk/content/triage.html?readform and select the live chat link at the bottom of the page.

Land fill, waste importation, state of the land

Environmental Agency: Concerns over land fill, waste importation, state of the land.  Residents to report as much information as possible.  Witness statements, photographs etc. Tel: 0800 807060

Tractor or trailer issues

DVSA: Tractor or trailer issues, operator’s license, vehicle registration numbers.  Tel: 0300 123 9000

DVSA, North West Region, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, Broadgate, Broadway, Chadderton, Oldham, OL9 9XA

Free summer activities in Shaw and Crompton

Young people are a top priority for the District Executives and your local Councillors have committed funding to ensure that children and young people in the area are kept busy over the summer months. We work closely with youth service providers all year, Full Circle, Youth Detached Team and Mahdlo, and are committed to improving services to improve the well-being of our young people wherever we can.

This year, your Shaw and Crompton Councillors have funded weekly youth sessions in High Crompton Park and school holiday activities at both George St playing fields and High Crompton Park, and over the summer holidays, there will be a weekly session in both Dunwood Park and High Crompton Park.

We hope families in the local area will come along and take part and also take time to enjoy our beautiful parks.

Oldham Rubbish at Recycling, say Oldham Liberal Democrats

The Oldham Liberal Democrat Group has hit out at recent figures which show that Oldham has the second lowest rates of recycling in Greater Manchester, after the city itself which has always been the lowest.  Annual figures published by WasteDataFlow show recycling rates at only 39.7% of waste in 2016/17, which compares unfavourably with high performer Trafford at 61.3%.

Commenting on the disappointing news, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and Leader of the Opposition, said:  “The Labour Administration introduced three weekly bin collections supposedly to encourage recycling, but the evidence before our eyes in the wards that we as Councillors represent is that there is more and more fly-tipped waste and that it is both a health hazard and a public eyesore.”

“This Council needs to ‘up its game’ in getting more of our residents to recycle a greater proportion of their waste more often.  Landfill charges for the Council to dispose of general rubbish responsibly are very high and the cost of cleaning up after fly-tippers is phenomenal.  This is Council Tax payers’ money that could be better used to look after our aging population or improve the life chances of our young people.  We need better information and to encourage and work in partnership the public to co-operate to improve our rates.  We also need enforcement when they do not.  That is what people tell me who do their bit for the environment and recycling.”

Councillor Sykes added:  “The new Leader of the Council has spoken about the need to invest more in our street cleaning teams and in our enforcement officers, and I welcome this commitment so it is a real shame that Labour has repeatedly voted against Liberal Democrat proposals in past budgets to make these same investments through making savings in Civic Centre bureaucracy and waste.  The Liberal Democrats will happily work with the new Leader to make our Borough cleaner and more attractive, and I do hope that he will now revisit our sensible proposals to help make that happen.”

Crompton Moor – Oldham Countryside Volunteer Ranger – Sunday 29 July from 10:30am

Why not join us on the task for this Sunday, 29 July 2018, and attend to fencing that either needs repairing or in anticipation of new fencing to stop the motorcycle access to the moor; this will be on a couple of sites on the moor.

The current weather forecast is surprisingly good again, being ‘sunny intervals and a gentle breeze’, likely high / low of 22º/14º and breezy at 8/9 mph so bring the sun cream and ensure you have your favourite hot & or cold liquids, the appropriate clothing, footwear and a packed lunch if you are up for the day.

Meantime, if you have any issues that you may wish to discuss prior to Sunday, please do not hesitate to email (on either address) or text / phone me on 07961107860.

 Please could you let me know if you intend to join us on the day, so that I can make the appropriate plan of work.

I look forward to seeing you in the Crompton Moor Car Park ~ 10.30 on Sunday. Thank you.

Kindest Regards , Edward John Fulton (aka Ed / Eddie), Countryside Volunteer Ranger, (Mob) 07961 107860 [Calls may be recorded], (Text) 07961 107860, (Fax)  01706 661813, (E)  edward@edwardjohnfulton.uk , (E) edward.fulton@btinternet.uk

Cafe Mandels to close, hopefully new operator will be found soon

Last year Councillors were consulted about a reduction in opening hours to assist the business at Cafe Mandels, this was agreed.  Subsequently we have been asked for our views on a request from the tenant of Cafe Mandels to close down between the 31st August and Easter, a period of eight months.

All the Shaw and Crompton Councillors were of a view that this was unacceptable, however we understand that the tenant decided to terminate her lease prior to this decision being communicated to her.

Cafe Mandels is a well-used community facility in Dunwood Park and when the building was renovated and subsequently let out it was the intention that this community facility was not a seasonal one but available throughout the year.

‎Shaw and Crompton Councillors have supported this facility from its inception and will continue to do so.  We will now make sure that it is re tendered quickly and continue to support a new operator.

It is regrettable that the current tenant has decided to pull out of Cafe Mandels but her desire to close for eight months out of twelve is unacceptable to both councillors and users if the park alike.

Pencil Brook Culvert Repairs – construction starts Sept 18 for 12 weeks

Click on this link for details Pencil Brook Newsletter_v3

Drop in on the 25th July 2018 at Shaw Lifelong Learning Centre, 6 High St, Shaw, Oldham OL2 8RQ at 17.30 – 19.00 to discuss the work to Pencil Brook culvert

Overview

The Environment Agency carried out an inspection of three culverts on Pencil Brook – Pencil Brook culvert, Smallbrook Road culvert and Railway culvert in 2016. These identified numerous defects that could lead to the collapse of the culvert. If the culvert was to collapse approximately 142 residential properties and the railway line would be at a very significant risk of flooding.

The Environment Agency commissioned consultants to design a repair scheme in 2017. A Business Case was prepared and was recently approved to spend £1.4m to complete the necessary repair works.

Oldham Council

Your local councillors (Diane Williamson, Dave Murphy, Julia Turner, Chris Gloster, Howard Sykes and Hazel Gloster) are delighted that the culvert work is being completed and although we know there may be inconvenience for residents during the work, we hope it will alleviate the flood risk in the area in the future. Your councillors will be available at the drop in.

Access / Temporary closures

While there will be footpath closures and restrictions to traffic, we endeavour to keep these to a minimum.

Valley Rise, Wooded Area

Much of the repair work is in Valley Rise wooded area running into Lower Valley Rise up to the school. Access is required into the woodland for heavy plant to install a new lining system to the badly damaged pipes. Trimming and removal of trees will be necessary but this will be kept to a minimum. The extent of this work has been reviewed with the Oldham Council Tree Officer. It will be necessary to restrict access through the woods for a few weeks while this work is completed for safety reasons. It will also be necessary to over pump the flows while the new lining systems are installed. Pump hoses will cross roads with ramps for periods.

Smallbrook Road Area

 The short culvert crossing Smallbrook Road is blocked with silt and needs cleaning and some repairs. It will be necessary to close the car park next to the bowling green while this work is carried out.

Railway View Area

 The car park will also be used for the Railway culvert works. United Utilities are supporting us in allowing the project team to utilise their using their combined sewer network for “over pumping”. This allows us to “dry up” the culvert in order to make the repairs. It also reduces the over-land disruption to the local area. It will be necessary to dig down to the culvert in three locations to complete repairs.

Timescales

•           Engagement session in Shaw Lifelong Learning Centre – 25th July

•           The logistics and the planning for construction work – July and August.

•           Construction work will follow in September 2018 for 12 weeks.

Volunteers are invited to help halt the progress of Himalayan balsam, an invasive plant on Crompton Moor, and in Crompton Hall Saturday 14 July

The pink-flowered non-native species smothers riverside/stream habitats; harms native plants, and leaves banks bare and subject to erosion when it dies down.

It has to be pulled up or ‘bashed’ before seed pods explode and spread.

Himalayan balsam was introduced to the UK for ornamental gardens but spread into the wild.

If you can spare a couple of hours to help, we will be meeting in….

Brushes Clough car park, on Crompton Moor at 10:30 am on Saturday the 14th of July 2018

For further information please contact: Marian Herod, Secretary, Friends of Crompton Moor, marian.herod@btinternet.com     Tel: 07792 156295

 

My two allowed questions at tonight’s Council meeting 11-12 July – a gateway unfit for a prince, an unwanted old mongrel, and school places or rather the lack of them

Q1 Leader Question – a gateway unfit for a prince and an unwanted old mongrel

Mr Mayor, the new Leader has talked about his plans to revise the Masterplan for the Oldham Town Centre.  I am sure everyone in this chamber, myself included, will look forward to seeing the revised proposals.

But first let me raise with the Leader tonight the issue of outstanding developments on two other town centre sites – that of Prince’s Gate and of Hotel Future.

The Council’s website still proclaims Prince’s Gate is “one of the most ambitious redevelopments for our town centre since the 1980’s”.  Former Leader Jim McMahon called it “a game-changer for the new Oldham.”

Version 1 of this Royally-named scheme was due to open in 2017, but it collapsed when the flagship retailer Marks and Spencers pulled out despite a £9million plus sweetener to fit out their new store and a promise of rent free occupancy for six months.

On then to Version 2, minus M&S or may be just an M&S Food Hall.  And now another Labour Council Leader, Councillor Jean Stretton, who was supposed to announce a new development partner for the site in the summer of 2017.  Some 12 months on, not a shout nor a sign – so perhaps we are onto Version 3, now we have yet another Labour Council Leader?

Mr Mayor, Prince’s Gate was supposed to deliver 700 jobs and £21 million a year to the local economy.  Instead it has so far cost the Council Tax payers of Oldham many millions in undisclosed abortive costs spent on marketing, planning and regeneration professionals as well as the costs of site assembly and clearance.

And what do we have to show for it – a very, very costly car park.  Truly then a gateway fit more for a Pauper than a Prince.

Let us next turn to another site – the ‘will it, won’t it go ahead’ hotel and conference centre on our doorstep, the development adjoining the Queen Elizabeth Hall, formerly known as Hotel Future.

Poor Hotel Future has become like an unwanted old mongrel when it was once a Crufts pedigree.

It was first a bespoke hotel training establishment offering courses in the hospitality industry, then it became a standard hotel from a standard hotel chain, then the plan was abandoned when the site, including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, was scheduled for demolition.

And now the new Leader is holding out the promise of refurbishing the QE Hall and perhaps putting the hotel back on site.

In any case, the joke has clearly been again at the expense of Oldham Council Tax payers.  It was revealed in a recent response to a Freedom of Information Act request that £418,670 has been spent on this project between 2011 and its abandonment in July 2017.

Here then is my final question.

Will the Leader please end the misery and tell us what development will be done, when it will be done and with whom it will be done on the Prince’s Gate and the Hotel Future sites?

Q2 – Council 11 July 2018 – Leader’s Question – School places or rather the lack of them

For my second question to the Leader tonight, Mr Mayor, I have to return to an issue I raised with his predecessor almost exactly one year ago today – namely the lack of availability of places for the children of our Borough in the schools of their choice.

I am sorry to have to tell you, Mr Mayor, colleagues, that one year on, the situation is now worse not better!

This year, in Oldham, 387 children missed out on a place at any of their preferred secondary schools.  Yes that is right ANY of their preferred schools.

That is one in nine Year 6 pupils or 10.9% to be exact.  Of those who got a place at one of their preferred secondary schools, only 73% got their first preference.  That compares badly with the national picture where 82% got a place at a first preference school.

Overall we were bottom of the class – the worst performing local authority in Greater Manchester – when it came to offering school places!

That’s almost 400 children (and their parents) failed by our system, not getting their first choice of secondary school, and not getting their second or third either.

And I regret that this is even worse than last year when I could report to Council that 8.9% of pupils did not secure a place to start at any of their preferred schools in September 2017.  That is 2% more than 12 months ago.

Mr Mayor, as I said last year, and I make no apology for saying it again, this situation is scandalous – we can do better, much better and we must do better, for the sake of our children and their educational future.

Because if we do not offer children a place at a secondary school that they want to go to how can we inspire them to strive to do their best in their final years of schooling.

I look forward to the Council meeting when I can ask the Leader a positive question about education in our Borough – I am sorry to say that with the current level of performance that I cannot see this as being at any point soon.

I am pleased that the replacement Royton and Crompton School is now beginning to be built in my part of the world, and that we also have a promised expansion at Crompton House School, albeit with the caveat that we in Shaw and Crompton are anxious to ensure that these places are first directed at local pupils.

However for colleagues in Saddleworth and the families they represent, the replacement school at the Diggle site still appears far off and uncertain, years behind schedule.

I would therefore like to ask the Leader what has been done to make more secondary school places available from this September; what is being done to get the Saddleworth School project back on track; and what can be done to ensure that the Crompton House expansion means first and foremost more places for local children?

Government Inaction on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals ‘a Blow’

The Oldham Liberal Democrat Group has hit out at Government inaction over reducing the maximum possible stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals to £2 per play.  Despite promises to introduce the changes as soon as possible, the government has now put back the changes to 2020.

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and Leader of the Opposition, is proposing a motion tonight at week’s full Council meeting calling for more national and local action to tackle problem and underage gambling.

Responding to the disappointing news, Councillor Sykes said: “This is a real blow. Problem gambling is a blight on the lives of the individuals affected, and those of their loved ones.  For many, the problem starts with Fixed Odds Betting Terminals where players got hooked on repeatedly gambling, often large sums, without fully realising the financial trouble that they are stoking up for themselves.”

“Despite promises to tackle this by introducing a maximum £2 stake, this government has kowtowed to the gambling industry and put back the changes to 2020.  We need action on this now, not in two-year’s time!  As Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on the Local Government Association, I shall be adding my voice to those of colleagues in my own party and others that this change is urgently needed.”