The Council have informed me that despite the crews best efforts today they are approximately 3.5 hours behind on Paper & Cardboard recycling collections in the Shaw area this evening.
They have a spare crew going out tomorrow at 7:30am to collect this.
Shaw and Crompton Councillors Advice/Ward Surgeries for January.
Thursday January 7, 14, 21, 28.
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
Council 16th December 2015
Leaders Question 1 – Closure of Oldham Tax Office
My first question tonight concerns the proposed closure of the Oldham HMRC Tax Office at Phoenix House on Union Street.
This move will represent a massive job loss for Oldham and a further blow to our Borough’s public sector, following on top of this Government’s proposal to close both of our court houses and the significant cuts in local government spending announced recently in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.
The Government is proposing to close dozens of other local HMRC tax offices and consolidate their operations in large regional offices in Manchester and twelve other cities across the regions.
Such a move makes no financial sense – Manchester’s office rentals are second only to London, whilst Oldham’s are well under half the price.
Public contact with HMRC is largely online or via email or the telephone, rather than by personal visit, therefore there is no need to locate these offices to busy and expensive, cities.
Rather common sense suggests that to save money this Government should instead choose to expand the Oldham operation into a new regional centre and migrate Civil Service jobs into our Borough.
Sites like Union Street (next to the Town Centre Metrolink stop) and Hollinwood Junction (adjacent to the motorway network and the Hollinwood tram stop) are easily accessible for staff and could represent alternative affordable locations.
This is the approach taken in London where HMRC are regionalising to Croydon and Stratford, rather than central London.
Can I therefore ask the Leader if he will join me in writing to the Chancellor and the Head of HMRC offering to work with them to bring a new regional centre to Oldham and the many new jobs that will come with it?
Council 16th December 2015
Leaders Question 2 – Wilshaw Report
For my second question, I would like to return to a subject on which I have consistently expressed concern – namely the education of the children of this Borough.
Like any parent, I place the education of my children up at the top of my personal priorities, so like many parents in this Borough I was extremely disappointed to hear that the Head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, recently announced that Oldham was one of sixteen authorities where less than 60% of our children are studying at a ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ school.
This damning admission means that almost half of all of our children are being failed by some of our schools and this Administration and this is attested to in recent announcements about examination grades.
Parents have the right to expect that education will be of a quality that will allow their children to reach their full potential.
Why is it that we as an education authority continue to fail our young people?
I would like to ask the Leader what is being done to address this Oldham education ‘gap’ and why there continues to be a delay in the publication of the findings and recommendations of the much-awaited Oldham Education Commission?
This so called Commission will have cost council tax payers more than £100,000 and yet it is still to see the light of day.
We needed to start work to improve the education for our young people months or years ago, rather than keep hiding behind this much promised report.
Now that the Oldham West and Royton by-election is out of the way, surely there can be no further justification for any further delay – why can’t we see it now?
And why can we not start to improve the lot for our children now!
Councillor Howard Sykes, Leader of the Opposition and Lib Dem Group Oldham Council, Member for Shaw Ward
The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, will be proposing a motion to Wednesday’s Oldham Council meeting (16/12/15) that the Council look to work with individuals with sight loss and organisations representing them to develop a Street Charter for the Borough.
In a survey conducted by the Royal National Institute for the blind amongst people with sight loss, nearly every respondent reported that they had collided with an obstacle (such as a wheelie bin, a car, or an advertising – or A- board obstructing the pavement) in the street within the previous three months, and a third of people reported an injury as a result.
Cllr Sykes said: “Like, the Royal Institute for the Blind, the Oldham Liberal Democrats find it unacceptable that those residents of our borough who have sight loss have to chance serious injury every time they step outside their front door.”
“We want the Council to take a lead in removing obstacles and hazards from our streets and pavements.”
“Many of these already pose a significant hazard to the elderly, wheelchair users and parents with prams and buggies but imagine how much more of a hazard they are to those suffering from sight loss.”
“If we do not take action then the situation will only get worse – it is expected that the number of residents in our borough who live with sight loss will increase to nearly 9,000 by 2030.”
Cllr Sykes and the Lib Dems therefore support the ‘Who Put That There!’ campaign by the Royal National Institute for the Blind to raise awareness amongst the sighted and to ask local authorities to engage with blind and partially sighted people in their area to develop a Street Charter to remove obstacles and hazards from the public realm.
The Liberal Democrat motion calls for the Overview and Scrutiny Board to convene a workshop with representatives from the Royal National Institute for the Blind, people living in this Borough with sight loss and their local representative bodies and highways and planning officers to draw up a Street Charter for the borough.
Cllr Sykes added: “I am proud that the Oldham Liberal Democrat group have in the past raised many proposals in Council to support disabled people in this Borough. We shall always champion sensible ideas in the Council Chamber to help those living with disabilities.”
“December is Disability History Month during which there is greater emphasis on identifying issues that impact on the lives of disabled people. Last year we proposed more support for disabled people and carers seeking employment through the Council’s Get Oldham Working programme, measures to combat the evil of hate crime against disabled people, and the need to consider disabled access when the Council Chamber is eventually refurbished.”
Cllr Rod Blyth, Shadow Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding, who is seconding the motion said:
“I am proud to support this motion as I represent Oldham Council on the board of Sight Support Oldham. This worthy charity has been providing support and advice to the visually impaired, and their friends and family, since 1878.”
“In the United Kingdom someone starts to lose their sight every 15 minutes. According to data from the Royal National Institute for the Blind there are approximately 2 million people with sight loss in Britain; 6,000 of whom live in Oldham.”
“As it is estimated that the number of residents in our borough who live with sight loss will increase to nearly 9,000 by 2030, this call for the Council to work with key partners and residents with sight impairment could not be more timely.”
Motion – Royal National Institute for the Blind Street Charter
Council notes that:
Council therefore welcomes the ‘Who Put That There!’ campaign by the Royal National Institute for the Blind and endorses the call to local authorities to engage with blind and partially sighted people in their area to develop a Street Charter to remove obstacles and hazards from the public realm.
Council therefore resolves to ask the Overview and Scrutiny Board to convene a workshop with representatives from the Royal National Institute for the Blind, blind and partially sighted people living in this borough, and their local representative bodies, and highways and planning officers to draw up a Street Charter for this borough.
Public notice Crompton Pool This has been hand delivered to the following: Notification Plan
Letter from CCG: Village medical practice Crompton Health Centre
| Mark Drury, Head of Public Affairs,Oldham CCG, Ellen House, Waddington Street, Oldham OL9 6EE | |
| Dear Mr Drury | |
Re: Village Medical Practice |
|
I refer to your letter dated 29 October, 2015 concerning the Village Medical Practice and the question of re-procurement at the end of the contract in September 2016.
I am writing on behalf of myself, my two Shaw Ward colleagues, Councillors Blyth and Sykes, and also my three Crompton Ward colleagues, Councillors Murphy, Turner and Williamson, as the Crompton Councillors appear not to have been consulted but have many constituents who utilise this service and would be similarly affected should re-procurement not take place leading to patient dispersal.
The Village Medical Practice, as well as the Oak Gables Partnership contained within Crompton Health Centre is a vital resource for the Shaw and Crompton community, providing easy town centre access to a medical practitioner. Shaw and Crompton is one township, with a population of around 20,000 and the need for a medical facility that is easily accessible is a must.
If patients were to be dispersed, this would lead to difficulties in accessing suitable alternative GP services that are already under immense pressure, create unnecessary travel for some and great difficulty for others. Needless to say, Shaw and Crompton Councillors wholeheartedly support the re-procurement of this service based in Shaw.
Shaw and Crompton Councillors have campaigned for a long time to increase the quality of provision and access to integrated medical care within Shaw and Crompton.
The CCG will be aware that we almost had a new integrated care centre built in Shaw Town Centre but finances were withdrawn and the scheme axed before the 2010 General Election by the then Primary Care Trust (PCT).
As a group of locally elected representatives we are very keen to see a new Integrated Care Centre for Shaw and Crompton and feel that the time is now right to look again at this proposal.
With the impending demolition of Crompton Pool, the relocation of Shaw Market and therefore the vast increase in available open land within the town centre, there can be no better time to reconsider a new build of an Integrated Care Centre which would benefit from ample parking and excellent access from far and wide created by the arrival of Metrolink into Shaw.
Also those using the current Crompton Health Centre need a building, facilities and access to services like most other citizens in Oldham Borough already have.
We are able to offer facilities in Shaw that are unequalled by any other district in the Borough and the benefit of easy access by road and tram can only be of benefit to the whole Borough of Oldham as well as increasing the prosperity of Shaw Centre in particular created by increased footfall and revenue.
Therefore, we need to ensure local provision for those currently provided for by the Village Medical Practice and hopefully you will give some very active consideration to providing all those who use Crompton Health Centre with the facility they have patiently waited for and justly deserve.
Yours sincerely
COUNCILLOR CHRIS GLOSTER
Celebrating Lancashire Day is the county day of historic Lancashire.
It is held on 27 November to commemorate the day in 1295 when Lancashire first sent representatives to Parliament, to attend the Model Parliament of King Edward I.
Lancashire Day was first held in 1996. Curated by the Friends of Real Lancashire, it is observed with the loyal toast to “The Queen, Duke of Lancaster”, and is celebrated from everywhere within the county palatine.
The day is marked throughout the historic county by town criers announcing the Lancashire Day proclamation which declares the historic regions boundaries of the county, and finishes with “God bless Lancashire, and God save the Queen, Duke of Lancaster”
Fun starts at 5.30pm with the switch on at 6.30pm
Road closures from 4.30pm – Market Street and the stretch of Farrow Street between the car park entrance and Market Street.
The roads will be re-opened at 9pm.
