Metrolink line to Oldham set to open

Metrolink services to and from Oldham Mumps are scheduled to open to the public for the first time on Wednesday 13 June, subject to final testing.

The first in-service tram to Oldham Mumps is scheduled to leave Manchester Victoria at 5.24am on Wednesday, calling at all eight stops along the new line – Monsall, Central Park, Newton Heath & Moston, Failsworth, Hollinwood, South Chadderton, Freehold and Oldham Mumps (temporary).

It will then become the first in-service tram to depart Oldham Mumps, leaving at 6am. Journeys from Mumps to Manchester city centre will take around 25 minutes.

Services will run every 12 minutes. A six-minute service will be introduced as patronage grows and capacity through Manchester city centre increases.

“This is welcome and long over due,” stated local Shaw Lib Dem Councillor Howard Sykes. “We still have no news when the line will open to Shaw and Crompton. My colleagues and I will continue to press for this to happen as soon as possible.”

Tickets to any of the stops in Manchester city centre, up to and including Deangsate-Castlefield, start at £3.20 for a peak ‘anytime’ single from the Oldham Mumps-Hollinwood stops, or £2.30 from the Failsworth-Monsall stops.

An ‘anytime’ return ticket for the same trip will be £4.80 from the Oldham Mumps-Hollinwood stops, and £3.40 from the Failsworth-Monsall stops. Off-peak (9.30am onwards) equivalents will be £3.50 and £2.80 respectively.

Further savings can be made with special day, weekend, family and group passes, as well as longer term tickets, including weeklies, four-weeklies, quarterlies and annuals.

Monsall, Central Park, Freehold and South Chadderton are all brand new destinations, while the stops at Mumps, Hollinwood, Failsworth and Newton Heath & Moston, which were served by the Oldham Loop until it closed as a heavy rail line in October 2009, have been completely rebuilt.

Once complete, the decked car park at Hollinwood, which is currently under construction, will provide almost 200 park-and-ride spaces exclusively for the use of Metrolink passengers. Up to 100 spaces will be provided in the interim.

As part of Metrolink’s commitment to improving cycle parking facilities across the existing and future network, cycle stands are available at Freehold, Hollinwood, Failsworth, Newton Heath & Moston and Monsall, with cycle lockers also available at Freehold, Hollinwood and Failsworth.

All services will call through Manchester city centre and then travel on to the South Manchester line, ending at St Werburgh’s Road in Chorlton.

Passengers can connect with services to Bury at Victoria and services to Altrincham, Eccles and MediaCityUK in Manchester city centre or at Cornbrook. They can also link up with bus services at Central Park and Shudehill, or heavy rail services at Manchester Victoria.

Jubilee and Milnrow Road Bridge coping stones

Update on the coping stones removed from Jubilee and Milnrow Road Bridge.

An equivalent of 30m in length has been taken and are being utilised at Dunwood Park.

The remainder, the District Environment Manager who covers Shaw and Crompton, will take delivery of and store them for use at a later date on a scheme(s) within Shaw or Crompton.

CHANGES TO WASTE COLLECTION

Please be aware that the Waste Management Department will be making changes to Oldham’s waste collection services starting Monday 11th June 2012.

Residents will be glad to know that the majority of the Shaw & Crompton area remains relatively unaffected by this change.

This means resident’s collection system between their old and new calendars will continue as normal i.e. General Rubbish one week Glass, Cans and Plastic Bottles the next.

There is a small area in Crompton (see map above) which will experience a change of collection week. Bins in this area should have been stickered to explain the changes and new collections until their new collection calendar starts.

If you have any query regarding your waste collections please contact:

• website: www.oldham.gov.uk/waste where we have published all relevant information
• telephone Contact Oldham on 0161 770 6644 where operatives are ready to assist residents with the changes
• email: waste@oldham.gov.uk where operatives will respond to residents with any queries directly

Postive ACTION for Shaw – Vote Howard Sykes on 3rd May

Record of Action in Shaw

Click on the file above to view some of the things which have been achieved at the request of local residents.

When it comes to getting things done in Shaw, the record of Howard and your Shaw Focus Team is unparallelled. And they recognise there is more to do. That’s why your vote for Howard Sykes on 3rd May is a vote for positive action for Shaw.

Vote Liberal Democrat – Best Choice for Shaw and Oldham

These local elections are not about the Government. They are about what is happening here in our own Borough, in our own back yard, in our own communities.

Whoever wins on May 3rd it will not change the government.

The Liberal Democrats are the only party who take seriously the quality of the day to day environment of this Borough, things such as keeping the streets clean, keeping green spaces neat and tidy, investing in our roads and pavements, ensuring grids/gulleys are cleaned out regularly, and addressing anti social behaviour.

The last Lib Dem administration proved what we were about, despite inheriting an appalling financial position by the previous Labour administration in 2008:-

Youth anti social behaviour reduced by nearly 50% through the ‘GO Oldham’ initiative – now under threat because of Labour cuts to the youth service.

The Keep Britain Tidy Group officially recognised the streets of Oldham as the cleanest in Greater Manchester in 2010 – as everybody knows that is certainly not the case now!

We found the money to arrest the decay of Oldham Town Hall and stopped it from falling down – something which Labour vigorously opposed.

We found the money for the current refurbishment of the Coliseum Theatre.

These elections remember, are about local issues, local people and local decisions and, who you want to run Oldham Council.

There is a clear choice between Labour who promise expensive grand schemes which will put the Council back into serious debt versus the Liberal Democrats who have proven financial competence and look after your money responsibly.

However, we also ensure the things that matter day to day to people are sorted, like clean streets, anti social behaviour and bringing pride back to our communities.

The last 12 months has seen a litany of misleading information, half truths and undeliverable promises from Labour, so much so that the public are finding it hard to believe a single word they say.

Labour has said: “We will need to change, adapt and, most importantly listen.”

I suspect the residents of Shaw feel those words are very empty indeed – more than 700 of whom were ignored when the decision was made to build a new pool/ leisure complex in Royton Town Centre.
We showed in our alternative budget earlier this year there is enough money for new pools in both Royton and Shaw – it is all about choices and priorities. What was surprising was to see a majority of the five Conservative councillors supporting Labour in its budget plans.

In the last 12 months the streets have got dirtier, fly tipping has gone through the roof, hundreds and hundreds of people’s views dismissed as irrelevant and countless examples of Labour saying one thing and doing another.

Remember this is a local election and is about local communities, local people and local issues – the Liberal Democrats are the only alternative to Labour; the Conservatives can’t win here.

Please make sure your vote counts on 3rd May 2012.