At a Group meeting held on 9 May, the Oldham Borough Liberal Democrat Group appointed, unanimously and un-opposed, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE as their Leader and Councillor Chris Gloster as their Deputy Leader. The Group also elected its other officers for the year.

Councillor Howard Sykes said: “I am grateful to my colleagues for their unanimous support once more for my work as Group Leader. Sadly the former Deputy Leader John McCann lost his seat in last week’s local elections and I shall miss his expertise and enthusiasm, but I am looking forward to working with our new Deputy Leader, Chris Gloster.”

“I am also pleased to welcome my new ward colleague, Councillor Hazel Gloster, to the group, and to welcome back Councillor Dave Murphy. They both have proven records of working for the people of Crompton and Shaw and I know that they will make a real difference. The Liberal Democrats remain the only real opposition party holding Labour to account on Oldham Council.”

“The voters who backed us can reassured that, under my leadership, we will continue as a Group to speak out and to work as a united team. We will offer common-sense solutions to the Borough’s problems and challenge the Labour Administration to cut waste and provide the value-for-money services that the public wants.”

“As the Liberal Democrat Opposition, we shall also oppose further central government cuts to Council finances and fight plans by the Greater Manchester Mayor and Labour leaders to build thousands of houses on our irreplaceable Green Belt. And green spaces.”

The Liberal Democrat Group: Leader – Howard Sykes; Deputy Leader – Chris Gloster; Group Chair – Dave Murphy; Political Secretary – Garth Harkness; Treasurer – Hazel Gloster; Group Secretary – Diane Williamson.

Roadworks Bulletin – W/C 14 May 2018

Roadworks Bulletin – 14 May

27 April – 58/59 buses from Oldham

I continue to do all we can to improve the First bus service on a number of routes. Below is latest about failures on 27 April.

If people let me have specific details: times, stops and dates, I am happy to take up with First and TfGM. We need and deserve a better service than we have.

Hi Councillor Sykes,

We’ve received a response from First regarding the 58/59 buses last week. Please see the email text below.

The roadworks (temp lights) on Shaw Rd caused severe delays. They had not caused us real issues before Friday but the permit changed from low impact to High impact on the day. We were unable to react quick enough to counter this change.

The following services failed:

The 1709 from Oldham was cancelled because it was 25 minutes late due to the roadworks.

1701 from Oldham cancelled because of a late meal break.

1741 from Oldham cancelled because of a late meal break.

The 409 suffered delays due to congestion in Rochdale, these could have been a mitigating factor in the late meal breaks.

I know colleagues are noting down failures and there are regular meetings where they are being discussed.

Shaw and Crompton election results 3 May 2018

Many thanks to those who supported us in the elections on May 3.

Shaw Ward

Result: LIB DEM Hold

Turnout: 30.57%

Name of Candidate	Party	Number of votes
	The Conservative Party Candidate	427
	The Liberal Party Candidate	217
GLOSTER Hazel	Liberal Democrats	1,023
	Labour and Co-operative Party	672

Crompton Ward

Result: LIB DEM Hold

Turnout: 32.25%

Name of Candidate		Party	Number of votes
		Labour Party	628
		The Conservative Party Candidate	541
MURPHY Dave		Liberal Democrats	1,359
	Q	Independent	102

Make sure your X goes in the right place in Shaw Ward on Thursday 3 May – look for the bird!

Roadworks Bulletin – W/C 7 May 18

Roadworks Bulletin 7 May

Milne Street car park improvements , Shaw Town Centre – update

Councillor Howard Sykes and Chris Gloster are pleased to report they have secured funding to improve the well-used Milne Street car park, off Eastway – rear of Market Street.

Work is now nearly complete and like on the market ground we have gone for wider spaces than standard.

Request for bus shelters on Eastway, Shaw – refused

Request for passenger shelters on Eastway, Shaw

Further to your request for passenger shelters at the existing bus stops on Eastway, Shaw, stop reference ED1791 & ED1453.

Firstly, may I apologise for the lengthy delay in responding, as this was an oversight on my behalf.

When considering whether a site is suitable for a shelter we need to ensure that the footway width is wide enough to accommodate a shelter and also maintain enough room for pedestrians, the minimum recommended footway width is 2.2m. The footway width at ED1453 which is located outside Asda is 1.77m wide, therefore, the footway is not wide enough to accommodate a shelter.

With regards to the stop sited at the gable end of property number 2/2a Eastway opposite Asda, ED1791, this stop was installed due to Market Street being closed one day a week, Thursday, to accommodate Shaw Market.

Since the installation of the stop TfGM have received a number of requests from the resident of 2a Eastway for the stop to be relocated due to lack of privacy, noise and vibration and passengers blocking access to the shop whilst waiting for the bus.

I have visited the site with representatives from Unity Partnership and GM Police and we are unable to find an alternative location for the stop. With regards to the shelter request, due to the presence of a vehicular access/garage adjacent the stop this would result in the passenger shelter having to be positioned at the kerb edge in front of the shop window/doorway. It was concluded that the shelter and waiting passengers would obstruct sight lines for motorists egressing from the adjacent service road and that the proposed shelter would undoubtedly receive objections from the resident, therefore, the site was deemed unsuitable for a shelter.

I trust the above information is sufficient, but please let me know if you require any further information.

Clair Leeming, Route Development Officer, Transport for Greater Manchester