The Leader of the Oldham Liberal Democrat Group, councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has written to the new Energy Minister asking him to pledge the government’s support for the Local Electricity Bill during COP26.
The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021. Here the participant nations will agree how to accelerate their actions to address climate change in accordance with their commitments as signatories to the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Councillor Sykes and his Liberal Democrat colleagues wants the new minister, The Rt Hon Greg Hands MP, to support the Local Electricity Bill, currently going through Parliament, as a government priority.
Commenting, Councillor Sykes said: “We would like the UK Government to make this pledge as one of this nation’s commitments during COP26. Locally generated power created through renewable technologies and supplied to local consumers must be one of our actions if we are to work successfully towards net zero. But, in order to do this, we must reduce the cost and eliminate the bureaucracy that local energy producers face when entering the energy market. The Local Electricity Bill will do this by creating a new Right of Local Supply so that community energy co-operatives can compete; this really will be power for the people.”
Paying home and business owners in flood areas grants up-front to make their properties ‘resilient’ is “common-sense and will save a lot of heartache” claims Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani.
Homes in Shaw and Saddleworth have previously been flooded, and with climate change resulting in warmer and wetter weather there is an increased likelihood of further flooding in future years.
Councillor Al-Hamdani and his Oldham and Saddleworth Liberal Democrat councillors want to see the government do more to support home and business owners living with the risk by paying grants up-front rather than after disaster has befallen them, and they are bringing the issue as a motion to the next meeting of Oldham Council (3 November 2021).
Commenting, Saddleworth West and Lees councillor Al-Hamdani, who is proposing the motion, said: “It is common-sense to pay property owners money up-front to make their homes and business premises ‘flood resilient’, rather than paying them afterwards when they are faced with building repairs, the replacement of lost or damaged personal effects, and an enormous clean-up. All the evidence shows this would not only save flood victims a lot of heartache, but it will also save the public a lot of money in the longer-term.”
Shaw Councillor Chris Gloster, who is backing his colleague, added: “We are also asking the Council to make local residents living in flood-risk areas aware of the services offered to property owners by the campaigning group ‘Know Your Flood Risk’. The group produces several useful booklets identifying the risks and the actions people can take in advance of a flood and offers property owners individual flood risk assessments.”
The motion to the Council meeting November 3, 2021 reads:
Motion – Future proofing our properties from flooding
Council notes that:
Climate change will result in more incidents of flooding in the UK.
The disaster relief charity ShelterBox estimated 5 million UK homes could be at risk of flooding by 2040.
Properties in Shaw and Saddleworth have historically been flooded.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to build defences capable of protecting all properties at risk of flooding.
The campaign group ‘Know Your Flood Risk’ is calling upon central Government to make grants available to homeowners and small business owners in flood risk areas to make their properties ‘flood resilient’.
Flood resilience means designing, building, and adapting properties such that if they are inundated, they can be made liveable again within days or weeks. This can involve actions such as rendering indoor walls, relaying flooring in water-proof materials or raising kitchen units.
Victims of major floods are eligible for £5,000 support after the event, but Council believes that a more sensible approach would be to provide grant aid in advance to homeowners and small business owners to help make their properties flood resilient and that this would reduce the long-term cost to the public purse. Such a proposal has the support of the National Flood Forum and the Royal Institute of British Architects.
‘Know Your Flood Risk’ also publishes online guidance for local authorities and home and business owners and offers individual flood risk surveys for property owners.
Council resolves to:
Ask the Chief Executive to write to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs requesting the Minister look to introduce grant aid to homeowners and small business owners in areas of flood risk to facilitate flood resilience work.
Ask the Chief Executive to copy in our three local MPs, the Greater Manchester Mayor and the Clerks of the Saddleworth and Shaw and Crompton Parish Councils asking for their support.
Ask the relevant Cabinet Member and Chief Officer to ensure that information about the offer to residents and small business owners of the campaign group ‘Know Your Flood Risk’ is posted, with links, on the Council’s website, and make a request to the Saddleworth and Shaw and Crompton Parish Councils to do the same.
Proposed by: Seconded by:
Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani Councillor Chris Gloster
Oldham Liberal Democrats are calling for the UK Government to do more to improve the water quality of Britain’s rivers as one of their commitments at the upcoming COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow.
Crompton Councillor Dave Murphy and Shaw Councillor Hazel Gloster will be proposing a motion to the next meeting of Oldham Council (3 November 2021) highlighting the urgent need for action, after discovering that the borough’s watercourses all failed recent tests for chemical pollution carried out by the Environment Agency and that the rivers Irk and Tame are under real threat.
Proposer of the motion, Councillor Murphy said: “It is shocking that in 2019 only 14% of England’s rivers were rated ‘good’ by the Environment Agency, despite Conservative Government promises to improve the quality of watercourses over time. Poorer water quality has an adverse impact upon the aquatic, bird and insect life that inhabits our watercourses and the humans who visit them for recreational purposes.”
“The damage is caused by the run-off of nutrients from farms and raw sewerage discharged water companies, and the rivers Irk and Tame are cited as being particularly in danger, but government funding to enable the Environment Agency to monitor and check these activities has been cut by 75% in the last decade.”
Seconding the motion, Councillor Hazel Gloster added: “Not only do we want the Environment Agency’s budget to be restored to enable it to effectively identify and prosecute offenders, but we want the National Farmers’ Union and United Utilities to account for the actions of those members and employees who engage in polluting activities and tell us what they are doing to make things right.”
Concluding Councillor Murphy said: “The COP26 conference in Glasgow will focus the world’s attention on what the UK is doing, or is pledged to do, to address climate change and the impact of mankind’s activities on the natural world. As one of those commitments, we want the UK Government to clean up Britain’s rivers so we can all continue to enjoy them”.
The motion to the Council on 3rd November 2021 reads:
Motion – Save Our Rivers
This Council notes that:
Every river in England is now polluted beyond legal limits; with the Environment Agency rating only 14% as Good in 2019.
Our local rivers, the Beal, Irk, Medlock, and Tame all failed the most recent test for chemical pollution carried out by the agency.
This chemical pollution is mostly caused by sewage discharges from water companies and the run-offs of nutrients from farms.
The Rivers Irk and Tame are particularly threatened by further sewage-water discharges.
Government funding to the Environment Agency to monitor river quality and regulate farms and water companies has dropped 75% since 2010/11.
Farms are now almost never inspected, water quality is rarely tested, and water companies can pump raw sewage into rivers with virtual impunity.
In addition, tyre rubber particles, metals from brake pads, and hydrocarbons from vehicle emissions, wash off road surfaces and into rivers, endangering wildlife and potentially introducing carcinogenic material into the water supply.
Council believes that, as host nation of COP-26 (the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties) in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021, the UK Government should commit to:
Restoring Environment Agency budgets
Increasing inspections of water companies and farms, and rigorously prosecuting offenders.
Funding local and highways authorities to introduce treatment systems to prevent road pollutants from entering our water courses.
Council resolves to request the Chief Executive write to:
The Environment Minister calling for the Government to make these commitments as host nation of COP-26.
The Chief Executive of United Utilities calling for further urgent action to address the impact of waste-water discharges on our local rivers, particularly the Irk and Tame.
The Regional Director of the National Farmers’ Union requesting clarification on the action being taken locally by farmers to prevent the run-off of nutrients into our rivers.
The charity River Action expressing this Council’s support for their campaign to restore the health of Britain’s rivers.
With our three MPs to be copied into this correspondence and asked for their support.
Oldham Liberal Democrats have welcomed the second reading in Parliament (22 October 2021) of a new bill which would bar sexual offenders from seeking, or remaining in, elected public office.
In July, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE wrote to the Conservative MP for Mole Valley, Sir Paul Beresford, offering his support for the Local Government (Disqualification) Bill and providing his office with a comprehensive briefing on the current legal situation and options.
The bill, now published, will on becoming law disbar anyone from standing or remaining in public office who is subject to a ‘notification requirement’ or ‘order’ relating to sexual offences. Current legislation only bars individuals who receive a custodial or suspended prison sentence of three months or more.
Commenting, Councillor Sykes said: “Over the last four years, Oldham Liberal Democrats have been seeking a change in the law to bar all sexual offenders from office, and not just those who have received an actual or suspended prison sentence. We backed a cross-party motion in Oldham Council, wrote to the government and later had the issue raised in Parliament asking for such a change in legislation so I was pleased to see that Sir Paul’s bill will do exactly that.”
Although Sir Paul’s bill is a private member’s bill, rather than an official government bill, Councillor Sykes hopes it will eventually become law.
“The latest draft of this bill has been drawn up by officials from the recently renamed Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities with Sir Paul’s consent, and he has previously indicated to me that he has held promising discussions with ministers. Sir Paul told me that ‘closing this small loophole should not be a difficult matter’, and recent developments suggest that the government supports the bill, making it more likely over time to become legislation. This is one to watch.”
Notes for Editors
The Local Government (Disqualification) Bill can be found at:
One year on from a promise made by the Mayor of Greater Manchester to conduct an independent review of the way in which decisions made by the GM Mayor, Council leaders and chief officers are scrutinised and challenged, the city region’s Liberal Democrat remain frustrated and disappointed by the lack of progress.
Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition Group on Oldham Council, who serves as a member of Transport for Greater Manchester, feels that the current arrangements are ‘wholly unfit for purpose’.
“Having efficient mechanisms in place to enable the effective scrutiny of decision-making by the Mayor, Council leaders and senior officers of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority is an essential prerequisite for good governance, a genuine democracy, and devolved power. At present they are not in place.”
“Scrutiny panels meet infrequently, and meetings are often cancelled. When they do meet it is often during the day making it difficult for members with employment commitments to attend. As service on panels is mostly unremunerated, members are reluctant to attend if they lose salary for taking time from work.”
“It is also difficult for elected members from opposition parties, and backbench Labour councillors, to effectively have their say; they are greatly outnumbered in representation on scrutiny panels and struggle to find opportunities to speak, being marginalised in proceedings. This stops opposition and backbench Labour members from properly questioning and challenging decision making”.
In October 2020, Mayor Andy Burnham met with Councillor Sykes and the Leader of Stockport’s Liberal Democrats, Councillor Mark Hunter, and ‘whole-heartedly’ agreed that a cross-party review of the structures was needed. Although the Mayor promised that the review would be completed and implemented by the start of the new mayoral term in May 2021 this never happened; instead, the Greater Manchester Mayor has promised a review ‘later this year’.
Councillor Sykes added: “The review is long overdue and much needed as the continued delay is also jeopardising the chances of Greater Manchester securing greater devolved powers. It is now key that we make scrutiny efficient, accessible to all, and robust in the near future, otherwise, cash and power will stay in London!”
The plan is to install an additional stop on Beal Lane, Shaw, near Duke Street outside the Carnegie Apartments. The bus stop will benefit passengers travelling towards Shaw town centre for bus services along the hourly 408 route. Works are due to start in early November.
To contact Transport for Greater Manchester by email at: customer.releations@tfgm.com or phone Customer Relations on: 0161 244 1000.
