As of, 25th March 2021, almost 100,000 of Oldham patients have now had their first COVID-19 vaccine, which is key to protecting residents and their loved ones against the virus.

However, there still is patients who are over 50 or who have underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality, but have not yet taken up the offer of the vaccination.

Putting off vaccination leaves you and those around you at continued risk of contracting COVID-19.

Oldham GPs have complete confidence that vaccines being used are safe.

All those available in the UK have undergone rigorous safety tests prior to the vaccination programme being rolled out and they are continually monitored.

Oldham GPs have been vaccinated and would not be strongly encouraging you to come forward for vaccination if they still had any doubts the vaccines are safe and effective.

If you have been offered an appointment for your first COVID-19 vaccine but had to cancel or simply just weren’t able to make the slot offered, there’s still time to get your jab.

To book an appointment you can:

• Contact your GP surgery
• Book an appointment online here.
• Call 119

Despite Liberal Democrat opposition, Labour voted to take forward the so-called ‘Places for Everyone’ plan at Wednesday’s Council’s meeting (24 March 2021).  The new plan will lead to thousands of new homes being built on Oldham’s Green Belt.

Councillors considered a report to make an agreement to ‘prepare a joint development plan’ to replace the discredited Greater Manchester Spatial Framework and to delegate the Leader of the Council to sit on an oversight committee with the Leaders of eight of the other nine Greater Manchester authorities. All of these are led by Labour Leaders, other than Bolton which has a Conservative Administration.

Stockport Liberal Democrats torpedoed the previous plan by voting against Stockport being involved with it at a Council meeting held there in December 2020.

At Wednesday’s meeting (24/03/21), Oldham’s Liberal Democrat opposition voted en-bloc against the recommendations of the report, but the Council’s majority Labour Administration pushed it through.

Commenting, the Leader of the Opposition and Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, said:  “Obviously for us this is a disappointing result, but this is only the start of a long process.  A new plan will eventually be developed that will again be put out to public consultation, and I would urge any members of the public and any organisation campaigning to save our Green Belt to put in their objections at that time.”

Councillor Sykes added:  “Oldham’s Liberal Democrats will continue to oppose this Greater Manchester plan and fight for a local plan that is framed by local people and meets our borough’s needs.  We are opposed to any Green Belt development and want a plan that is focused upon building new homes only on Brown Field sites or by repurposing redundant factories, mills, shops and pubs to quality housing.”

Notes

The report presented to Oldham Council 24 March 2021 – Item 19 : ‘Arrangements for the preparation of ‘Places for Everyone’: A proposed Joint Development Plan Document on behalf of nine Greater Manchester districts’

https://committees.oldham.gov.uk/documents/s122592/Final%20Cabinet_Council%20Report%20for%20Joint%20Committee%20March%202021.pdf

Council 24 March 2021- Covid-19 Response Questions

Care home vaccinations and visits

I would like to ask a follow-on question from the one I asked at the December Council. 

As I said then ‘in this pandemic, one of the greatest tragedies has been seeing the forced separation of the residents of our care homes from their loved ones.  For the residents of the care homes in our borough who have waited many months to finally meet up with family a visit cannot come soon enough.

I was delighted then to hear that from 8 March care home residents will be able to receive visits, albeit from one relative only and subject to the requirement that physical contact be limited to holding hands and that the visitor pass a lateral flow test and use PPE. 

It is far from ideal, but it is a start, and it is my hope that we will do everything in our power to enable such visits to happen on a regular basis.

At the start of February, the Government announced that all residents and staff in care homes have ‘been offered’ their first COVID-19 vaccination and promised a second round of vaccinations in coming weeks. 

Given that over one-third of all COVID-19 deaths have involved the residents of care homes achieving this would be great news.

However, I was informed on 4 March that in Oldham 91% of residents and only 75% of staff had received their first vaccination, with many refusals amongst staff. 

My concern is that if staff refuse to be vaccinated then we shall still see outbreaks of COVID-19 in the future in our care homes.

Can the Cabinet Member please update me on the current situation, specifically I would appreciate answers to the following questions:

1. Have all residents now received their first vaccination?

• When will the second phase of vaccination be completed?

• How is the vaccine being promoted to staff to increase take-up?

• And finally, could the Cabinet Member please give me the good news that vaccination and the introduction of testing for relatives has enabled regular visits to resume?

Councillor Howard Sykes, 24 March 2021

Page 165 – GM Police, Fire and Crime Panel 16/11/20 – Item PCFP/18/20 – iOPS Update

I first raised the deficiencies of the iOPs Integrated Operating Policing System over two years ago.  This system was meant to seamlessly replace three existing police computer system to provide enhanced capacity to Police officers and criminal prosecutors. The reality has proven vastly different. 

I have written to or met with the Greater Manchester Mayor and senior police officers to complain about it several times. Quite simply it has never been fit for purpose – and it has led to crimes not being properly recorded, victims not receiving a prompt and professional service, and prosecutors being unable to proceed with court cases.  Even Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary reported that police officers had ‘very little confidence’ in it and were ‘frustrated’ by a system that does not always return ‘accurate results’.

Yet the Mayor and Deputy Mayor as our Police and Crime Commissioners keep insisting that the system will eventually prove its worth.  Two years on can the Council’s representative on the panel provide us with any real reassurance when this system will eventually work, or has it in fact proven to be just a blackhole into which public money has been poured, wasted on a system that was never fit-for-purpose?

Councillor Howard Sykes, 24 March 2021

Q1). Managing expenditure at Spindles and Town Square

For my first question to the Leader tonight, I would like to return to the redevelopment of the Spindles and Town Square shopping centres.

At the November 2020 Council meeting, just after the purchase had been completed, I asked the Leader whether this represented a ‘risky purchase’ and pointed up the ‘significant sums of money’ that will be involved in repurposing and refurbishing these two shopping centres.

I am sure that many people will have been shocked to recently hear that the ‘significant sum of money’ this Administration has earmarked to repurpose and refurbish these shopping centres amounts to £68 million over five years.

Not for nothing did the Liberal Democrats brand it ‘Spendles’.

This truly is a whopping sum of money.

We all want to see a vibrant, viable town centre in the heart of our borough – and for our part Liberal Democrat Councillors also want to see vibrant and well-used district centres in Failsworth, Chadderton, Royton, Shaw, Uppermill, and Lees as well – but at what eventual cost?

My real fear is that we shall see the same cost and time overruns and abortive costs on this project that have dogged this Administration’s previous so-called ambitious town centre projects:

• the abandoned Hotel Futures plan;
• the abandoned Coliseum plans – plural;
• the bankrupted My House;
• the much delayed and costly ‘game changer’ at Princes Gate;
• the over-budget town centre digital hub;
• and lastly the town centre flagship, the Old Town Hall project, delivered at four times the original cost.

So can the Leader please tell me tonight how he will ensure that this project will be rigorously managed from start-to-finish, to ensure that it is delivered on time and to the current assigned budget or, for the sake of our hard-pressed tax payers, preferably much less?

Q2). A memorial to COVID-19 victims and heroes

My second question to the Leader tonight references the sad anniversary yesterday of the first COVID-19 Lockdown in the United Kingdom.

This past year we have seen so much sacrifice and so much suffering.

Many of us have had COVID-19 or have seen loved ones, friends and family, die from this relentless, ruthless disease.

But we have also seen a great deal of courage and selflessness. 

We are all too aware of the incredible professionalism, fortitude, and, yes, bravery displayed by our wonderful NHS staff in their care for those afflicted by COVID-19.

But we should also remember the many others who have helped save lives and keep our society functioning during this unprecedented crisis.

Members of our emergency services, including the volunteers of our local Mountain Rescue Service; our care workers; our schools, education and nursery staff; our postal workers; our power, water and telecoms workers; bus, tram and train drivers; delivery drivers and warehouse staff; supermarket and shop workers; the many volunteers who support our communities, and of course our hardworking council staff, who like their colleagues in the NHS have found this time especially testing.

My question to the Leader concerns how we will mark this sacrifice, suffering, courage and selflessness in our borough in the future.

Oldham has been hit especially hard by COVID-19 and it will take a significant effort and a lot of time to recover. 

A large part of this recovery will revolve around the collective need for the people of this borough to grieve, to reflect and to remember.

I would suggest to the Leader that we need to commit as a borough to creating a bespoke collective space where that might happen – a memorial to our COVID-19 victims and its heroes. 

I am not seeking to prescribe what this memorial might be or where it might be, nor would now be the right time to establish it as we are not yet at the end of this tragedy. 

But I am confident that Oldham’s great people would get behind such a proposal, so could the Leader join me in making a commitment in principle tonight to make such a memorial a reality?

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group Oldham Council.

24 March 2021

The Oldham Liberal Democrats want to see the Conservative Government honour the promise it made after the British people voted to Brexit to replace the funding received from the European Union with a new UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 

In the last round of European funding (2014-2020), the ten authorities of Greater Manchester received £322.75m, from the European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) (£176.78m) and the European Social Funding (ESF) (£145.97m).  Over each of the six years this represented £53.8m per year.

In the Conservative Party Manifesto for the 2017 General Election campaign, the party pledged to create this new fund to ‘reduce inequalities between communities across our four nations’.  To help shape the fund the incoming Conservative government committed to ‘consult widely on the design of the fund, including with the devolved administrations, local authorities, businesses and public bodies.’

Four years on, Liberal Democrats now want to see the promised consultation carried out as a priority and the fund introduced later this year in the immediate post-Lockdown period to help boroughs, like Oldham, which will continue to struggle economically.  They are bringing a motion to the next meeting of Oldham Council on Wednesday (24 March).

Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani is proposing the motion, backed by the Deputy Group Leader, Councillor Chris Gloster.  Councillor Al-Hamdani explained: “The Prime Minister may boast about ‘getting Brexit done’, but we say that this remains unfinished business.  The Conservatives promised that no region of the UK would be worse off financially as a result of Brexit.  The UK Shared Prosperity Fund would potentially represent a significant sum of money to our city-region and to Oldham. The Liberal Democrats now want to see this consultation ‘done’, as a deprived borough like Oldham really needs this cash.”

Motion – Consultation on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Council notes that:

• The Conservative Party Manifesto for the 2017 General Election contained the following commitment:

‘We will use the structural fund money that comes back to the UK following Brexit to create a United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund, specifically designed to reduce inequalities between communities across our four nations. The money that is spent will help deliver sustainable, inclusive growth based on our modern industrial strategy. We will consult widely on the design of the fund, including with the devolved administrations, local authorities, businesses and public bodies.’

• The Conservative Government promised to publish a UK Shared Prosperity Fund Consultation Paper in 2018.

• Successive Secretaries of State in the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government when responding to several questions in Parliament in both 2018 and 2019 confirmed that a consultation would take place.

• The promised consultation is now three years late.

• In the last round of European funding (2014-2020), Greater Manchester received £322.75m, split across European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) (£176.78m) and European Social Funding (ESF) (£145.97m), equivalent to an annual allocation of £53.8m.

• The Conservative Party website claims that ‘We will introduce the UK Shared Prosperity Fund when EU Structural Funds start to taper off from 2020-21…from April 2021’.

Council resolves to ask the Chief Executive to:

• Write to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government requesting the promised public consultation commence as soon as possible.

• Copy in our local Members of Parliament and the Mayor of Greater Manchester on this correspondence and ask for their assistance by making similar representations to the Government.

Proposed by: Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani 

Seconded by: Councillor Chris Gloster

At Wednesday’s full meeting of Oldham Council (24 March), the Oldham Liberal Democrats will be proposing all Councillors give a big vote of thanks to Oldham’s school and education staff after a year in which they have been hard at work delivering tuition in the most trying post-war circumstances.

Saddleworth North Liberal Democrat Councillor Garth Harkness is proposing the motion.  He works in an academy in Manchester with pupils with special needs and knows from first-hand experience how hard his Oldham colleagues will have been working through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking of the motion, Councillor Harkness said:  “Everyone will be aware that all students have now returned to their classrooms and workshops from March 8 of this year, but some people will be unaware that teachers and education staff have in fact been working hard throughout the year-long pandemic, delivering learning in new and innovative ways.  Often this has been online learning with pupils in a virtual classroom and sometimes it has been in-class tuition with the children of key workers or children unable to study at home.”

“Despite the difficulties, educators and those many staff who support them in their work, from caretakers to school meals staff to administrators, have continued to work with the utmost professionalism and dedication, and the Oldham Liberal Democrats now think it’s time for Oldham Council to say a big thanks!”

Shaw Liberal Democrat Councillor Hazel Gloster will be seconding the motion.

Motion – Thanking our Schools and Education Staff

Council shares the delight of children, parents and guardians that pupils and students have finally been able to return to their schools and colleges during the week commencing 8 March. Children and young people will be glad to be back with their teachers and their friends after a year of home schooling and distance learning that has been very difficult for everyone involved.

Council recognises that teachers and other school and college staff across the whole of the United Kingdom, whether employed at primary, secondary or tertiary level, have demonstrated extraordinary professional commitment and dedication in continuing to deliver an excellent education, whether at the chalk-face or online, to our children and young people in the face of great uncertainty and despite the most adverse conditions faced by such professionals since 1945.

Council further recognises that in schooling the children of other ‘key workers’ teachers and other school staff have enabled their parents to carry on doing their essential duties that have saved our lives, supplied us with our daily bread and kept our nation functioning, all the while knowing that their children are safe and being nurtured and cared for.

Council recognises that Oldham has sadly been very hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and operational difficulties in education have been especially challenging.

Consequently, Council wishes particularly to praise those school and college staff who have been working at schools, academies and colleges across the Borough of Oldham.  Such staff include teachers, teaching assistants, catering, cleaning, and caretaking staff, midday supervisors, office support staff, head teachers, child care club staff, volunteers, and anybody else who has helped to keep our educational establishments open for key workers or who has supported distance learning.

Council believes that parents, guardians and siblings involved in supporting their children and young people in their distance learning will have developed a deeper appreciation of the work that our professional educators do on a day-to-day basis, particularly in these challenging times.

Council therefore resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to the local representatives of the professional bodies and trades unions for the teaching and ancillary professions to pass on these sentiments and our thanks for a job well done after one year of Lockdown.

Proposed by: Councillor Garth Harkness                                  

Seconded by: Councillor Hazel Gloster

Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Councillors are proposing a motion to the next full meeting of Oldham Council (Wednesday 24 March) calling on the Government to introduce a new tax on the excess profits generated by online traders during the COVID-19 Lockdown.

The Leader of the Opposition and the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, is proposing the motion, backed by his colleague, Councillor Diane Williamson.  Commenting Councillor Sykes said:  “It seems singularly unfair that whilst high street businesses have spent the last year suffering under Lockdown, either being entirely closed or under significant restrictions, larger national and international businesses who have benefited from online shopping and home deliveries, and made bumper profits, are not paying their way in terms of taxation.”

“The Liberal Democrats believe that the government should introduce an excess profits tax on these bumper profits to raise more revenue to pay for our NHS and other hollowed-out public services.   In the past, during both world wars, the government introduced such a tax on war profiteers.  For the British people and government, the COVID-19 pandemic has represented the greatest immediate threat we have faced in over seventy years.  It has represented a situation akin to a war and those retailers who have most profited from it can afford to pay.”

The motion submitted to the next Council meeting (Wednesday 24 March) reads:

A Tax on Excess Online Profits

Council notes that whilst smaller High Street non-food retail outlets have been forcibly closed, and are facing business failure, because of the COVID-19 Lockdown, larger national businesses and multi-national businesses offering on-line products have thrived, reporting bumper profits.

Council notes that recent proposals from the UN and the EU are working to establish an international consensus on business taxation, to minimise profit-shifting for the purpose of avoiding corporation tax, but that these proposals are not likely to be introduced in time to have any impact on the excess online profits that some companies have made off the back of the coronavirus epidemic.

Raising a bespoke tax on excess online profits has precedent in the UK, and Council expresses its disappointment that the Chancellor has not yet introduced such a tax and believes that if we are, as the Prime Minister claims, ‘all in this together’, then the excessive profits of such on-line businesses should be subjected to a greater level of tax, and that the revenue raised employed to support our hollowed out public services (local government, schools and health) and the financial recovery of our High Street retailers.

Council resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to:

• The Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, urging him to introduce such a tax as soon as possible as one means to ensure that we are ‘all in this together’.
• Our three local MPs, the Greater Manchester Mayor and the Leaders of the other nine AGMA authorities to seek their support for such a tax.

Proposed by: Councillor Howard Sykes                                   

Seconded by: Councillor Diane Williamson