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Liberal Democrat Councillors will be calling on Oldham Council to mark Young Carers Action Day in 2021.  Councillor Hazel Gloster and Louie Hamblett will be proposing a motion to the next full meeting of the Council (Wednesday 16 December) requesting a local event be held in the Borough as part of a new national campaign to recognise and support young carers.

Young Carers Action Day will be held on 16 March 2021.  It is a new event being organised nationwide by the Carers Trust, replacing a previous annual Awareness Day held on 30 January.

Councillor Hazel Gloster, who will be proposing the motion, said: “Research indicates that up to one in five secondary school children may be a carer for grandparents, parents or siblings, and that many of the children begin caring from a very young age.  Caring is a huge responsibility having an impact on a young person’s schooling, ability to maintain friendships, physical health and emotional well-being.  It is often a responsibility that is carried out alone and without support.”

“Good work is already being done in Oldham through the Young Carers Project and we want to see the Action Day used as a way to recognise the efforts of young carers and to ensure that all of our Borough’s agencies offer them their full support.”

This motion represents another part of an ongoing Liberal Democrat campaign following on from Carers Right Day, 26 November, when the Leader of the Oldham Council Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, wrote to the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham asking him to make young carers eligible for free bus travel across the city region.

Councillor Louie Hamblett, who will be seconding the motion, added:  “The Liberal Democrats are committed from the Leader, Sir Ed Davey MP, down, in Parliament and in councils across the country to fighting for a better deal for carers, whether young people or adults.” 

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, the efforts made by carers in supporting family members who are battling physical or mental illness, or otherwise living with disabilities or are substance dependant, have been truly astounding and we must all do more to recognise and support them in these most trying times.”

Council 16 December 2020 – Notice of Opposition Business – Young Carers Action Day

Council commends the young people in this borough who selflessly provide care for others.

Council notes that:

• Recent research shows that one in five secondary school children may be a young carer. For many, their caring journey begins at a much younger age. 

• Caring for someone can be very isolating, worrying and stressful. For young carers, this can negatively impact on their experiences and outcomes in education, having a lasting effect on their life chances.

• Each year, The Carers Trust has organised a Young Carers’ Action Awareness Day. In 2021 this will be renamed Young Carers’ Action Day and marked on March 16.

• The purpose of the day is to raise public awareness of the challenges faced by young people and young adults because of their caring role, and to campaign for greater support for young carers to meet their needs.

Council resolves to:

• Promote Young Carers Action Day as widely as possible on an annual basis, particularly to young carers and their families.

• Ask the Health and Wellbeing Board to work with the Carers’ Trust, the Connexions Young Carers’ Project and the Youth Council to establish an annual event in Oldham to mark this date to which young carers and their families can be invited in person or online, and at which appropriate information and services can be accessed.

Proposed by:                                                                 Seconded by:

Councillor Hazel Gloster                                Councillor Louie Hamblett

The Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has given a warm welcome to news that the first Covid-19 vaccine is finally being distributed for use with the most vulnerable group in society, care home residents.  

Councillor Sykes said:  “The logistics associated with the transport and storage of this vaccine are considerable as it must be stored at minus 70 degrees centigrade until shortly before its use, but it is my hope that the residents of Oldham’s care homes (and staff) will soon be able to receive it – let us hope by Christmas.” 

“If we could combine the vaccine roll-out with the introduction of 30-minute on-site lateral flow tests for family members, then face-to-face visits to care homes, allowing physical contact in safety, may become possible and this must be good for the mental and emotional well-being of both parties who have often been left isolated, anxious and without contact for many months.”

Last week, at a special meeting of Stockport Council, the 26 strong Liberal Democrat Group, led a charge to vote down the latest Greater Manchester Spatial Framework proposals in a nail-biting 26 to 35 votes.

The vote at this second meeting followed the request for an adjournment made by the Conservatives and Labour Groups at an earlier meeting to enable the two parties to seek a compromise that would enable the Tories to vote with Labour, but even after talks the Conservatives found the latest modified proposals still unpalatable.

The proposals supported by Greater Manchester Labour Mayor and the ten leaders of the Greater Manchester Councils have been opposed by Liberal Democrats across the city region, and the Oldham group has also been at the forefront of local efforts to prevent the Labour-backed plan from destroying large parts of our Borough’s Green Belt for housing development.

The Leader of the Opposition and the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, said on hearing the latest news:  “I congratulate my Stockport Liberal Democrat colleagues in defeating the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.  This certainly represents a significant blow to the Labour-backed Green Belt homes plan”.

Councillor Sykes hopes that this set-back will represent a wake-up call to Oldham’s Labour Administration:  “It is clear that wherever you go in Oldham and Saddleworth  the public is against this plan – they do not want to see any part of their green spaces built upon.”

“This is the wrong plan at the wrong time and the proposals are now in tatters,“ he added.  “I hope that Labour in Oldham will now take time to think again and deliver everyone a real Christmas present by revising their own plans.”

Notes:  Stockport has a Labour Administration the numbers on the council are: Labour 26, Lib Dems 26, Conservatives 8,Heald Green Ratepayers 3 (63-member council).

The Government has launched ‘Staying Connected This Winter’. The online advent calendar brings together practical advice, inspiring stories, and support routes to encourage people to take the first steps to alleviate loneliness in themselves and others.

It will be updated daily.

The Government will make the long-suffering publicans of ‘wet’ pubs, which do not serve food, a one -off payment of £1,000 for the month of December to compensate them in part for their loss of earnings during the Covid-19 closure, but the news has left Oldham Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE underwhelmed.

In response, Councillor Sykes said:  “This payment, though welcome, is a drop in the ocean compared to the loss of takings that publicans have suffered through the prolonged and repeated closure of their premises and the loss of trade they have suffered even when open which has been caused by all of the restrictions placed upon them.” 

“Even if it were a £1,000 extra a month, every month it would not really touch the sides, but that would be at least represent a regular income.  Like a mass-produced industrial lager this leaves a nasty taste in the month; it has been wrung out of Government grudgingly to generate a good news story before Christmas and it may never be repeated,” he claimed.

There is also the question of whether it will also apply to pubs, which normally provide food, but cannot do so if located in a Tier Three area.

Councillor Sykes added:  “In Oldham, we are in a Tier Three area, meaning that all pubs cannot open, so will pubs which serve food also receive this payment?  It is not at all clear.”

Friday 4 Dec 20

Despite the Council’s best efforts through todays weather they are not going to complete the refuse collection today.

They believe there is about an hours work outstanding around the Brunswick Street, Ivy Close, Vine Close.

Residents are asked them to keep/put their bins out for first thing Monday morning.

We will return first thing (approx. 7:30am to collect from the area).

This week the Council launched new business grant schemes to support businesses affected by local and national coronavirus restrictions.

They include grants to support leisure, visitor accommodation, non-essential retail and hospitality sector businesses who pay business rates and those who don’t pay rates but have fixed property costs.

These new schemes are in addition to the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed) which is in already place for rate-paying businesses which have been legally required to close.

For more information visit www.oldham.gov.uk/localrestrictionssupportgrant

In advance of the publication of an independent review into allegations of historic child sexual exploitation in Oldham, the Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, wrote recently to Greater Manchester Police seeking assurances that they ‘will act without fear or favour to reassure the public and bring all offenders to justice’.

In November 2019, Oldham Council and the Oldham Safeguarding Partnership commissioned the independent review from the Mayor of Greater Manchester.  Two experienced investigators, Malcolm Newsam MBE, a childcare expert, and Gary Ridgeway, formerly a senior police officer specialising in public protection, were appointed to head up the review team and they are now working to finalise their report.

In his letter, Councillor Sykes was keen to impress upon Assistant Chief Constable Mabs Hussain MBE that Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Councillors were seeking an assurance that no-one with possible crimes to answer for would escape prosecution ‘regardless of any status or position in life they hold’.  This includes prominent public figures, including any elected members.

Greater Manchester Police has already established Operation Hexagon under the command of Assistant Chief Constable Nick Bailey to work with the review into the historic allegations.  In his response, Assistant Chief Constable Hussain reassured Councillor Sykes that ‘any matters which are disclosed as part of the independent review are being progressed by Greater Manchester Police prior to any formal publication’ and this has included some evidence being ‘placed before the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration’.

Commenting, Councillor Sykes said:  “Child sexual abuse in all of its forms is totally abhorrent and both I and my Liberal Democrat Councillor colleagues are determined to ensure that anyone with a case to answer for does so, whatever their political situation or social station.” 

“I fully appreciate that Assistant Chief Constable Hussain must be guarded in his public comments in order not to compromise the integrity of any future prosecutions or the outcome of the review, but, reading between the lines, I am reassured that ACC Bailey and his police team at Operation Hexagon stand ready to bring any offenders to book.”

Last year, @greatermcr had more than 8,500 responses to its consultation on how buses should be run.   GMCA is proposing a franchising scheme which would bring buses under local control as part of plans for an integrated transport network in GM. GMCA has now considered the impact #COVID19 may have on its proposals for the future of your buses.   Have your say at https://bit.ly/2IPiJ1w   #GMBusConsultation