Crompton councillor Louie Hamblett has written to Oldham Council Leader councillor Amanda Chadderton to ask whether a cross-party group of councillors could be created, with the task of making recommendations to Oldham Council for a truly fitting memorial to Queen Elizabeth II?
The late Queen was our nation’s longest serving monarch and visited our borough more than once – even holding a garden party here in Oldham. A considered and collaborative tribute on behalf of this Council is only fitting and councillor Hamblett said: “I’m sure many members would want to play an active role in delivering this.”
He also added “I look forward to hearing back from the Leader on this, as her late Majesty was our greatest Monarch in living memory and surely now after seeing 70 years of great change and bringing our nations to where it is today, a memorial from us proud of her life and work will truly be grateful by having a memorial for her. God Save The King.”
In his budget amendment speech in February this year, my colleague councillor Gloster warned the Labour Administration that if this Council continues with its current approach to regeneration and transformation, then we are increasing the risk of becoming a financially failing Council due to the massive amount of increased borrowing that will be required to complete projects like Spindles, Tommyfield Market, the Eco Centre, the new Town Centre Park, Old Library and the Cultural Quarter, the new Theatre and new Archive Centre amongst others.
This was before interest rates rocketed to more than 10%.
I want to focus on just one of those projects and that’s the long-promised Prince’s Gate, down at Mumps.
On September 12th, 1962, US President John F. Kennedy told the American people “We choose to go to the Moon”.
It was an ambitious speech Madam Mayor… but it was also an inspiring one because just 2,504 days later, on July 20th, 1969, mankind witnessed the first lunar landing.
Madam Mayor, it’s more than 2900 days since Jim McMahon set out his vision of a £60million game changer redevelopment which would deliver 150,000 square feet of retail space to be populated by the UK’s retail giants, along with 800 homes and 700 parking spaces.
That vision has been watered down over the years. We started with talk of “missing retail giants” like Marks and Spencer. Now it’s a Travelodge and a Lidl.
It’s been more than eight years Madam Mayor… … and Labour still haven’t delivered Jim McMahon’s game changer, but we do have some car parking spaces.
To put it bluntly it’s taken longer for Oldham Labour to deliver a budget hotel and a budget supermarket than it took to put Mankind on the moon.
Madam Mayor, can the Leader update the council on the impact of plus 10% inflation on Oldham’s regeneration projects… and when can the people of Oldham expect to welcome the long-promised Prince’s Gate redevelopment?
Because to-date the progress has been far from interstellar.
Q2 School meals and budgets
Thank you, Madam Mayor, my second question tonight is about schools.
Schools across Oldham are facing immense challenges because of the cost-of-living crisis.
Government failure to keep pace with inflation means that free school meal budgets in Oldham have effectively been cut by more than £200,000 in real terms.
Now we are seeing school budgets swallowed by rising energy costs, nine out of 10 schools across the country say they will run out of money next year.
In some cases, schools are seeing their energy bill rise by 100 or 150%.
But not only is the Government telling schools to fend for themselves – with no additional support to meet these rising costs – but our latest Chancellor is suggesting finding more cuts.
These cuts will mean less teaching hours, less teaching assistants and less teachers.
This is not just because councillor Sykes says so… but because Paul Whiteman, the General Secretary of the National Association of Headteachers says so.
So, my question to the Leader is, what cost-of-living support will the Council bring forward for schools – specifically to help with food and warmth so that children in Oldham are not left to suffer because of this indifferent and cruel Government?
Andy Burnham faces a vote of no confidence in his failed leadership of Greater Manchester Police, after Oldham’s Liberal Democrat group put forward a motion challenging his management of the force.
Earlier this month, the Met police were issued with a damning report which found systemic racism and misogyny, and that hundreds of officers in the Met should be kicked out of the force. A freedom of information request from Oldham Liberal Democrats to GMP revealed that the equivalent information was not available from GMP, but that there were a minimum of 1,400 cases from 2017.
In the review of historic child sex exploitation in Oldham, GMP refused to sign a data processing agreement to let the review team have access to information on nine of the 11 cases.
Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani, who represents Saddleworth West and Lees, said: “If GMP cannot even provide the information on the same issues that the Met police has been condemned for, that says a lot about the way they are being run from the top.
“While GMP has emerged from special measures – meaning it is now at the bare minimum accepted level – there is a record of mismanagement at the highest level that can only be placed at the door of Andy Burnham and Bev Hughes.”
GMP was in special measures for nearly two years. It was warned about its failure to support victims of domestic abuse in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021. During that time, there have been three chief constables, and the entire senior leadership of the force has been replaced, with the exception of Andy Burnham and his deputy Bev Hughes.
Councillor Al-Hamdani continued: “People in Oldham are sick and tired of their not being enough officers in their neighbourhood. GMP do not provide local data on crimes – and at the Police Accountability Meeting last week confirmed that they have no intention of doing so. People don’t know what the police are doing in their neighbourhood – they only know that they can’t see officers there.”
The Liberal Democrat group have also slammed “Burnham’s broken promises” on neighbourhood policing. Speaking in support of the motion, fellow Saddleworth West and Lees councillor, Mark Kenyon said, “Mayor Burnham trumpeted a return to Neighbourhood Policing, bobbies on the beat of every ward in Greater Manchester back in 2020. Oldham doesn’t have that. Neighbourhood officers are regularly redeployed to other parts of the service, meaning neighbourhood policing is often massively reduced or just non-existent.”
The Liberal Democrat motion will be voted on by Oldham Council on Wednesday 2nd November.
Liberal Democrat Group Motion (02/11/22)
No Confidence in Andy Burnham’s & Beverley Hughes’ management of Greater Manchester Police
This Council notes that:
There have been no crime figures published for Oldham from July 2019 onwards. Residents are unable to download and compare crime, stop, and search, and outcome statistics in their local areas unlike, for example, in London.
Newsam & Ridgway’s review into CSE in Oldham, commissioned by Andy Burnham, notes the following (p40/2.17): the review started in January 2020 yet it took until November 2021 to agree a data processing agreement with GMP (for comparison, a complete data processing agreement with Oldham Council was agreed in April 2020). This data processing agreement with GMP only covered two of the 11 cases investigated – Shabir Ahmed and ‘Sophie’. Newsam and Ridgway further note that the lack of an agreement affected the quality of assurance that they could give about the quality of the conduct of GMP.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMICFRS) reported that GMP was failing victims of domestic abuse in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021. GMP was placed into special measures in December 2020
From 2016, all chief officers at GMP have been replaced. The only two senior posts that have remained unchanged throughout this entire period are the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice, and Fire – Andy Burnham and, his appointee, Baroness Beverley Hughes.
GMP’s failings reflect a national trend of defunding of Police by this Conservative government. Police are solving just 7% of recorded crimes.
The highest ever number of rape cases in the UK was recorded in 2022 – 70,330, of which just 2,223 cases resulted in charges being brought. An estimated four out of five rape cases are not reported. Rape investigations currently take an average of 465 days from being reported to someone being charged.
There is a backlog of nearly 59,000 cases at the crown court, and over 358,000 cases to the magistrate’s court. The backlog increased by 23% in the year prior to the COVID pandemic and has increased further since.
This Council believes that:
Victims of crime in the borough of Oldham, and across Greater Manchester, are being failed. Andy Burnham has failed and the Conservative government’s approach to policing and criminal justice has failed.
This Council resolves to:
Direct the Chief Executive to write to the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester to inform them of Council’s lack of confidence in their ability to effectively manage GMP.
A new Cost of Living handbook outlining all the essential contact numbers for residents has been distributed across Oldham.
Included in the We Can Help handbook are numbers for the Council’s Helpline, Welfare Rights and Citizens Advice. There is also information about the Warm Banks that have opened across the borough and the Warm Homes scheme, for residents who are struggling amid rising energy bills.
Additional copies of the handbook will be available in libraries, Access Oldham and will be handed out by our doorstep engagement teams as required.
If any residents in your area would like a digital copy of the handbook, then it is also available on the Council’s website: We Can Help handbook
At long last and after pushing and table thumping, we are pleased to report the Cafe at Dunwood will re-open this Saturday 29 October 2022.
Invite to the event is below. But please call in at any time.
The Grand Opening of The Woodlands Café at Dunwood Park in Shaw on 29th October between 10am and 4pm.
They will be hosting a Halloween party to celebrate the opening of our new community café.
There will be pumpkin carving and entertainment for the children, food for all and community groups such as Get up and Grow and Nordic Walking taster sessions.
