At long last and after pushing and table thumping, we are pleased to report the Cafe at Dunwood will re-open at the end of this month.
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.
We hope this will be a wonderful event for the community and would love it if you were able to join us.
Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has marked World Mental Health Day by calling for more support for struggling people across Oldham Borough.
Councillor Sykes said, “NHS Mental Health budgets are at breaking point. Services are under huge pressure because of the backlog caused by the covid pandemic and the additional stress and pressure that so many of us are feeling because of the cost-of-living crisis. Staffing levels are also at crisis point. The Conservatives have done nothing to address this and now we have over a million people sitting on mental health waiting lists.”
In a statement marking World Mental Health Day (Oct 10th), the mental health charity Mind revealed that two in five young people “don’t have the words” to describe their mental health symptoms.
Councillor Sykes said, “We know that children and young people are facing increasingly varied and complex mental health issues and we know they are also vulnerable to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. So many families in our borough were just about managing before the Conservatives lost control of the economy. Now they are being plunged into fuel and food poverty and all that uncertainty takes its toll on a person’s health.”
The Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader also called on Oldham Council to be more ambitious in offering “meaningful mental health support” to the people of Oldham.
Councillor Sykes said, “The Liberal Democrats have set out our vision for a caring and proactive council which offers real and impactful support in every community of Oldham borough. We think the council can and must do more to tackle loneliness and digital isolation, which can be major barriers for many people who need to access mental health services.”
Oldham Council has been accused of “failing to get even the most basic things right” after it emerged that the authority failed to issue a single fixed penalty notice (FPN) for dog-fouling for three years. This shocking fact was supplied as a result of a freedom of information request.
Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, councillor Howard Sykes MBE said, “This is a shocking fact. We’re talking about the basics here. We hear all this talk from the Labour administration about how they’re getting tough on littering, fly-tipping, and dog-fouling yet the facts say something else.”
“The vast majority of dog owners are responsible, the few that are not spoil it for all. This is one of the number one issues in my mailbox, and I know it is for many other councillors and the public. In our Liberal Democrat budget proposals last year, we found the cash to for such basic matters that the public clearly want,” he stated.
“Council bosses are happy to throw thousands of pounds at so called campaigns like ‘Don’t Trash Oldham’ yet fail on the basics like fixed penalties for dog fouling. The facts speak for themselves,” he concluded.
Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes has hit out at Labour council bosses over their plans to provide warm banks this winter in the Borough. It has emerged that all the council’s earmarked locations are in public libraries, and none are open on Sundays.
Councillor Sykes said, “This is simply not good enough. It is unimaginative and half-hearted. The cost-of-living crisis doesn’t take Sunday off. We need warm spaces that are accessible to residents all the time. The council has only utilised libraries. What about community centres and other public buildings? What about those buildings used by faith groups? In a rich country like Britain, it’s shameful that we need to consider ideas like warm banks to begin with, but if we’re going to do this, we need to do it properly. It could make a real difference for vulnerable residents.”
Warm banks were adopted by Oldham Council after councillor Sykes wrote to the council in early August and a Liberal Democrat motion calling for them was passed at The Council meeting in September.
Councillor Sykes said, “We have dragged the council kicking and screaming on this. Labour have tagged warm banks onto the end of their cost-of-living plans but clearly their hearts aren’t in it. The rest of their plan is unambitious. £1.2 million of the promised £3 million won’t even be spent this year. It’s an outrage and it doesn’t hold up to what is being offered by other local authorities.”
Oldham’s Liberal Democrat councillors have backed a campaign calling for free school meals to be extended to all primary school children.
The National Education Union has said that child hunger is an ‘epidemic’ in schools and has published an open letter to the prime minister which says that currently millions of children miss out on a free school meal, with some as young as seven.
Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Oldham councillor Howard Sykes MBE said, “Free school meal provision is one of the most effective policies when it comes to tackling child hunger and poverty as well as raising educational achievement. It’s about a fair start in life and peace of mind for struggling families who know their children will be able to focus in class after a nutritious meal.”
“Free school meals for infants have been a great success. Teachers and their unions are right to call for the policy to be extended to all primary age children and the Liberal Democrats are joining them.”
Earlier this year it emerged that the government had cut funding for free school meals in Oldham by more than £212,000. Government failure to fund meal provision in line with inflation and the rising cost of food has left schools to plug the gap.
Councillor Sykes said, “The government is giving uncapped bonuses to bankers but won’t properly fund meals for school kids. The Conservatives have shown they have all the wrong priorities. The cuts to free school meals must be reversed immediately so that school budgets aren’t hammered this winter. We must then look to expand the scheme so that every child can benefit.”
It’s Library Week in the UK this week and council’s up and down the country are announcing their plans to get more down to their local library.
Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has said that “libraries are needed more than ever and could play a frontline role as we try to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.”
The Liberal Democrat Leader says that Oldham Council bosses have so far been unambitious in their efforts to help people through the current economic situation.
Councillor Sykes said, “People are really struggling. If you were just about managing to keep your head above water before all this, you’re now looking at being plunged into poverty because of the damage the Conservative government has done to the economy and their refusal to help anyone who isn’t rich. So far, the response from our Labour council hasn’t been good enough. Less than half of their £3million cost-of-living strategy will be spent this year and most of it will be too slow to reach frontline services.”
“People need strong local services now more than ever and libraries have always been able to serve as community hubs when properly funded. Liberal Democrats want to see extended opening hours, more resourcing for children to be able to do their homework after school; and investment in library staff and volunteers so that they can run advice services for people who are struggling – just like elsewhere in the country.”
After a Liberal Democrat motion was passed in September, Oldham Council agreed to set up warm spaces around the borough for people to go to this winter, keeping costs down at home in the evenings. Councillor Sykes said, “Libraries and community spaces need investment if they are going to be able to offer the support that our communities need. We are calling on the council’s leadership to provide a detailed update, outlining exactly how are libraries will be supported this winter, in this Libraries Week.”
On Tuesday 27th September the Parish Council’s Planning Committee approved for the new health centre to go ahead with earnest on the former bath site.
Shadow Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, Crompton Councillor Louie Hamblett spoke at a parish council planning committee to explain when works will go ahead the size of the site and how big roughly each consultation room will likely be.
Cllr Hamblett said: Because of NHS building regulations and tech has allowed them to be built smartly and taking into account patient uses of GP’s the buildings plan is to be box clever give each of the practices more space than they currently have. The NHS’s aspiration is to bring together health and care services in a more integrated way.”
“The main priority is to get spades into the ground by March 2023 and as a community we need to get behind this as much as possible.
The submission of a planning application for our new health centre is great news for Shaw and Crompton and further evidence this is happening this time.
Access to modern healthcare facilities is a top priority for the people we represent.
What we’ve had is a long and uncertain journey to this point over many years but by working constructively, local Liberal Democrat councillors, have now helped it get across the line. We continue to work tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure the new health centre becomes a reality for residents.
This news is very welcome indeed and is a poke in the eye for those who talk our area down and said it would never happen.”
The planning committee voted unanimously in favour.
