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

Or here:

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 29^th 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.  

See you there. 

Down load the posters and display them to either deter trick or treaters or welcome them.

Trick or Treat posters

Oldham Council is using CCTV equipment supplied by Chinese company Hikvision, despite a House of Commons report last year which linked Hikvision to serious human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. 

Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has written to the Council urging them to blacklist Hikvision and if possible, remove their equipment from sites across Oldham where possible.  

A breakdown of Hikvision equipment owned and operated by the council was obtained by the Liberal Democrat Group after a freedom of information request was issued by councillor Sykes. 

Councillor Sykes said, “Hikvision have been blacklisted in the United States because of concerns about their role in human rights violations, targeting Uyghurs in Xinjiang.  The firm has provided camera technology which has been used in internment camps in the region as well as also providing surveillance outside places of worship.  It is completely inappropriate for Hikvision products to be used in this country.”

Last year, the Foreign Affairs Committee called for a nationwide ban on Hikvision products, as well as on products from another Chinese company named Dahua.  Campaign group ‘Big Brother Watch’ highlighted that 73% of councils in the UK use CCTV cameras made by the two companies, as well as 57% of secondary schools and 60% of NHS trusts.

Oldham Council has confirmed that Hikvision equipment is in use at Chadderton Town Hall, Old Town Hall, Tandle View, Old Mill House, Aster House, Hopwood Court, and Charles Morris House. 

Councillor Sykes said, “Councils have had over a year since the Foreign Affairs Committee made its recommendations.  The Liberal Democrats are calling for action to prevent the use of equipment linked to human rights abuses.  Oldham Council should blacklist Hikvision as an approved supplier and set about, where practical, the replacement of any Hikvision equipment in Oldham Borough.”

Lib Dem Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani has insisted that the final, damning report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) is on the agenda for the first meeting of Oldham Council’s steering group tasked with tackling child sex exploitation in the borough.

Oldham’s senior leadership team have already agreed to Liberal Democrat requests to ensure that any relevant recommendations from the IICSA reports are put into place in the borough.

Councillor Al-Hamdani said: “This report shows that child sex abuse is a national problem that has been catastrophically under-reported, and the failings that were seen in Oldham have been also seen in cities and towns all across the UK.

“We need to support those incredibly committed social workers, who we do have in Oldham, to really make changes that stop children in this town being left open to abuse.”

Among the recommendations in the report are better registration of staff in care homes, and better use of DBS checks. It also includes a national redress scheme, and a law making it a criminal offence to fail to make mandatory reports about child sexual abuse.

Councillor Al-Hamdani continued: “While many of these recommendations address how things work at the national level, there are recommendations which we can ensure are already in place in Oldham.

“I want to see Oldham as somewhere that other towns and cities across the UK look at and realise that change is possible.

“Children have been failed. Too often we have had half-hearted answers to the problems that this town places. This is an opportunity for real improvements. We can’t and won’t accept anything less.”

A request for local councils to put forward sites for building in national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty or green belt has been firmly opposed by Oldham’s Liberal Democrat team, with local Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani branding the policy “a disgrace”.

Lib Dem Councillor Al-Hamdani immediately sought confirmation that the Council had no plans to take up the option – which would have opened large parts of protected land across the whole of Oldham up for development. The Council confirmed that they had no plans to apply for any new developments under this scheme. 

Councillor Al-Hamdani said: “I can’t understand how this Government thinks it can possibly be acceptable to abandon national parks and areas of outstanding national beauty.”

Much of Saddleworth falls into the Peak District National Park, and the majority of the remainder is in the green belt, with further green belt sites across the whole of the borough.

“We are fortunate to have some of the most beautiful parts of the country on our doorstep, and this Government simply sees it as a resource to be built on.

“I hope I never see a Government putting forward plans like this again. They should be putting forward support for Councils to build on brownfield sites, instead of this nonsense. Development must not be at the expense of the environment.”

At long last the battle royal to lead the Conservatives has come to another end.

I wish Rishi Sunak well in the new job and as Prime Minister.

However, let’s not forget he has been a leading player in the mess that the Conservatives have made.

They have put their own petty arguments and naked ambitions before the urgent needs of the Country.

The Country is unlikely to forget or forgive.

Every day, week and month, local people will be reminded that the Conservatives are not to be trusted running the country as we all face bigger mortgage payments, higher rents, increased food and fuel costs and the Tories promised remedy of cuts, cuts, cuts in the services we value and want.

All this because of the disastrous decisions made by Conservatives in Government.

Mr Sunak, the third Prime Minister in eight weeks, and his Conservative Government has no mandate from the people.

It’s time for a General Election now. Let the people decide who they want in Downing Street.