Pop along for advice, help or to discuss any issue or matter with your local Liberal Democrat councillors.

Shaw and Crompton Advice Surgeries (no appointment necessary) held on the following Thursdays at Shaw Lifelong Learning Centre – 7:30pm to 8:30pm.

November: 3, 10, 17 and 24.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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
4. 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.
5. GMP’s failings reflect a national trend of defunding of Police by this Conservative government. Police are solving just 7% of recorded crimes.
6. 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.
7. 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.

HMIC spokesperson quoted
Greater Manchester police to be placed in special measures | Greater Manchester | The Guardian

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.”