Image: Coast and Marine Highly Commended (2018) Kirsty Andrews, Ta Da! (Grey seal, Halichoerus grypus)
Spectacular wildlife exhibition comes to Gallery Oldham
Gallery Oldham’s latest exhibition features some of the most outstanding wildlife shots taken in the last decade.
From Saturday 28 May the touring exhibition ‘10 Years of the British Wildlife Photography Awards’ opens to the public.
To mark this special anniversary this retrospective will include all the overall winners for the first time, along with a selection of images including category winners. The exhibition runs until Saturday 3 September.
Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader has criticised wasteful clean air signs after Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham was forced to backtrack on his plans for a £60 per week Clean Air Zone.
Shaw Councillor and Leader of Oldham Liberal Democrats, Howard Sykes MBE said, “Everybody can see the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) for what it is, a complete and utter shambles. In recent weeks, we’ve had the spectacle of Mr Burnham going cap-in-hand to the Government asking to be allowed to scrap the charges from his Clean Air Zone. This U turn is welcome but why did he not do this in the first place? This is just months after he announced plans to implement Europe’s largest clean air charging zone. And just weeks after he had to scurry around Greater Manchester correcting all the CAZ signs because his plan had unravelled.”
Thousands of road signs across Greater Manchester announcing the new Clean Air Zone coming into effect had to be corrected in late March with stickers reading ‘Under Review’. Councillor Sykes called the signs “a shameful waste of public money at a time when money is tight,” as he issued Mayor Burnham with a challenge.
Councillor Sykes said, “Instead of trying to distance himself from his own policy, the Greater Manchester Mayor should be honest with Greater Manchester taxpayers about just how wasteful his Clean Air Zone is becoming. Just how much public money have you wasted on Clean Air Zone signs across Greater Manchester?”
Due to the ongoing rise in energy costs, the Government is providing households who live in properties in Council Tax bands A to D, with a one-off Council Tax Energy Rebate of £150 to help towards their energy bills.
Those who pay by Direct Debit should receive their rebate by next Tuesday, 31 May. If there are any Direct Debit payers who do not receive a payment in May, this will be because the Council will require further administrative checks, such as:
Verifying bank details if the first Council Tax payment has not been made
Where the information we have in relation to the person liable for Council Tax does not match bank details we hold
Where the person liable for Council Tax is not eligible for the scheme.
The Council aim to pay all those satisfying eligibility checks by the end of June. They will also start to issue payments to those who do not pay by Direct Debit in June.
They have elected to use the Post Office who will issue barcoded letters that residents can redeem for cash at any Post Office branch, supported by the relevant proof of identity. They elected to use the Post Office to avoid residents having to apply for the payment and to reduce the risk of underclaiming.
Where payments have not been redeemed by 31 August 2022, we will credit the Council Tax account instead. The Government requires the Council to offer direct payment in cash or by bank transfer before crediting Council Tax accounts can be actioned.
The Council will also be offering discretionary payments. Phase one will include payments to residents who were eligible for the Council Tax Reduction Scheme on 1 April 2022. This will include an additional £25 payment for those already eligible for the £150 rebate in property bands A to D, and a £175 payment to those who aren’t eligible for the £150 rebate in bands E to H. No application is required for this payment, which we will issue directly to eligible residents.
Phase two will involve payments to residents who may not have a Council Tax liability but who have energy costs, such as those in Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs). Applications will be required, but we will be contacting residents in HMOs directly by letter when the time comes to apply.
Finally, an additional suite of payments will be made to those in receipt of Council Tax Reduction (funded by the DWP Household Support Grant). This includes payment of £25 to those in receipt of Council Tax Reduction for households of working age and £110 for those in receipt of Council Tax Reduction for households of pension age.
Full details of the scheme are regularly updated on the website here.
Oldham & Saddleworth’s Liberal Democrat councillors have said local Conservatives have got questions to answer after six of their nine councillors failed to attend the first council meetings to be held after the local elections.
Mark Kenyon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grotton, Springhead & Lees, said: “I’m sure decent Conservative voters in this town will join the rest of us in wondering when Conservative councillors will actually turn up to do the job they’d promised voters they’d do – there’s important questions to ask about Clean Air Zone (CAZ), Labour waste & the investment our town and districts sorely need”.
Conservative deputy leader Beth Sharp, joins councillors Luke Lancaster, Dave Arnott and their newly elected colleagues Chris McManus, Robert Barnes & Lewis Quigg in skipping these first meetings held on Wednesday 25th May 2022.
Mark Kenyon concludes: ”People want change in this town – sadly we won’t get that if voters are selecting councillors like this. Yesterday evening the Conservative councillors either failed to turn up, or even worse, sided with Labour to give the Opposition less time to ask questions about issues like CAZ.”
Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE hit out against Labour Civic Centre bosses after a move was made to cut down on the amount of time available for all councillors to raise important issues, and especially opposition councillors.
The changes to Oldham Council’s constitution which were pushed through by the ruling Labour group at the Annual Council Meeting on Wednesday (25/05/22). The changes include a restriction on the number and time of opposition policy proposals that can be debated in meetings. This has been reduced to just one and 10mins.
Speaking during Oldham Council’s Annual Meeting on Wednesday, councillor Sykes said, “This is only the second time I have had to rise to oppose constitutional amendments. For two years running Labour have lost councillors at the ballot box and there are now more opposition councillors and yet the voice of opposition councillors is being reduced, or dare I say gagged.”
Liberal Democrat councillors welcomed the reinstatement of an extended time limit for questions from the public at council meetings. Councillor Sykes said, “Public Question Time is a chance for the people of the Borough to directly challenge their leaders.”
“Liberal Democrats introduced public questions some time ago, Labour then reduced the time allowed, so we welcome this U-turn. But instead of simply extending council meetings to accommodate these questions, Labour have decided to cut down on scrutiny time for opposition and back bench Labour councillors. Hardly the actions of a so-called listening council is it?” Stated councillor Sykes. “Crucially, for residents, this will mean their council leaders will spend less time being challenged on the big issues that matter most to them.”
“Labour’s proposals will make it more difficult (or impossible) for all councillors to raise contentious issues in Greater Manchester. The minutes of transport, police, fire, National Park, the Combined Authority, and others will no longer be part of the agenda. Therefore, questions and comments on these issues have effectively been axed. Topics such as the Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone and safety on Metrolink services are just two recent examples of topics important to residents that will no longer be able to be effectively raised,” he added.
Councillor Sykes said, “We have just had local elections in which the people of Oldham borough saw fit to elect fewer Labour councillors. The response from Oldham’s Labour leadership has been to cut down on the amount of scrutiny and the time for opposition councillors to speak. This is not the move of an administration that is not prepared to learn lessons and start listening to residents and their concerns raised by their elected representatives.”
