After several months of procedural delays, Boundary Park has again been listed as an Asset of Community Value, with Oldham Athletic Supporters Foundation getting it successfully added to the listings.
Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani, who has been working with the Foundation to get the status for the ground said: “It is a great relief for the listing to go through. It’s by no means perfect protection, but with the previous listing due to expire in the New Year even that protection has been under threat. It has taken several months of chasing to ensure that it has been renewed.”
The listing, which covers Boundary Park and the Little Wembley training ground, means that the owner cannot sell the ground without notifying the Council, and puts a set time period in place during which the Foundation would be able to bid for the ground. It does not, however, guarantee that the owners would have to sell it to the Foundation.
Councillor Al-Hamdani, who last week also successfully moved a motion to support the Football Supporters Association’s (FSA) Fair Game proposals, and the Government’s fan-led review, continued: “Boundary Park is something that people across the country associate with Oldham. The Latics are part of the community, and it is all too easy for owners to forget that without the fans, there is no club.
“I still want to see the Council do more – I believe there should be fan representation on the Safety Advisory Group which issues the safety certificate for the ground – in line with FSA recommendations, and that their minutes should be made public, as other councils do.
“Fans deserve more. They are the constant in a club’s life. The FSA have been saying this for years, and the Government’s fan-led review has backed them. I want to see Oldham Athletic hitting the headlines for the good that they could do, not because they are banning supporters from the stands.”
Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE has received an early Christmas present – confirmation that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait will be on display at the Civic Centre by the start of HM’s Platinum Jubilee year in 2022.
In late October, Councillor Sykes wrote to the Council Leader and Chief Executive asking for portraits to be displayed in the Council Chamber and at the Civic Entrance Reception, and he is ‘delighted’ that his request has now been agreed to.
Commenting on the good news, Councillor Sykes said: “Our Queen is both our country’s longest reigning monarch and our ultimate public servant, having for seventy years served this nation faithfully as Head of State. In 2022, we will have the opportunity to celebrate this achievement and to give our thanks for our Sovereign’s dedication to public life.”
“It is also doubly important now in the Covid-19 pandemic, as she once again demonstrates real leadership, as she did earlier in the pandemic, in stark contrast to the shambles at No. 10 Downing Street,” added Councillor Sykes
“In my view it is only fitting that we properly mark this Platinum Jubilee milestone by having portraits of our Queen on display at the Civic entrance and in the Council Chamber itself. Having met the Queen in person I, for one, will find her presence inspiring.”
There will be several changes to opening hours of council services over the Christmas period; all of which are on the Council’s our website here. Some of the main changes are detailed below:
The Oldham Council switchboard will be closed from 4pm on Friday 24 December, and reopen at 9am on Tuesday 4 January
The Contact Centre phone lines will close from 4pm on Friday 24 December but re-open on Wednesday 29, Thursday 30 and Friday 31 December, 9am–3pm for anyone wanting to report missed bins, fly tipping and street cleansing. People can also report these online as normal.
All phone lines will fully reopen at 9am on Tuesday 4 January.
For out of hours emergency social services enquiries, people can call 0161 770 6936
Our First Response team is available in an emergency on 0161 770 2222
Our Helpline is open on 0161 770 7007 for those concerned about their wellbeing, who are struggling financially, or who need food over Christmas. Opening times are Friday 24 December 9am–12noon; Wednesday 29 December 10am – 1pm; Thursday 30 December 10am – 1pm and Friday 31 December 9am–12noon.
Huge efforts are underway to step up the vaccine delivery programme across Oldham, to ensure that everyone can access a booster jab before the New Year.
With the significant rise in Covid cases across the UK, vaccination is the best way to be protected from serious illness, having to go to hospital or dying as a result of Covid. It also reduces the chance of getting Covid and passing it on to others.
From Monday, 20 December, a new vaccination site will be open at Chadderton Town Hall; initially offering walk-in appointments but soon to be offering both walk-ins and bookable appointments.
Meanwhile, the existing vaccine sites remain open for walk-ins every day, for people wanting any of their Coronavirus vaccinations, whether a first dose, second dose or booster. These sites are operating at:
The Dinwoodie Centre, Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Road, Oldham, OL1 2JH Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 8.30am–7.30pm Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 8.30am–5.30pm
The Millennium Centre, Featherstall Road North, Oldham, OL9 6QB. 12 noon – 7pm every Wednesday
The European Islamic Centre, 79 Manchester Road, Oldham, OL8 4LN. 12 noon – 7pm every Sunday
Chadderton Town Hall will be operating walk-in appointments from Monday 20 to Thursday 23 December, 8.30am to 6pm, and on Friday 24 December from 8.30am to 1pm.
I fully support the Governments vaccination programme and in particular its booster vaccination programme.
However, I am really concerned by the recently announced acceleration of that booster programme will have a devastating impact on other NHS preventive services and treatments. When even the Prime Mister says these will be cancelled, delayed or need to be rescheduled we all need to be very worried.
As we all know Oldham’s population is not a healthy one – delays in such services will impact on the live expectancy of many of our citizens and have massive impacts on tens of thousands of others. What steps can we take, with our health partners, to reduce this risk for our residents?
For my first question to the Leader tonight I want to look at car parking at the Royal Oldham Hospital.
The complaints that both I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues receive regularly from constituents, who are either outpatients or visitors to the hospital, is the difficulty they encounter in finding a car parking space.
Sometimes residents, myself included, drive around for an age to find a space as the minutes tick away for their appointment. Frankly the stress is just not needed, especially when you are awaiting life- saving treatment for cancer or rushing to visiting a sick relative.
In addition, car parking spaces are sometimes some way from the relevant ward or outpatient’s department, and visitors who are infirm or in ill-health can struggle to make the distance between their car and the building.
Can I ask the Leader, and through her the Cabinet Member for Health, if an appeal could be made to the hospital authorities to look again at visitor parking spaces to create more spaces in future development plans?
Can they also be asked to ensure that patient and visitor spaces, rather than staff spaces, are located closer to the wards and outpatient departments?
We also receive complaints about car parking charges. I have carried out some research about car parking charges at our hospital and there are a surprising number of concessions that would allow many patients to park for free or at a much-reduced rate – if only they knew about them and could find a parking space.
So, in a third part to my question can I ask if the Leader and Cabinet Member will work with the health authority and with relevant agencies, such as Healthwatch and cancer charities, to raise the public’s awareness of these concessions?
Council 15 December 2021
Leaders Question 2 – Exploring Crowdfunding
Madame Mayor,
My second question relates to Crowdfunding.
For councils up and down the country, it is becoming increasingly difficult to afford capital projects or provide for services or events that are outside statutory provision.
One innovation that more and more councils, from Manchester to Lewisham, are using is Crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding provides a new model for local authorities to connect with communities and residents.
It is a means by which local people become empowered to help deliver a capital project, service, or event that they want to see in their community by making an online financial contribution without the bureaucracy of funding bids.
Sometimes this contribution is made altruistically, sometimes in the expectation of personal gain such receiving an interest payment or an invitation to a launch event.
Plymouth Council was the first who launched Crowdfund Plymouth in 2015. Within 12 months, this initiative raised over £430,000 to back more than 100 projects in the city where 4,550 members of the public had themselves raised one-quarter of the money.
Several local authorities have used crowdfunding specifically to finance renewable energy projects. This is the number one area Oldham needs to look at in my opinion.
Swindon Borough Council raised £4.3m from the public to fund two solar parks; Warrington and West Berkshire Councils £1 million each through Community Municipal Bonds; and Islington Council is just currently doing the same.
Back in 2019, a report from the University of Leeds, titled ‘Financing for Society’ concluded that crowdfunding has ‘huge, untapped potential’ for public sector infrastructure finance with finance accessible at a comparable rate to loans from the Public Works Loan Board.
My question to the Leader is therefore that if we are indeed a Co-operative Council intent on engaging our communities in our work and in getting ‘everyone to do their bit’, especially in helping to make our borough carbon-neutral by 2030, shouldn’t we as a Council be at least investigating the merits of crowdfunding?
Crompton Liberal Democrat councillor Diane Williamson has welcomed the new scheme that has been launched to help women and girls feel safe on the tram network.
“In this day and age, we should not have to be doing something like this – should we? Our girls and young women should feel safe and able to travel on the trams without fear of being verbally attacked or something more serious,” said Cllr Williamson.
The teams are offering a friendly face around the Oldham tram stops in case residents are feeling uneasy, especially as the winter nights draw in.
Until March 2022, the Youth Service are covering the stops between Freehold and Oldham Mumps at times when they are busy with school pupils and college students, with the Street Angels covering the later hours.
“I have every faith and praise for the Street Angels and Oldham Youth Service and know they will do a fantastic job. But I am slightly concerned that the Council has forgotten about those pupils that come to and from Shaw and Crompton and Derker every day.
“I presume that Freehold to Oldham Mumps stretch has been chosen for a reason but could the scheme be extended to include the other areas I mention?” added Cllr Williamson, Shadow Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.
