Liberal Democrat Councillors are playing on the same team as campaigning footballer Marcus Rashford when it comes to tackling child food poverty.

The 22-year old Manchester United star has just been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his work ensuring that no child goes hungry.

This is an issue close to the heart of Saddleworth North Liberal Democrat Councillor Garth Harkness, who is proposing a motion at the next full meeting of Oldham Council (November 4) seeking cross-party support for Mr Rashford’s pioneering work.  He has frequently raised child hunger with the Council.  Being employed at a Manchester school, Councillor Harkness is well-aware of the adverse impact that hunger can have on a child’s educational performance.

Commenting Councillor Harkness said:  “When many people think of top-flight footballers, they think of individuals who are over-paid and self-absorbed.  Marcus Rashford has proven that footballers can also care about others, and whilst there may have been a hiatus of play on the pitch during the Covid-19 pandemic, he has been playing away in a different arena, quietly but forcefully, to ensure that every child who is hungry gets fed.  It is largely down to him that the Conservative Government was embarrassed into a U-turn to provide school meals for pupils, and his MBE is richly-deserved for those efforts.”

Mr Rashford has recently called on the Government to immediately fund three recommendations from the National Food Strategy during and after the pandemic.

Crompton Councillor Louie Hamblett is backing his Liberal Democrat colleague: “Whatever football team you support, it still feels the same when you are hungry.  We would like Councillors from all parties, whatever colour rosette they may wear at election time, to back our motion which calls on the Tory Government to find this funding and to find it now.  Quite simply, the Oldham Liberal Democrats believe that it is truly shameful that in one of the world’s most advanced economies, two decades into the twenty-first century, children still go hungry in the UK.”

The next meeting of Oldham Council will be online from 6pm on Wednesday November 4.

The wording of the motion follows.

Council November 4, 2020 – Notice of Opposition Business – Time to tackle child food poverty

This Council:

* Believes that, in one of the world’s most advanced economies, it is shameful that two decades into the twenty-first century, children still go hungry in the UK.

* Is committed to ensuring that reducing child food poverty in our Borough remains one of our top priorities and commends organisations in this Borough which are working to do so.

* Also commends the initiative of Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford who has successfully campaigned on school holiday hunger and has recently formed a taskforce with some of the UK’s leading food retailers and charities to help reduce child food poverty.

* Notes that this taskforce has called upon the government to fund three policy recommendations from the National Food Strategy, an independent review of UK food policy, as soon as possible:

The expansion of free school meals to every child from a household on Universal Credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 1.5m children aged seven to 16

The expansion of holiday food and activities to support all children on free school meals, reaching an additional 1.1m children

Increasing the value of the Healthy Start vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25 per week and expanding it to all those on Universal Credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 290,000 children under the age of four and pregnant women

Notes that the taskforce has said that implementing these three recommendations would mark a ‘unifying step to identifying a long-term solution to child poverty in the UK’.

Council concurs with the conclusion of the taskforce in calling upon the government to immediately fund these recommendations.

Council feels that if the Prime Minister wishes to be believed when he talks of ‘building (Britain) back better’ then he must address child food poverty as a top priority; for how can Britain be better when our nation’s children continue to go hungry?

Council resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to:

* Mr Marcus Rashford commending him for his initiative and offering this Council’s support for his work and that of the taskforce.

* Mr Henry Dimbleby, who led the National Food Strategy, commending the work of the review panel and offering this Council’s support for their recommendations.

* The Chancellor of the Exchequer calling upon him to fund these three top recommendations as a matter of great urgency.

* Our three local MPs asking them to also make urgent representations to the Chancellor on this issue.

Proposed by Councillor Garth Harkness

Seconded by Councillor Louie Hamblett

Liberal Democrat Councillors are proposing a motion at the next full meeting of Oldham Council (November 4^th) calling for a default 20mph speed limit to be introduced on the Borough’s minor residential roads.

Twenty million British citizens already live in local authorities where a 20mph default speed limit exists.  The Liberal Democrats want Oldham Council to do the same.  This is the second time they have introduced such a proposal at the Council; the first was in February 2014.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Shaw Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, is proposing the motion.  Commenting he said:  “The Covid-19 pandemic has made crystal clear just how precious life is.  Whilst we as a local authority work with our partners in the National Health Service to bring this terrible disease under control, one practical measure we can introduce straight away to save lives in another way is to reduce the speed of vehicles being driven along our minor roads.

“More than half of all road accident casualties occur on roads with 30mph limits, and a pedestrian is seven times more likely to die if they are hit by a vehicle travelling at 30 miles per hour than they are at 20 mph and ten times more likely if they are aged 60 or older.”

Crompton Councillor Diane Williamson is seconding the motion: “Not only will a 20mph speed limit reduce road deaths, it will also reduce injuries and as vehicle speeds are slowed there are environmental benefits as atmospheric pollution from exhaust fumes is reduced and cycle use increases as cyclists feel more confident to go out again onto our roads.”

Although Liberal Democrat Councillors welcome a recent announcement that a 20mph speed limit will be introduced in some of the Saddleworth villages they want the same applied boroughwide, as recommended by the British campaigning group 20’s Plenty for Us and by the General Assembly of the United Nations, which voted in August 2020 to recommend to all governments a 20mph (or 30 km/h) speed limit.

Councillor Sykes concluded:  “If we want to ‘build back better’ after the pandemic then one way we can do this is to improve the safety of our Borough’s residents on our roads, whether a driver, passenger, cyclist or a pedestrian.  If the United Nations has endorsed a 20mph speed limit as a way forward, then that’s good enough for us. We don’t have to spend a fortune on engineering solutions, we just need to get on with it.  We can save lives if we kill vehicle speeds. 20’s plenty for us in 2020.”

The next full meeting of Oldham Council will be held online from 6pm on Wednesday November 4.

The wording of the motion to Oldham Council follows.

Council November 4, 2020 – Notice of Opposition Business – 20’s Plenty in 2020

This Council notes that:

• speed limits on Britain’s residential roads are 60% higher than in Europe.

• more than half of all road accident casualties occur on roads with 30mph limits.

• that a pedestrian is 7 times more likely to die if they are hit by a vehicle travelling at 30 miles per hour than they are at 20 mph and 10 times more likely if aged 60 or older.

• reducing speed limits on residential roads has been found to reduce the incidence of accidents, the numbers of fatalities and serious injuries that result, and air pollution.

• over 20 million citizens live in local authorities in the UK, including five authorities in Greater Manchester, which have adopted or are adopting a default speed limit of 20mph on residential roads.

• the default speed limit of 20mph has been adopted by other local authorities without the implementation of physical calming measures.

• in February 2020, road safety experts from 130 countries adopted the ‘Stockholm Declaration’ recommending 20mph / 30kph as the preferred default speed limit on residential roads and, in August 2020, the UN General Assembly endorsed this recommendation.

This Council recognises that:

• If we are to ‘build back better’ after Covid-19, one of our key concerns must be to address all aspects of public health.

• This should include lowering the default speed of motor vehicles driven on our residential roads to reduce the danger to residents.

• Such a measure should be boroughwide and comprehensive.

This Council therefore resolves to:

• Seek in principle to implement a borough-wide 20 mph speed limit on residential roads.

• Ask the Overview and Scrutiny Board to look again at the practicalities and timescale of introducing such a scheme, in consultation with the 20’s Plenty Campaign, for consideration by full Council at the earliest possible opportunity.

Proposed by Councillor Howard Sykes MBE        

Seconded by Councillor Diane Williamson

A recent study published by the countryside charity, the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) has found that the government’s target of 300,000 new homes could be built every year for the next four years, and then some, on Brownfield sites, leaving the Green Belt untouched. 

Responding the findings, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE posed the question:  “Why then do we need the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework with the proposal by the Greater Manchester Mayor and his Labour colleagues to destroy vast swathes of our irreplaceable Green Belt with unnecessary housing?”

The CPRE found that there are enough sites in England that have been previously developed, and that are available for housing, to build 1.33 million homes, and that the number of sites with planning permission that are as yet still undeveloped has risen by a fifth in just one year.

Councillor Sykes added:  “The CPRE have helpfully identified that the problem does not lie in Councils giving planning permission for housing developments on suitable sites; the problem lies with house builders not building out and instead sitting on sites in the hope that they will make more money when land values increase.” 

“As I have said before, GMSF this is the wrong plan at the wrong time,” stated Councillor Sykes.

The CPRE report can be found at https://www.cpre.org.uk/news/theres-already-enough-suitable-land-to-meet-targets-for-new-homes-we-find/

A report updating Councillors and the public on the progress made by the investigation team into historic allegations of child sexual exploitation in the Borough will be included in the agenda papers for the next full meeting of Oldham Council (4 November 2020).

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Opposition, wrote to the Leader of the Council three weeks ago (30 Sept) requesting such a report.  He has just received confirmation that this will now happen.  Commenting he said:  “I welcome the commitment to bring a report to the next Council meeting.  There is a great deal of public and Councillor interest in this investigation and the Council has already committed to implementing its findings in full.  It is now almost a year since the investigation into these serious allegations began and I am sure that everyone will now feel it timely to receive a report about the progress made by the investigating officers.”

“I will certainly be very interested to read this interim report.  I asked for the report to be tabled as a specific item on the agenda to ensure that there is time given over, within an otherwise packed agenda and busy evening, for Councillors of all parties, and none, to comment upon, and ask questions about, the investigation, if they wish.”

Free one-to-one counselling for a limited number of people (up to 10 sessions per person). Due to Covid19, counselling is currently being offered via video (Zoom) or telephone, which allows people to access support in the safety and comfort of their own homes. 

These sessions can help with things like:

• Coming to terms with relationship breakdown or bereavement
• Unhappiness, worries or stress in work or at home
• Supporting people to feel happier with who they are
• Improving relationships by working out better ways to communicate
• Dealing with changes in people’s lives (e.g. living with long-term illness)
• Feeling anxious or depressed or finding life difficult to cope with
• Coping with how lockdown has left people feeling

Click on the link below for more information and who to contact:

A controversial planning application on Trent Road High Crompton, Shaw has been refused again; the application was for a change of use from retail premises to a hot food takeaway.

Crompton Ward Liberal Democrat Councillor Diane Williamson said “It was with great delight that I learnt that Oldham Council Planning Officer’s decision for this application was for refusal. The area does not lend itself to this type of business and would have brought a whole new dynamic to the area, not to mention close proximity to neighbouring residential properties, litter, smells, anti-social behaviour, as well as increased highway activity”.  It should be noted that the applicant can appeal against the decision and this needs to be made within six months.

The decision to escalate the application to the Planning Committee was not taken likely; but in the interest of fairness for local residents, their voices needed to be heard. The submissions obviously helped and therefore there was no need for it to go to the committee.

“I would like to thank residents for submitting comments and including us in their correspondence; it does give us an understanding of how much changes of use can affect the local community, local residents and local businesses” said Councillor Diane Williamson.

For real time information: https://oldham.roadworks.org/

Crompton Councillor Dave Murphy has welcomed the hugely successful adjournment debate held in the House of Commons last Wednesday (14 October) in which MPs from all parties supported the Local Electricity Bill.

Councillor Murphy, with his Liberal Democrat colleague from Shaw, Chris Gloster, proposed a motion at the July 2020 meeting of Oldham Council in support of the Bill.  This received cross-party support on the night making Oldham Council one of 56 Councils across the UK to endorse the Bill.

The Local Electricity Bill if it becomes law will make it easier and cheaper for local companies to be set up to supply electricity generated from renewable sources to local people.

Councillor Murphy said:  “The present arrangements are too complicated and too costly to allow local electricity companies to compete in the marketplace.  At a time when more and more people are keen to become involved as shareholders and supporters of renewable energy co-operatives, more and more people are becoming interested in buying their electricity locally from these same co-operatives.  It makes perfect sense to marry the two up and this Bill would, if it became law, make this so.  Hopefully it would lead in the long-term to local renewable energy companies supplying the people of Oldham with their energy.”

Councillor Chris Gloster added his support:  “Ironically although the Bill is new, the concept of locally produced electricity for local people is not.  In times past, we had windmills to grind corn and water wheels to power factories.  And during our industrial heyday we had an Oldham Corporation electric company which powered trams, businesses and homes in the Borough.”

The Local Electricity Bill currently has 208 MPs supporting it, and one of its primary sponsors is the Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse.  The Bill will receive its Second Reading in the House of Commons in January 2021.