Liberal
Democrat Councillor Howard Sykes MBE has criticised Labour bosses in Manchester
for their hypocrisy. Pensioners who
currently enjoy free travel on public transport across Greater Manchester are
being forced to pay an annual fee if they want to travel from A to B. The new Charge will be £10, whereas before it
was free. This tax will be live possibly
as early as January 2020.
Councillor
Sykes MBE commented: “Pensioners
currently enjoy free train, tram and bus travel weekdays, on weekends and
public holidays. This is a great way to
enable older people access to the full network free of financial
burden.”
“This
£10 charge is simply a Labour shakedown to stealth tax our elderly. OAPs now have to pay for TV licences and
struggle with heating bills in winter, this is unfair and misguided policy.”
The Labour led Greater Manchester Combined Authority wants to introduce the £10 annual charge from 2020 to make all its concessionary travel schemes more consistent. GMCA currently charge a £10 administration fee for other concessionary schemes, such as the recent so called free pass for travel for 16-18 year olds.
World leaders have acknowledged that there is a climate change emergency affecting every one of us. Liberal Democrat Councillor Garth Harkness, who has brought the issue forward, wants to declare a Climate change Emergency at the 11 September Oldham Council Meeting.
“People
across the UK and Councils across Greater Manchester have spoken out in favour
of declaring a climate change emergency. Now it’s time for Oldham Borough to do the
same,” stated Councillor Harkness.
There is
already an Environment Plan by the Greater Manchester authorities to become carbon
neutral by 2038. Liberal Democrats want
the Council to expand on this and announce the Climate Change Emergency through
media outlets and other partners to get
wider support in cooperating against climate change.
Liberal Democrats want Oldham Council to be carbon Neutral by 2025.
Liberal
Democrat Councillor Dave Murphy comments on this new policy he is supporting: “We want Oldham Borough to become
environmentally minded and for everyone to take action. This is a serious matter that concerns
everybody, regardless of your political opinion.”
“Whilst the
rainforest burns in Brazil and elsewhere in South America, so too does the
Saddleworth moorland on our doorstep” stated Councillor Harkness. “We have to take action now. The first step to making a change is to get
everybody thinking. This call will
address issues with the Council’s current environmental plan which expires next
year in 2020. We need to lead by
example.”
The Liberal
Democrats also want the UK government to do #itsbit to help the people of
Oldham Borough do #ourbit in achieving these environmental goals.
Copy of Motion to September 11 Oldham
Council Meeting:
Motion – Declaring a Climate Emergency
This Council notes:
That the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) holds that climate change represents ‘an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet.’
That the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence points to climate change being man-made.
The harmful effect that climate change has on our lives, natural habitats and eco-systems.
The IPCC’s call to governments and civil society to take urgent action to address climate change.
The resolutions made by over 100 UK local authorities and the UK Parliament in declaring climate emergencies.
Rochdale, Wigan, Bury, Salford, Manchester city, Trafford & Stockport Metropolitan Boroughs have all declared a climate change emergency, Oldham Brough should too.
This Council welcomes:
The ambitious commitment at the July 2019 Council of the Deputy
Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Resources and Low
Carbon to make the Council carbon-neutral by 2025.
The opportunity provided by the expiry of the Council’s
current Climate Change strategy in 2020 to make new and more ambitious
commitments to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2025.
This Council therefore resolves to:
Declare a Climate Emergency and publicise why this declaration has been made to the people of our Borough, our media outlets and our statutory, voluntary and business sector partners to enlist their support in taking collective action in addressing climate change.
Solicit the views and ideas of our staff, elected members, our partners and the general public in helping to craft a new Climate Change Strategy to replace our current strategy in 2020.
Identify clearly within this Strategy the ambition for this Council to become carbon-neutral by 2025.
Sign up to the UK100 Pledge to commit to consuming energy from renewable sources, including renewable energy generated by the Council itself.
Re-establish a cross-party Climate Change Strategy Group to oversee the delivery of the new strategy in partnership with the Deputy Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Resources and Low Carbon.
Ask the Chief Executive to write to the relevant Ministers, the Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Leaders of the other Greater Manchester authorities seeking their endorsement of our Climate Emergency declaration and our ambition to become carbon-neutral and requesting of central government the powers and financial resources to enable us to become carbon-neutral.
Proposed by: Councillor Garth Harkness. Seconded by: Councillor Dave Murphy
We all like
a bag of chips from time to time, but we also like to live a longer, healthier
life. This is why Councillor Hazel
Gloster and the Oldham Liberal Democrats want to ban Councils advertising fast
food.
The Liberal
Democrat policy concerns publicly owned poster sites, notices on any building
owned by the Council and on Greater Manchester Tram/Bus Network property. The wider scope of this idea which will be
brought to Oldham Council meeting on the 11th of September will seek
to tackle the national problem of poor health and death caused by fatty and
sugary foods.
This
Liberal Democrat plan sets out to tackle Oldham Borough first.
Councillor
Hazel Gloster stated that: “Eating large
amounts of fast food and sugared drinks contributes massively to obesity, tooth
decay, diabetes, stomach problems, sleep deprivation and sometimes death. It is the responsibility of those in
government to present a modern image of a high health standard to the rest of
the UK.”
Councillor
Louie Hamblett, a fellow Liberal Democrat who will be seconding Councillor Hazel
Gloster’s proposal says: “The Liberal Democrats want this to be a political
domino. This will hopefully remove
excessive temptation and give children and adults in the local area a chance to
learn how to eat with reduced sugar and fat in their diets.”
“We want other local authorities and the UK government to follow suit in this change in the local law. Hopefully then will we tackle health setbacks such as heart disease, cancer and tooth decay.”
Copy of Motion to 11 September Council Meeting:
Ban on Fast Food and Energy Drinks Advertising
Council notes that:
Fast food contains high levels of fat, salt and sugar and energy drinks often contain high levels of caffeine and sugar.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health predicts half of all children in the UK will be overweight or obese by 2020.
The Mayor of London banned all fast food advertising on publicly-controlled advertising spaces across London’s entire transport network.
Sustain and Foodwatch recently published a report ‘Taking Down Junk Food Adverts’ which recommends that local authorities regulate adverts on public telephone boxes and that the Advertising Standards Authority should be able to regulate advertising outside nurseries, children’s centres, parks, family attractions and leisure centres.
As a local authority with a statutory responsibility for public health,
Council believes that it should do all that is possible to discourage the
consumption of fast food and energy drinks.
Council therefore resolves to:
Ask the Chief Executive to write to the Chief Executive of
Transport for Greater Manchester asking TFGM to impose a ban on the advertising
of fast food and energy drinks on publicly owned poster sites etc across the
Greater Manchester transport network.
Ensure that fast food or energy drinks are not advertised on
any hoarding or within any building owned by this Council including large
advertisements on bus stops.
Ensure that such products are not sold to children or young
people on any of our premises.
Ask our NHS, social housing, voluntary and private sector
partners, including the Mayor of Greater Manchester, to make a similar
undertaking.
Ask the Chief Executive to write to the relevant minister
requesting the recommendations of the ‘Taking Down Junk Food Adverts’ report be
adopted as government policy as soon as possible; copying in our local Members
of Parliament to seek their support.
A dangerous loophole has been found that is threatening young people’s safety. Liberal Democrat Councillor Diane Williamson wants to close the loophole on adults that can have sex with people just over the age of consent in the UK (currently 16). This loophole concerns adults in a position of authority not defined in the law highlighted in an NSPCC campaign to change the law.
“Teachers
are currently covered by the law preventing sex between them and 16/17-year
olds, but faith workers, youth workers and sports coaches are currently
exempted,” stated Councillor Williamson.
“These are people who could potentially exploit young people for sex and
there have been many cases where they have.”
The Liberal
Democrats want Oldham Council and the Mayor of Greater Manchester to be ahead
of the curve, back the NSPCC campaign and urge the UK government to change the
law.
Liberal Democrat colleague backing this proposal, Councillor Chris Gloster says: “Oldham Borough is sadly not exempt from child protection issues, and we should be at the forefront of ensuring that child protection is a key priority and where we can influence legislation to further protect some of our most vulnerable people, we must do so.”
“This is an
easy win for child liberty, all it takes is for Councils to urge the Government
to change the law and close the loophole. Councils have received 653 complaints about
adults who are not currently covered by the law having sex with children in their
care. This needs to end now.”
“We are
bringing this to council to not only raise awareness on the issue but to ensure
that no child is left behind because of shoddy law-making.”
Copy of motion to 11 September Council meeting:
Motion – Closing the
Loophole
This Council believes that our duty to protect our young people is
paramount. Any chance of a slippage in the law that leaves young people unsafe
or at threat of exploitation must be rectified.
Council notes that:
The NSPCC (the National Society for the Protection of Children against Cruelty) has recently reported that in the last four years police in England have recorded 1,025 crimes of Abuse of Position of Trust of a Sexual Nature
The present legislation on Position of Trust makes it a criminal offence for teachers, care workers and youth justice workers to engage in sexual activity with 16/17-year olds in their care, but faith workers, youth workers and sports coaches are currently exempted.
This Council believes that the Government should:
Extend the Position of Trust law to include all roles where
an adult holds a position of power over 16 and 17-year-olds
Make it illegal for any adult to have sexual activity with a
young person under 18 in their care.
As this accords with the objectives of the NSPCC’s ‘Closing the Loophole’
campaign, Council agrees to give the campaign its support, and resolves to:
Ask the Chief Executive to write to the Chief Executive of
the NSPCC to register this Council’s support for the campaign
Ask the Chief Executive to write to the Minister of Justice
and of Sport urging them to introduce the necessary change in legislation
Ask the Chief Executive to copy into this correspondence the
Mayor of Greater Manchester and our local Members of Parliament seeking their
support for the Council’s position and for the NSPCC campaign
Proposed by: Councillor Diane Williamson. Seconded by: Councillor Chris Gloster
