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“We are ready for a future without Labour” say Oldham Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats announce full list of candidates for Oldham local elections

Liberal Democrats announce full list of candidates for Oldham local elections

Oldham Liberal Democrats have announced their full list of candidates covering the 20 wards of Oldham ahead of the local elections on May 2^nd.

The Liberal Democrats are currently the second largest group on Oldham Council and will be looking to build on the 10 seats they currently hold. This year’s local elections are set to be a tense affair as the ruling Labour Group sets out to defend its slim majority of just two seats and avoid a fourth consecutive year of losses.

Leader of Oldham Liberal Democrats councillor Howard Sykes MBE said, “These elections are a real opportunity for change in Oldham. People want a council that gets the basics right on our roads, for our parks and on children’s services. That’s what the Liberal Democrats offer.”

The Liberal Democrat Leader said that in power his party would remove Oldham from the controversial ‘Places for Everyone’ development scheme, which contains plans to build housing on green belt sites like Beal Valley. The party has also pledged to do everything possible to restore Oldham Coliseum to its Fairbottom Street home by redirecting town centre regeneration funding so that the historic venue can be restored.

Councillor Sykes said, “Under Labour, the council has become obsessed with flashy projects in Oldham town centre. Districts like Shaw and Crompton, Lees and the Saddleworth villages have been left out in the cold. We would invest in our districts.”

“Oldham Labour have run out of ideas and its time to replace them and start delivering the improvements that the people of Oldham expect and deserve.”

The elections will be held on Thursday May 2^nd. Voters are reminded that they will need to bring valid photo ID to the polling station in order to vote.

FULL LIST OF CANDIDATES BELOW:

CROMPTON – Diane Williamson

SADDLEWORTH NORTH – Garth Harkness

SADDLEWORTH SOUTH – Amy Wrigley

SADDLEWORTH WEST AND LEES – Mark Kenyon

SHAW – Hazel Gloster

ALEXANDRA – Martin Dinoff

CHADDERTON CENTRAL – Abdul Malik

CHADDERTON NORTH – Dominic Cadman

CHADDERTON SOUTH – Mick Scholes

COLDHURST – Rachel Pendlebury

FAILSWORTH EAST – Barbara Beeley

FAILSWORTH WEST – Lynne Thompson

HOLLINWOOD – Roger Blackmore

MEDLOCK VALE – Shona Farnworth

ROYTON NORTH – Jeff Garner

ROYTON SOUTH – Tom Penketh

ST JAMES – Roger Hindle

ST MARY’S – Mohammed Hussain

WATERHEAD – Joe Beeston

WERNETH – Hamza Uddin

“Greater Manchester Police must be investigated” say Oldham Liberal Democrats

“Greater Manchester Police must be investigated” say Oldham Liberal Democrats

Senior Liberal Democrats in Oldham have again called for investigations into Greater Manchester Police following the publication of a new report into historic child sexual exploitation in Rochdale. The Leader of Oldham Council’s Liberal Democrat opposition councillor Howard Sykes MBE and his Deputy, councillor Sam Al-Hamdani, have called for action to be taken against those in positions of authority who failed children in Oldham and Rochdale.

Councillor Sykes said, “The report that has been published earlier this week details the most horrific and disgusting abuse of children. It once again highlights the need for Greater Manchester Police to be formally investigated. Those failings cannot continue to go unaddressed.”

Commenting on the publication of the Rochdale report, Councillor Al-Hamdani said, “My heart goes out to the people identified in this report who were failed time and again. There should be a formal, independent investigation of GMP which has the power to take action against the organisation and guilty individuals.”

The Rochdale report was written by Malcolm Newsam CBE and Gary Ridgway – a former detective superintendent. Both men also co-authored a report into child sexual exploitation in Oldham, which was published in June 2022.

At a recent meeting of Oldham Council, councillor Sykes questioned the borough’s leadership over the lack of consequences for those who were found to have failed children.

Councillor Sykes said, “How many officers from Greater Manchester Police have faced disciplinary action and how many officers are still in post?”

“There must be a full independent inquiry into GMP’s failing. Anything less is not acceptable.”

“We must do everything possible to encourage victims of sexual violence past and present to come forward and support them when they do.”

Oldham Liberal Democrats have called on the Home Office to commission a full public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.

Rochdale report shows the need for GMP investigation say Oldham Liberal Democrats

Rochdale report shows need for GMP investigation – Howard Sykes (mycouncillor.org.uk)

Councillor Sykes Question to Oldham Council Leader on CSE failings in full:

My two allowed questions to the Leader of Oldham Council 13 Dec 23 – CSE failing and Oldham Coliseum – Howard Sykes (mycouncillor.org.uk)

Oldham Liberal Democrats write to the Home Secretary calling for full public inquiry

Liberal Democrats write to Home Secretary demanding public inquiry into CSE failings – Howard Sykes (mycouncillor.org.uk)

Over budget, late, cancelled: Liberal Democrat Leader believes Labour’s track record on town centre regeneration projects does not bode well for Spindles

Oldham’s Liberal Democrats are concerned that Labour’s decision to go it alone on the redevelopment of Spindles may lead to cost overruns, delays in delivery and money written off – if the Administration’s past record is anything to go by.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader, councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has written to the Director of Economy, Emma Barton outlining his fears.

“The Spindles – Town Square redevelopment is a hugely costly project. Not for nothing did we brand the project ‘Spendles’ for we discovered that the true cost of acquiring the shopping precinct was £10.6 million and Labour have allocated up to £65 million more to transform it,” said councillor Sykes.

“The fact that the project did not attract a private sector delivery partner is a worry. My fears are that this project might be delivered at a vastly inflated cost like the Old Town Hall, be delivered years behind schedule like the supposed ‘gamechanger’ Princes Gate, or lead to large sums being written off as with Hotel Futures and abandoned past plans for a new Coliseum and museum.”

In his letter, councillor Sykes is seeking reassurance that everything will be put in place to ensure that the project is ‘robustly managed’. He added: “We as Liberal Democrat Councillors want to be sure for our financially hard-pressed Council Taxpayers that this project will be delivered within or, better yet, below the allocated budget and delivered on time.”

My two allowed Leader’s Questions to Oldham Full Council – 24 March 2021

Q1). Managing expenditure at Spindles and Town Square

For my first question to the Leader tonight, I would like to return to the redevelopment of the Spindles and Town Square shopping centres.

At the November 2020 Council meeting, just after the purchase had been completed, I asked the Leader whether this represented a ‘risky purchase’ and pointed up the ‘significant sums of money’ that will be involved in repurposing and refurbishing these two shopping centres.

I am sure that many people will have been shocked to recently hear that the ‘significant sum of money’ this Administration has earmarked to repurpose and refurbish these shopping centres amounts to £68 million over five years.

Not for nothing did the Liberal Democrats brand it ‘Spendles’.

This truly is a whopping sum of money.

We all want to see a vibrant, viable town centre in the heart of our borough – and for our part Liberal Democrat Councillors also want to see vibrant and well-used district centres in Failsworth, Chadderton, Royton, Shaw, Uppermill, and Lees as well – but at what eventual cost?

My real fear is that we shall see the same cost and time overruns and abortive costs on this project that have dogged this Administration’s previous so-called ambitious town centre projects:

the abandoned Hotel Futures plan;
the abandoned Coliseum plans – plural;
the bankrupted My House;
the much delayed and costly ‘game changer’ at Princes Gate;
the over-budget town centre digital hub;
and lastly the town centre flagship, the Old Town Hall project, delivered at four times the original cost.

So can the Leader please tell me tonight how he will ensure that this project will be rigorously managed from start-to-finish, to ensure that it is delivered on time and to the current assigned budget or, for the sake of our hard-pressed tax payers, preferably much less?

Q2). A memorial to COVID-19 victims and heroes

My second question to the Leader tonight references the sad anniversary yesterday of the first COVID-19 Lockdown in the United Kingdom.

This past year we have seen so much sacrifice and so much suffering.

Many of us have had COVID-19 or have seen loved ones, friends and family, die from this relentless, ruthless disease.

But we have also seen a great deal of courage and selflessness.

We are all too aware of the incredible professionalism, fortitude, and, yes, bravery displayed by our wonderful NHS staff in their care for those afflicted by COVID-19.

But we should also remember the many others who have helped save lives and keep our society functioning during this unprecedented crisis.

Members of our emergency services, including the volunteers of our local Mountain Rescue Service; our care workers; our schools, education and nursery staff; our postal workers; our power, water and telecoms workers; bus, tram and train drivers; delivery drivers and warehouse staff; supermarket and shop workers; the many volunteers who support our communities, and of course our hardworking council staff, who like their colleagues in the NHS have found this time especially testing.

My question to the Leader concerns how we will mark this sacrifice, suffering, courage and selflessness in our borough in the future.

Oldham has been hit especially hard by COVID-19 and it will take a significant effort and a lot of time to recover.

A large part of this recovery will revolve around the collective need for the people of this borough to grieve, to reflect and to remember.

I would suggest to the Leader that we need to commit as a borough to creating a bespoke collective space where that might happen – a memorial to our COVID-19 victims and its heroes.

I am not seeking to prescribe what this memorial might be or where it might be, nor would now be the right time to establish it as we are not yet at the end of this tragedy.

But I am confident that Oldham’s great people would get behind such a proposal, so could the Leader join me in making a commitment in principle tonight to make such a memorial a reality?

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group Oldham Council.

24 March 2021

My two allowed Leader’s Questions to Oldham Full Council 4 November 2020

Question 1)

A future for Oldham’s town centre shopping centres?

My first question tonight concerns the future of the Spindles and Town Square shopping centres.

It would be remiss of me firstly to not congratulate the Leader on becoming Oldham Borough’s biggest shopkeeper.

It is a bold venture to purchase not one, but two shopping centres, in today’s retail climate, but I understand the Leader described it as an ‘absolute bargain’. Let us all hope so.

Many of the units in both the Spindles and the Town Square shopping centres lie empty, some of these for a long time, and consequently many residents are wondering whether this in fact represents a risky purchase.

Town centres across Britain are becoming increasingly devoid of customers as many people are today wary of stepping much further than their doorsteps with the ever-present threat of Covid-19, and the pandemic has massively exacerbated the trend of the last decade for shoppers to turn more and more to their keyboards to order goods from mail order stores or the supermarket.

The Leader has spoken about moving Tommyfield Market in its entirety into these two shopping centres and relocating hundreds of Council staff above the shops, though I am sure many will be working from home for the foreseeable future, if not forever.

These actions to repurpose the shopping centres will cost significant sums of money as will their refurbishment.

The Council’s relationship with some Tommyfield Market traders has in recent history not been a happy one with some traders feeling abandoned.

Can the Leader tonight tell us what discussions Council officers have held in advance of the purchase with the Tommyfield Market traders, what their response has been to the proposals, and what incentives and support this Council will provide them with to make the move?

Now the Leader has let us know the purchase cost of £9.5M to Oldham Council Taxpayers.

Can he also tell us more about the Administration’s plans for these two shopping precincts to make them vibrant once more, whether as a renewed and reduced retail offer, as town centre homes, as a new civic hub, or even as a potential new home for Coliseum?

Question 2)

Building on Brownfield Sites

I wish to turn to a very topical subject for my next question.

A subject heightened in importance by the recent publication of the latest Oldham Plan and the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework proposals, namely the use of brownfield land to build houses upon.

I am sure that the Leader will be aware that the Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 require local authorities to prepare, maintain and publish a register of brownfield land. The register should identify previously developed sites in the Borough that are considered as being suitable for housing.

The present government supposedly has a target to build 300,000 homes in each of the next five years.

A recent study by the countryside charity, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, has found that there is enough brownfield land that has been previously developed to provide space to build 300,000 homes in England in each of the next four years.

And then some.

In fact, enough land to build One Million Three Hundred Thousand homes in all.

Given that this administration has now – rightly – adopted a Brownfield First policy and the Oldham public are, rightly, up in arms about any possibly of building on the Green Belt, can the Leader tell me how many homes the sites listed currently on the Council’s Brownfield Register accommodate?

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group Oldham Council

My two allowed questions at tonight’s Oldham Council meeting – 10 July 2019 – Keeping the Travelodge tourist pounds in Oldham and Let’s bring back our public water fountains

Leaders Questions to Oldham Full Council 10/07/2019

Q1: Keeping the Travelodge tourist pounds in Oldham

Madam Mayor, although it hardly represents the ‘gamechanger’ that his predecessor promised for the Princes Gate site, I do welcome the Leader’s recent announcement that there will be a new Travelodge at Oldham Mumps, and the fact that he has indicated that there is a demand for more hotel accommodation in the town centre.

A pity then that the Hotel Futures Project is dead in the water, but that is another story and I shall not go there tonight.

No rather I will turn to a Travelodge related matter.

If we are to truly maximise the benefits from this hotel development, we shall need to ensure that the spending made by guests staying there is, as far as possible, kept within our Borough.

The new hotel’s location at Mumps will mean that Manchester will be all too easily accessible by Metrolink and the city’s bright lights will represent a magnet.

I would like therefore to suggest that we look to work with the hotel’s proprietors to promote all that this Borough has to offer, and that would include our Coliseum Theatre, our Cinema complex, Gallery Oldham and our town centre shops, bars and eateries, as well as the delights of our Saddleworth villages.

Can the Leader tell me if he would be prepared to look to work with the Town Centre Partnership and with our other partners in the leisure and retail industries to see if we can come up with a discount voucher scheme and other similar incentives for hotel guests at both this and any future hotels to keep their vital tourist pounds in our Borough?

Q2: Let’s bring back our public water fountains

Madam Mayor, my second question tonight relates to my concern for our environment and involves a practical proposal to make available drinking water to the public.

In times past it was very common for municipal authorities and for individual philanthropists to provide drinking fountains, many very ornate, in public places.

This enabled everyone to access clean, safe drinking water for free – I am sure many members will themselves have used them in the past, the one dispensing Buxton spring water in the centre of that town being especially noteworthy.

I wonder though how many members here are aware that this practice has recently been revived by the Mayor of London who last year to his credit established a ‘drinking fountain fund’ with the support of the capital water utility provider, Thames Water.

This will locate new fountains, or rehydration points as they are now known, initially at twenty locations across the capital and thereafter on a rolling programme.

Apparently, Londoners drink an average of 175 bottles of water every year, so it is far better for them and for our environment to encourage them to fill up for free into a reusable bottle, rather than drinking and discarding single-use bottles, many of whom end up in our oceans and in our sea-life.

Citizens of our Borough may not perhaps consume so much bottled water, but any attempt on our part to replicate what has been done in London will make a tangible, practical contribution to making our Borough single-use plastic free.

Certainly, places that would merit the location of such rehydration points in our Borough would be our many beautiful public parks.

For example, last year in the height of summer, I visited Dovestones Reservoir and the water dispenser there was in great demand, but also in great need of renovation.

So, Madam Mayor, my second question to the Leader, and it is rather a suggestion, is will he look to replicate this excellent scheme in Oldham, perhaps by using some of our airport dividend, by establishing at least one new drinking fountain in each of our district centres and would he also ask our own Mayor of Greater Manchester, to replicate it across the conurbation, working with United Utilities to do so?

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE,

Leader of the Opposition

Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group Oldham Council

Liberal Democrat concern at rise in Royton regeneration costs by 50 percent or £1 million

Liberal Democrats; following a recent Freedom of Information reply; are concerned that the costs to refurbish Royton Town Hall and Library have risen rapidly and could soon spiral out of control, without proper checks being put in place.

Commenting Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, said: “At the September meeting of the Cabinet, Labour Councillors agreed a near fifty percent increase in the budget for this project from £2 million to £2.976 million (in part 2 of the meeting – which is confidential and not in public).“

“I am worried that this will be just the first of many increases that the Cabinet will have to consider,” added Councillor Sykes. “This is all too typical of Labour regeneration projects – they are often late, over budget or never happen, and sometimes we have a combination of all three.”

“Everyone will remember the £9 million plus being spent on the Princes Gate project, now years behind schedule and still no preferred development partner announced; the over £400,000 frittered away on the abandoned Hotel Futures project; and the Oldham Town Hall refurbishment, which whilst being welcome, was four times over budget. Earlier this week we he have been told plans for a new Coliseum Theatre have been axed – we have yet to find out what this has cost council tax payers.”

Notes – text from email FOI reply 7 November:

Dear Councillor Sykes,

Thank you for your FOI request below. I can confirm that prior to the Cabinet meeting on 17^th September, £2m had been earmarked from the capital programme for this project. Following the decision at the meeting of the Cabinet on 17 September, £2.976m is now earmarked for this project.

Oldham Council 14 December 2016 – leaders questions from Councillor Howard Sykes

Leaders Question 1 – Greater Manchester Spatial Framework

Mr Mayor, my first question of the Leader tonight again relates to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

I make no apology for it, Mr Mayor, because in my part of the world this is undoubtedly the single most important local issue to our citizens.

I was surprised by the response of the Leader last time.

She talked of the need for more homes in our Borough and more aspirational homes in our Borough – something I do not disagree with – but there was no recognition that the growth and pain should be shared across the Borough, rather than concentrated in one corner of it!

Mr Mayor, I would like to reiterate that the land earmarked to build an awful lot of these new homes is in Shaw, in Crompton and in Royton.

It may be that only three percent of the Borough’s Green Belt is being lost, but the lion’s share of that amount is being lost is in the wards represented by myself and my colleagues for Shaw, Crompton and Royton.

Under the proposals outlined under the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, over 3000 new homes will be built on green field sites in Shaw and Crompton alone!

Vast swathes of Green Belt stretching from the rear of Dunwood Park to Burnage will be lost forever to bricks, concrete and tarmac.

3,000 new homes built in two wards in which, as a consequence of the withdrawal of local facilities or underinvestment, we have primary schools that are already overcrowded and full; a secondary school that is falling apart; a dilapidated health centre that is near cardiac arrest; no swimming facilities or dry leisure provision; precious few youth facilities and no municipal tip.

3,000 new homes that are built for growing families will need more primary and secondary school places; more GPs and dentists; and new highways and more buses and trams to get them about their daily business.

And doesn’t the decision not to replace the Crompton Pool and Gym now look a little short-sighted given the number of new young residents that will need to learn to swim and the number of adults that will want to keep fit?

More and more of my constituents are frankly getting more and more fearful and angry about these proposals.

This frustration was reflected in the fact that more than 200 residents turned up recently to a public consultation and we have had to organise a second event tomorrow, Thursday 15 December.

My question tonight Mr Mayor is in three parts.

I would firstly like to ask the Leader whether she really is convinced that there is a need for such a large land grab of Green Belt to build so many homes and such an increase in industrial provision in our Borough?

And if the answer is yes, why is it that the lion’s share of that burden is placed upon Shaw, Crompton and Royton rather than apportioned out with other parts of the Borough having a Fair Share?

And lastly would the Leader agree with me that we first need to develop on brown field land, on land with existing planning permission for housing and on unloved derelict sites, and also bring back empty homes into occupation and convert empty factories and mills into flats, before we look to touch any part of our precious Green Belt and Green Spaces?

Leaders Question 2 – Promoting the Borough’s Real Ale, Music and Comedy Scene

In July 2013, I asked the then Leader of the Council to join me in backing Oldham’s live music and comedy scene.

At that time, the former Castle Pub, a well-known music venue, had just closed on Union Street but there was still a vibrant music scene with six venues for live performances in the town centre.

With the recent bad news that Marks and Spencer will not be joining us at Prince’s Gate, we need to highlight the positive things that Oldham has to offer.

With the opening of the new Cinema complex and a new Coliseum Theatre complex on the way, our night-time leisure offer is being transformed.

No longer is Yorkshire Street and Union Street like the Wild West by night – instead we have cafes and bars that are safe for families and couples to visit after dark. So let’s celebrate that.

This presents us with the opportunity to showcase the best of what Oldham has to offer – shopping or a visit to our Gallery or Museum during the day, a bite to eat in the early evening in the restaurants in Parliament Square or the Independent Quarter, a performance at the Theatre, and then maybe the opportunity to stay on into the late evening for a drink or two in a real ale pub and the chance to listen to some live music or a comedy show.

Oldham potentially offers the perfect day out and; with the Metrolink network now being even more extensive and trams more frequent; it is possible for people to visit this Borough from every part of Greater Manchester.

We need to shout about that. So now is the time to revisit how we promote the Borough.

As part of a new tourism strategy can I ask the Leader to ask officers to produce a brochure, or brochures if one is not enough, of real ale pubs and live music and comedy venues around the Borough with their links to public transport? And that this information is made available in print, web and an app.

Questions asked at last Oldham Council meeting on 7th November 2012

Metrolink
It is a source of great regret and disappointment that the next phase of the Metrolink line through to Shaw and on to Rochdale will not be open as previously promised by December, some 12 months late!

Would the Leader join with me in expressing concern that the delay will lead to a further loss of goodwill from the public and significant potential revenue loss for Oldham Town centre and the conurbation of Greater Manchester by failing to latch on to the busy pre-Christmas retail period.

Would the Leader also agree that it had been possible for the line to be opened before Christmas and that it appears to me a policy decision has clearly been taken to delay the opening until the New Year, when it is clear that the line to Shaw and Crompton could even have been opened later this month?

Coliseum theatre refurbishment
The refurbished Coliseum has recently re-opened its doors to the public of this Borough and I would like to take this opportunity, as I am sure the Leader would also like to do, in welcoming the return of the Coliseum back to its home.

The Leader will remember and I am sure welcome, the actions of the previous administration which had the foresight and political will to set aside more than £1.4 million in 2010 for the refurbishment of the Coliseum Theatre.

Would he also remember that when the investment in the theatre refurbishment was announced, he responded publicly in less than enthusiastic fashion saying “Is this value for money — for the investment you are making?”

His sceptical tone was echoed by his Shadow Cabinet colleague responsible for Leisure who said “We still support the Coliseum but we have to look at the real price of it in the light of severe council cuts. We should be looking at a building or a site somewhere else in the town.”

Indeed the Leader may also remember that in September 2008 he called for the Coliseum to be located in the Oldham Town hall, a suggestion which only a year later, was described as a ‘pipe dream’, a sentiment, echoed by a former Labour Cabinet Member who said: “it was always a pipe dream.”

Would the Leader now accept that the proposals put in place by the previous administration to refurbish the Coliseum, therefore maintaining and retaining one of Oldham’s crown jewels was right and correct?

Oldham Town Hall
The re-use and redevelopment of Oldham Town Hall continues to receive a very positive response from all quarters.

I am sure the Leader would recognise the role of the previous Administration which, in 2009/10 set aside more than £700k to stabilise the crumbling building and make it watertight.

Would he also agree that the urgent actions we took some three years ago have provided the foundation for the current administration to take rejuvenation of the building to the next stage?

Something that was always in our long term vision and in fact I spoke in this chamber some time ago – and specifically about a cinema being located in the old Town Hall.
That vital investment of a little under three quarter of a million pounds turned back the tide of decades of neglect under successive Labour administrations.

In fact without that cash there would have been no prospect of using the building, because it was in imminent danger of major roof collapse – causing the whole structure to become unsafe – then it would have gone the way of the Park Road Warehouse – that is demolition!