People who were due a grey bin collection today take your grey bins in and put back out on Monday.
High Crompton/Shaw who were due a blue bin collection the message is bring blue bins in altogether and the Council will take extra paper and card on next collection.
Green bins will be empted on Friday ie 9 March.
If you’re thinking about your next steps and wondering what ‘retirement’ might mean for you this is a fantastic opportunity. If you live or work in the Alexandra, Crompton or Failsworth West areas of Oldham, come along to this free workshop, run by Kingswood Age Confident, to find out more about your options for ‘retirement’ and later life:
Saturday 24th March, 9am – 1pm, at George Street Chapel, with lunch provided
Booking is essential! Please contact Martin Morris for more details or to book your place on 0161 339 2345 or email martin.morris@actiontogether.org.uk
The Leader of the Opposition and Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes, MBE, is urging local residents to show their support for Fairtrade Fortnight 2018 (26 February to 11 March) to help support farmers and growers living in poor communities around the world.
Councillor Sykes said: “Lack of food security is one of the world’s most critical issues. Despite millions of farmers and workers in developing countries working hard to grow the food we eat every day, many do not earn enough to afford an adequate and nutritious diet.”
Research shows that half of the world’s hungry people, nearly 400 million, are estimated to live on small farms.[i]
Cuncillor Sykes added: “The Liberal Democrats strongly support the Fairtrade movement which guarantees the world’s poorest farmers and workers a decent and stable income for the products that they grow or make and bring to market.”
“I am proud that during my Administration when the Liberal Democrats ran the Council, the local authority committed to purchasing and promoting Fairtrade products. I am now asking as many people in our Borough as possible to get involved in this Fairtrade Fortnight by purchasing products displaying the Fairtrade symbol. This helps ensure a decent income for the poorest working families from around the world.”
Fairtrade Fortnight is an annual campaign held to get shoppers, campaigners and businesses in the UK talking, thinking about and buying Fairtrade. You can find out more about Fairtrade Fortnight and the Fairtrade Foundation at https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/Get-Involved/Current-campaigns/Fairtrade-Fortnight
[i] About 795 million people are undernourished globally (FAO, IFAD and WFP, 2015); Half of the world’s hungriest people are smallholder farmers themselves (Powering Up Smallholder Farmers to make food fair, Fairtrade Foundation Report 2013)
Thursday March – 8, 15, 22, 29
All at Shaw Lifelong Learning Centre, High Street, Shaw
From 7:30pm to 8:30pm
Councillors: Gloster, Sykes, Williamson, Murphy and Turner
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY
When I know more – like when collections will re-start and what the catch up arrangments are I will make another post on my Web Site, Facebook and Twitter.
Keep safe and if you can keep an eye on our elderly and more vunerable members of our community.
This is due to the weather, will held as normal next Thursday 8 March 7:30pm – 8:30pm.
Liberal Democrat Councillor John McCann was surprised to find that he was the only Councillor from the three in Saddleworth South Ward on Oldham Council who bothered to turn up for Wednesday’s important Budget Council meeting (28 February 2018).
He explained: “I was disappointed that Conservative Councillors, John Hudson and Graham Sheldon, sent their apologies and failed to show. I know it was not good weather wise, but I felt it was my duty to make it, whatever the weather. I think the public expect us to be there and I have to travel a similar distance to get here as they do. If anything they could be closer to the civic centre than I am!”
Councillor John McCann proposed a Liberal Democrat amendment to the Labour budget that would have cut waste and bureaucracy to find over £400,000 in extra money for investments in highways improvements, youth services, tackling fly tipping and installing alley gates and CCTV cameras to help make streets across the Borough cleaner and safer. This includes in Saddleworth South, regrettably, the Labour Administration, which runs the Council, voted against it and the proposal was defeated.
“But at least they turned up!” stated Councillor McCann. “The Conservatives the minority opposition group never propose any amendments to the Budget, and they usually vote with Labour. But, just not turning up at the most important meeting of the year beggar’s belief.”
“It would however have been some consolation if they had been there to support the common-sense and costed proposals of the Liberal Democrat Group that would have helped the residents of Saddleworth South,” he added.
Mr Mayor, I rise tonight to second the amendment to the Administration’s Budget proposed by the Opposition Liberal Democrat Group.
Local government continues to be butchered disproportionately – hit by the Conservative Government’s continued adherence to so called austerity.
The Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement announced in December did not bring us an early Christmas present; it simply represented yet more pain for us to absorb.
The Liberal Democrat Group recognises that in our financial situation the Labour Administration has once more had to reduce overall spending whilst, regrettably, increasing Council Tax by a further 3.99%.
Through necessity, we will support the rise to pay for improvements to adult social care and services.
This is albeit reluctantly because we know that many residents in our Borough have not seen any increase in their take home pay for several years whilst facing a constant rise in the cost of basic necessities.
I am only glad that there has been cross-party support to maintain the Council Tax Support Scheme at its current level to help those on the lowest incomes to reduce their bills.
I now want to turn to our amendment.
Councillor McCann in his speech highlighted the additional savings in Civic Centre bureaucracy that the Liberal Democrat team has identified.
I want now to explain how we intend to invest those savings to improve highways; tackle fly tipping; and address anti-social behaviour and crime; to make our Borough’s streets better and cleaner; and our communities safer.
We are proposing to spend £400,000 of our savings this year to invest more in our highways; to restore the cuts to our youth services; to tackle the fly-tipping that blights our communities; and for public safety measures, such as alley-gating and CCTV schemes.
I will look at each of these proposals in turn.
The Labour Administration recently announced a £6.2 million investment in road improvements, including proposing an investment of £5 million this year.
Although welcome, this is not the first time we have heard such a proposal in this chamber.
We made the same proposal in each of our last two Budget Amendments. These were investments that Labour and others failed to support.
If it is suddenly right to do this now, why was it not right to do it then, especially as in the last two years our road surfaces have been steadily getting worse?
But in 2018 the Liberal Democrats are more ambitious.
In our proposals, we can afford to fund AN ADDITIONAL £5 million in highway and infrastructure improvements in 2019/20.
Thus sustaining the level of investment for one more year making more of our roads smoother and safer.
So our proposals represent welcome news indeed to our motorists, users of public transport and pedestrians.
The Liberal Democrats are concerned that the £100,000 reduction in funding for our youth services will lead to more instances of anti-social behaviour and increased pressure on our already over-burdened Children’s Social Care Services and on the Police.
A false economy if there ever was one.
Through our savings, we would find the money to restore the funding.
We also want a proper Service Level Agreement to be drawn up to ensure that some funding is focused on providing youth services within EACH of the Districts, not simply at Mahdlo, which is a town centre venue that many young people are unable, or reluctant, to travel too.
The Liberal Democrats want to see some of our youth services delivered locally as they should be.
We also want to make £650,000 available over two years to tackle environmental crime and for public safety.
So, Mr Mayor, in summary our proposals will deliver:
All priorities for the residents of Oldham Borough and all this for less than half a million pounds!
Mr Mayor, these investments will have a real positive impact on the quality of life of our residents.
This is about getting the basics right and spending less on back-office bureaucracy in the Civic Centre!
I do hope that tonight Councillors from all sides of the chamber will choose to support this very sensible amendment.
The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has written to senior Councillors asking them to take a look at a report by The Children’s Society which identifies recommendations to improve the circumstances of Oldham Borough’s poorest and most vulnerable young people.
Councillor Sykes explained: “A report from The Children’s Society (Children’s Lives in Oldham) recently landed on my desk that provided thought-provoking reading. The Children’s Society estimate that almost 19,500 children live with poverty and disadvantage in Oldham. The report outlines many practical ideas for improving their lives now and for helping them secure a better future. I believe those ideas are worth an examination – we owe a duty of care to all of our children to give them the best start in life and to help them make a successful transition into adulthood.”
This is not the only disturbing report about child poverty that Councillor Sykes has read recently. He stated: “The Children’s Society report was soon followed by a statistical analysis by the End Child Poverty campaigning coalition which revealed that Coldhurst ward has the highest percent of children living in extreme poverty in the UK – over six in ten, and that regrettably several more wards, Alexandra, St. Mary’s and Werneth, follow close behind.”
“Regrettably child poverty is everywhere around us; in my view, it is important, we do not lose sight of the fact that poor and disadvantaged children live in every ward in our Borough – they certain do in parts of my own ward of Shaw,” he added. “Their circumstances have been made worse by Conservative Government dogma in adhering to austerity and applying a benefit freeze upon the poorest households.
However all of them deserve our best endeavours in helping them breaking out of the cycle of deprivation and to enjoy a happy and fulfilling future.”
“These reports represent a wakeup call for action. I have written to the Chair of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Board, Councillor Colin McLaren, and the Acting Chair of the Council’s Health and Well-being Board, Councillor Eddie Moores asking them to find time in their work programmes at the earliest opportunity to identify which of the recommendations we can take forward as a Council,” said Councillor Sykes. “This report provides some practical answers to help make things better, let’s do the right thing by them and implement them.”
Copy of the report: Childrens Lives in Oldham
Do you want to make a difference?
Clean up our streets and parks and rid them of litter?
Please support @KeepBritainTidy #GBSpringClean during the weekend 2-4 March and do your bit for Shaw and Crompton.
There’s no limit on how many can be involved as long as we DO get involved!
Check here for further information on how to join a growing group of community-spirited people who are prepared to improve the environment. – spr.ly/6015DPGNX