The Greater Manchester Combined Authority is consulting the public on its proposed Nature Recovery Plan with a closing date for responses of 7 March. Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE is encouraging local people to respond; in the meantime, he has some sage words of advice ‘leave our nature be!’
Councillor Sykes is dismayed by the fact that the consultation is being conducted by the same authority that is responsible for the failed Greater Manchester Spatial Framework and is now developing a new Places for Everyone plan for the nine Greater Manchester authorities, eight Labour-led and one-Conservative, which remain wedded to rolling out a series of large-scale housing schemes on green belt sites throughout the city-region.
Commenting, Councillor Sykes said: “Our natural environment, whether a local park, a green field, woodland or a canal towpath, has been a source of solace, peace and quiet, and enjoyment for so people during an awful year when we have otherwise had to remain isolated at home during an unprecedented pandemic.”
“I welcome the fact that Greater Manchester has been selected for government funding to develop a nature recovery plan, but it seems to be completely at odds with those who seem dedicated to destroying our Green Belt by building thousands of new homes upon it, to be extolling the virtues of the natural environment.”
Councillor Sykes is therefore urging everyone to have their say and use this opportunity to send in their comments condemning Labour’s new Green Belt homes plan. “This is the first phase of the next battle, but if we all say ‘yes’ to nature and ‘no’ to Labour’s plan to concrete over our beautiful open spaces we might give our local countryside a fighting chance of still being available for future generations to enjoy.”
Liberal Democrat Crompton Councillor Louie Hamblett who Chairs the Autism way forward board at Oldham Council has recently written to Transport for Greater Manchester and Mayor Andy Burnham regarding ongoing saga that residents of Oldham and Greater Manchester who have Autism with or without a Learning Disability is not currently accepted by their criteria application forms.
Councillor Hamblett said “With Autism Acceptance week coming up at the end of March it is really important that all the work around supporting people with Autism to get to work and to places they need to be should happen to give them every equal opportunity as everyone else”
The current criteria for passes are very rigidly set and leans heavily towards those who have physical impairments or have been refused a driving license not those with learning difficulties and Autism or Autism without a learning difficulty.
Cllr Hamblett who is also the only fully diagnosed Autistic councillor on Oldham Council and has other learning difficulties also added: “People with learning difficulties and sensory needs already get a raw deal in life as it is and I know how it is to be treated as second class, if we want to improve things for people into getting to work, the cost of living and using public transport to helping reduce our carbon footprint then this would be a massive way to help residents in GM and Oldham. This is about members who bring up the same issue day in day out. We just want Burnham to give people with autism and learning disabilities get a fair deal in Greater Manchester and every assistance possible so they too can get from A to B. I look forward to hearing back from both Transport for Greater Manchester and Mayor Burnham on this in issue.”
TfGM currently do not have autism as a criteria to their Learning Disability form and it would also require local authorities to sign for each applicant also.
Autism Acceptance week starts March 27th and Ends April 2nd.
Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has supported a recent intervention by England’s most senior church leaders, who have called for social care to become a ‘universal entitlement’, on par with the NHS.
Councillor Sykes said, “If we were building the NHS from scratch today, it would be obvious to everyone that we need a national health andsocial care service. We have an ageing population and we’re living with increasingly complex physical and mental health needs in our old age. Everyone deserves access to great healthcare and dignity in old age. Universal social care is the step we need to take now, to make sure that our health service is fit for the future.”
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York called for a ‘national covenant’ with a ‘stronger role for the state and citizens’ in delivering care.
Councillor Sykes said, “Here in Oldham there is an awful lot of work to do. What our borough needs is to be able to provide more social care places ourselves, without having to rely on the private sector. That means we need to be ambitious about building facilities for people who need them across all age ranges.”
“But we have Conservatives in government leaving a £13 billion hole in social care funding, with no plan to fill it. It’s got the stage where we have senior church leaders calling on the government to act, because everyone knows how much of a problem this is going to be. I hope these calls are not falling on deaf ears.”
Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has called on Oldham’s leaders to scrap ‘artificial housing targets’. Councillor Sykes was speaking after Housing Minister, Michael Gove MP confirmed the government would be scrapping the “mandatory targets” which have led to development plans being drawn up across Greater Manchester – including plans to build on Green Belt.
Councillor Sykes said, “The government appears to have had a moment of clarity. Everyone can see that top-down housing plans are never going to work. Oldham now has an opportunity to scrap these targets which do nothing to deliver the housing we need in the places we need it. Local councils must be given the power to make the key decisions on local development. We can now save that green space for future generations to enjoy.”
Over recent years, Oldham has been tied into Greater Manchester’s housing strategy, drawing criticism from councillors and members of the public. Most controversially, the plans – which have had different names over the years – have contained proposals to build on many Green Belt sites across Oldham Borough.
Councillor Sykes said, “Labour have always said it was the government targets forcing them to concrete over green spaces and green belt, that is no longer the case. So, the question is, will Labour now stop this land grab or come up with some other excuse for building on our green spaces.” “All that top-down targets do is force councils to sacrifice good planning and open spaces to meet an arbitrary number of units without considering local need. What we need is the power and resources to redevelop brownfield and ex-industrial sites.”
Oldham’s patients will be left unrepresented and uncared for if Oldham Council persists with no scrutiny of the new Northern Care Alliance, says Crompton Liberal Democrat Councillor Louie Hamblett, with the Council having not replaced the board which previously oversaw the activities of the now dissolved Pennine Acute.
With current IT failures causing huge problems across the whole of the group of hospitals.
The Shadow Cabinet Member for Health said: “No-one will be speaking up for patients in the new system, and there is already confusion over services being provided in different hospitals.
“Currently there are patients who are getting services in hospitals which are not covered by the Northern Care Alliance – they are contracting in services in North Manchester hospitals. If something goes wrong, who do you complain to? Is it the hospital where it happened, or the hospital which contracted in the services? One thing is for certain, if it is possible for complaints to fall through the cracks, it seems all too likely that they will.”
Councillor Hamblett called for a new committee to provide overview and scrutiny for the Northern Care Alliance and all the places where it is commissioning services from.
He continued: “There is a clear need for effective scrutiny. This got lost while everyone prioritised – necessarily – the Covid pandemic. We are in a different place now, and the Council must ensure that the people of Oldham are represented.
“We have Covid recovery strategies, but we are not effectively working with NHS providers, and we are not challenging them to ensure they are doing the best for the people of Oldham. The Labour administration should not have let this slip.
“I care that residents get looked after properly. I want to know that I have done my level best to get their views heard. Without oversight, they are being denied a voice. That cannot be allowed to continue.”
Oldham Council is currently consulting the public on its future plans for the Spindles Shopping Centre, and Liberal Democrat Councillor Louie Hamblett is hoping that the Council’s purchase of Spindles represents the chance for a new Changing Places toilet and new accessible toilet signage to be installed to make the town centre shopping experience more welcoming for everyone.
Councillor Hamblett and his Liberal Democrat colleague, Councillor Hazel Gloster, brought a motion to the September 2020 Oldham Council meeting in support of the Crohn’s and Colitis UK campaign ‘Not every disability is visible’ seeking new toilet signage that makes clear that not everyone who uses a disabled toilet has an obvious visible disability. The motion also called for ‘Changing Places’ toilets which provide better facilities to meet the needs of more profoundly disabled people to be fitted in major Council buildings.
Speaking of the opportunity the Council’s acquisition of Spindles represents, Councillor Hamblett said: “Now that the Council has bought Spindles, I hope to see new toilet signage and a Changing Places Toilet fitted within the centre. The Liberal Democrats want to see ‘Not every disability is visible’ signage installed on all the accessible toilets across the council’s property portfolio. This signage helps to educate the public and staff that not everyone who uses an accessible toilet has an obvious disability and asks them to be more understanding of people who do so.
“Changing Places toilets meet the needs of all people with a disability that some standard accessible toilets do not. People with profound and multiple learning disabilities, as well people with other physical disabilities such as spinal injuries, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis often need extra equipment and space to allow them to use the toilets safely and comfortably, and this equipment and space is provided within a Changing Places toilet.”
Councillor Hamblett added: “As we hopefully emerge from Lockdown later this year, it is important Oldham is welcoming to all of its residents and visitors. The Spindles and Town Square shopping centres, our award-winning cinema, art gallery and library, the Oldham Sports Centre and the Tommyfield Market are likely to be amongst the places they will want to visit. I hope that Oldham Council will ensure that these town centre buildings are equipped with the right toilet facilities and signage to provide for the needs of all our disabled guests when they do so.”
Members of the public can, if they wish, comment in support of Councillor Hamblett’s call for new accessible toilets for the Spindles at https://online1.snapsurveys.com/s/jjyf1 The closing date is 8 March 2021.
The Oldham Liberal Democrats are backing a national campaign to raise public awareness that not everyone who uses an accessible public toilet has a visible disability. The campaign by the charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK encourages venues with such toilets to install special signage with the logo ‘Not every disability is visible’.
Crompton Councillor Louie Hamblett, who is the Shadow Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, is raising this issue in a motion to the next meeting of the full Council (September 9). He said: “This motion is timely. The requirement to wear face coverings in shops and on public transport has started to raise public awareness that people can be exempted from their use because of a hidden disability. Accessible toilets, often opened using a RADAR key, are also sometimes needed by people who have a hidden disability. This campaign is around raising public awareness of that fact to help stop stigma and discrimination, and inappropriate challenges by staff, against those who have ‘invisible illnesses’, such as Crohn’s Disease.”
“The Oldham Liberal Democrats want the Council to ensure that the accessible toilets in our buildings all have this signage and that our onsite staff all receive appropriate training. We would also like to see retailers and leisure outlets across our borough encouraged to do the same.”
The motion also calls on the Council to install a Changing Places toilet in any new large Council building that opens to the public, and for new and existing Changing Places toilets to be properly sign-posted. The Government has legislated to make such toilets compulsory from next year.
Shaw Councillor Hazel Gloster, who is backing the motion, said: “The new legal requirement to provide Changing Places toilets to enable people with invisible disabilities to use purpose-built facilities affording them proper privacy and dignity is very welcome and long overdue. As a local authority with a duty to serve the public we have a responsibility to ensure that we properly plan for their provision in any of our new buildings. It is completely unacceptable that people with severe disabilities must sometimes wait hours to be able to access an appropriate toilet that meets their needs”.
The motion to the full meeting of Oldham Council (September 9) reads:
Not every Disability is Visible
This Council notes that:
The charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK is encouraging venues providing accessible public toilets to install new signage. This is to help stop stigma and discrimination towards people with ‘invisible illnesses’ such as Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis.
There have been instances nationally where such individuals using an accessible toilet have been accused by staff members of being ineligible to use them.
These signs have two standing figures and a wheelchair user with the words Accessible Toilet and the logo ‘Not every disability is visible’.
The Government has decided recently that large accessible toilets for severely disabled people – known as Changing Places – will be made compulsory for large new buildings, such as shopping centres, supermarkets, sports and arts venues, in England from 2021.
Council resolves to:
Ensure that accessible toilets on Council premises bear these signs.
Ask town and district centre retailers and leisure outlets to do likewise with their accessible public toilets.
Seek advice from the charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK on the information and training we should provide to Council Staff members. This is so they understand these illnesses and to prevent potential embarrassment for those who suffer with them.
Ensure that any Changing Places toilets in our buildings are properly signposted for visitors.
Ensure that the requirement to provide new Changing Place toilets is included within the Council’s future plans for new public buildings in the Borough.
Councillor Howard Sykes MBE challenges local tram operator to create fully functioning tram turn-back facilities. These would be at Westwood and Oldham Mumps. The Liberal Democrat Leader on Oldham Borough Council told Transport for Greater Manchester (TFGM) that by motorising the existing points and modifying the signalling system they would create a safer travel network for residents. The overall aim is to utilise the resources the network currently has, in full.
There have been several incidents
recently where Oldham Town Centre Metrolink tracks have been blocked. Passengers have had to leave the trams at
Freehold Tram Stop for trams coming from Manchester, and Derker Tram Stop for
trams coming from Rochdale.
There have also been cases when
trams have been damaged by vandals and the travelling public have been ‘thrown
off’ in places they are unfamiliar with and the alternative transport options
are less than clear.
Councillor Sykes MBE highlights the
problem of not using these unused tramlines:
“When a tram is blocked or damage
it has to drop everyone off at the next stop. This is inconvenient, uncertain and unsafe for
continuing the rest of the journey. Abandoning the travelling public, including
single women and other vulnerable people, in an area they do not know is awful
and we can and must do better.”
“There are evident safety and safeguarding issues already. The infrastructure is already in place and this would be a cost-effective way of making tram travel on the Oldham line safer. I am surprised Metrolink and TfGM have not already thought of this and actioned it!”
Copy of letter:
15 August 2019
Bob Morris, Chief Operating Officer,
Dear Bob Morris,
Re: Unused tramlines could make the network safer
I am sure you are very aware there have been several
incidents recently where Oldham Town Centre Metrolink tracks have been blocked.
Transport for Greater Manchester
Passengers have had to
leave the trams at Freehold Tram Stop for trams coming from Manchester, and
Derker Tram Stop for trams coming from Rochdale.
These stops are
inconvenient, uncertain and unsafe for continuing the rest of the journey by
bus. There is infrastructure to turn the trams at Westwood and Oldham Mumps but
the crossovers are not authorised for passenger use.
If the crossovers were
modified for passenger use, passengers could leave the trams at Westwood and
Oldham Mumps which are more convenient for Oldham Town Centre and local buses
in the event of blockages of Oldham Town Centre Metrolink tracks.
This council therefore
calls on Transport for Greater Manchester to create fully functioning trams
turnback facilities at Westwood and Oldham Mumps by motorising the points and
modifying the signalling system. This would make for a safer travel network for
residents and utilise the resources we currently have in full. This would
require minimum investment since the lines are already there.
If there is an issue
on the Tram and passengers, especially very young or old passengers, must be
dropped off at the next stop late at night without knowing how to finish their
journey, there are evident safeguarding issues.
I look forward to receiving your
response as soon as possible.
Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and Leader of the Opposition, was appalled to hear that over 2000 instances of possible human trafficking occurring in the UK. These were reported through the Safe Car Wash app in the first year of its launch.
In October 2018, on the eve of
Anti-Slavery Day, Councillor Sykes called on the residents of Oldham Borough to
support the campaign. Set up by the
Church of England and the Catholic Church, it aimed to expose instances of
slave labourers employed in Britain’s car washes by reporting concerns online
using the Safe Car Wash app.
Councillor Sykes MBE said: “The fact that around five reports of
potential slavery were reported every day by users of the app is great, but the
findings are horrific, particularly in a modern Western European state.”
“People with smart phones who uses car
washes should take five seconds to download this app and to use it if you spot
something of concern. You could be
saving someone from terrible suffering as a modern slave.”
The Home Office estimates that there
are more than 10,000 victims of slavery in Britain working for little or no pay
with no rights, without decent working conditions and often in dangerous or
unhealthy situations. Hand car washes
are frequent employers of such labour.
Liberal Democrat Leader’s Plea to help
make Car Washes Slavery Free
On
the eve of Anti-Slavery Day (18 October 2018), Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, Leader
of the Liberal Democrat Group and Leader of the Opposition, is urging local
drivers, and their passengers, to be vigilant for the presence of modern
slavery when they use local car washes.
Councillor
Sykes said: “We have recently debated in Council the existence of modern
slavery in British society, and politicians of all parties are determined to
see an end to it. Slavery in all of its forms is totally abhorrent, but it
still exists even in Britain and it is often occurring right under our noses.”
The
National Crime Agency has indicated that they are thousands of people being
exploited in this way in the UK, often working long hours for little or no pay,
in the most atrocious conditions and with scant regard for health and safety
legislation. Some of these individuals are being coerced to work with the
threat of violence.
Councillor
Sykes added: “Although we may think that such exploitation may be limited to
unscrupulous gang-masters herding their workers to carry out endless, menial
tasks in agriculture, modern slavery is on our streets and one of the places it
can be seen is amongst the many thousands of on-street hand car washes that
have been established in our communities.”
The
Church of England has launched a Safe Car Wash app that can be downloaded by
the general public to their smart phones and devices to help the police tackle
the problem. Users are asked to open the app and complete a short survey about
the working conditions for staff that they observe whilst using the car wash.
The data is anonymised and then shared with the National Crime Agency and the Gangmasters
and Labour Abuse Authority.
Councillor
Sykes concurs: “Put simply, the Safe Car Wash app is one way that each of us as
individuals can make a real difference. I would urge everyone to use
Anti-Slavery Day to resolve to download this app and to complete the
questionnaire every time they use a car wash to help to bring the scourge of
modern slavery to an end.”
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?
