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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 at the 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 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.”

The app can be found at https://www.theclewerinitiative.org/safecarwash/

Commend our Emergency Services Heroes Call to Oldham Council

Councillor Chris Gloster, Oldham Council Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet Member for Health and Well-being, is calling on Oldham Council to commend the staff of the emergency services and local hospitals who responded with “courage, professionalism and dedication” to the recent Manchester Arena Bombing.

Councillor Gloster has submitted a motion for discussion at the next meeting of Oldham Council on Wednesday 12 July.

Being himself a former police officer of 35 years-experience, Councillor Gloster knows all too well the pressure and expectations placed upon staff in the emergency services when they are required to respond to major incidents of this nature:

“It is to their tremendous credit that although the majority of first responders had never faced an incident of such mass violence and brutality, or dealt with injuries of this type, they acted selflessly without hesitation and in so doing saved many lives that otherwise would have been lost.”

“Also in our hospitals, National Health Service staff at Accident and Emergency Units across Greater Manchester unflinchingly pulled together to treat the injured, saving lives and in some cases limbs, of those most seriously injured, and here I must particularly praise the staff of the Royal Oldham Hospital who dealt with many of the casualties.

Cllr Gloster wants the Council to recognise the extraordinary efforts of police officers, ambulance teams, fire crews and medical staff on the night of the bombing, and afterwards, but his motion also praises staff at Victoria Railway Staff for their work in minimising the disruption to public transport and the public for their response.

He added: “The many selfless acts that took place at the time of the attack and since the attack from members of the public from all walks of life, who have come together as a community to help people whom they do not know and have never met, are truly astounding. It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute to the organisers of the local vigils and the wake held at Tandle Hill and Alexandra Park, and to everyone involved in the tremendous fund-raising efforts.”

“The public’s actions demonstrate that we really are stronger as a Greater Manchester community when ‘We Stand Together’.”

The Motion reads: The Manchester Arena Bombing

 Council notes with revulsion that, at 10.31 pm on Monday 22 May 2017, a terrorist attack took place at the Manchester Arena when a 22 year old British Muslim man detonated an improvised explosive device within the confines of the arena killing himself and 22 innocent adults and children and injuring a further 119 adults and children, 23 of them critically.

Although any deaths or injuries in such a terrorist outrage are horrific, the Council and people of Oldham were especially saddened to hear that amongst the dead were two women from Royton, Alison Howe and Lisa Lees.

The perpetrator of this atrocity, Salman Abedi, claimed to have performed this act of terrorism in the name of Islam.

This Council condemns terrorism in any form, and does not recognise or believe that this horrific act had anything to do with Islam, but was committed by a deranged man who had been radicalised into the mistaken belief that he would be going to a better place, when in fact his only achievement was to bring death to himself and others and worldwide condemnation of his actions from people of all religions, creeds, beliefs and people of no faith alike.

This Council recognises, and commends:

  • The courage, professionalism and dedication of the many members of the Emergency Services at the scene and in local hospitals.

Although the majority of first responders had never faced an incident of such mass violence and brutality, or dealt with injuries of this type, they acted selflessly without hesitation and in so doing saved many lives that otherwise would have been lost.

In our hospitals, National Health Service staff at Accident and Emergency Units across Greater Manchester, unflinchingly pulled together to treat the injured, saving lives and in some cases limbs, of those most seriously injured.

Council notes that many of these casualties were treated at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

  • The many selfless acts that took place at the time of the attack and since the attack from members of the public from all walks of life, who have come together as a community to help people whom they do not know and have never met.

Council especially commends the local vigils held and the tremendous fund-raising effort to support the victims of this tragedy and their families.

  • The work of staff of Transport for Greater Manchester, Metrolink and bus and rail companies in seeking to minimise the disruption to public transport services resulting from the closure of Victoria Station.

In recognition of these efforts, this Council directs the Chief Executive to write to:

  • The Chief Constable, Greater Manchester Police
  • The Chief Constable, British Transport Police
  • The Chief Fire Officer, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
  • The Chief Officer, North West Ambulance Service
  • The Chief Executive, NHS Pennine Acute Trust
  • The Chief Executive, Transport for Greater Manchester

To extend the gratitude and admiration of Council for the efforts of their staff both on the night and post incident.

Furthermore, Oldham Council places on record its admiration for the general public of Greater Manchester in facing up to the enormity of this tragedy; the public’s actions have demonstrated that we really are stronger as a Greater Manchester community when ‘We Stand Together’.

Oldham Council 9 November 2016 – leaders questions from Councillor Howard Sykes

questions-to-ask-your-LASIK-doctorCouncil 9 November 2016 – Leader’s Question – 3000+ Home Threat to Shaw and Crompton Green Belt

Mr Mayor, My first question to the Leader this evening concerns the recently launched public consultation on the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

Not a very catchy title I am sure you will agree, but nonetheless a document that should command the attention of every member in this Chamber – and particularly any with an interest in the future of our Borough’s Green Belt.

The ten local authorities in Greater Manchester have drawn up plans to meet the projected future need for 227,000 new homes in the county, some 13,700 of them in this Borough.

This may seem an awful lot for Oldham, but Shaw & Crompton and Royton is really being targeted by the developers and may be even Oldham Council as we shall be expected to accommodate almost three thousand new homes plus vast tracks of land for industrial development.

These plans represent a massive land grab in our area and the devastation of our local Green Belt as new properties will be built at Cowlishaw, in the Beal Valley, Rushcroft, the Whitefield Farm area over to Newhey and around Gravelhole and Low Crompton.

Oldham Liberal Democrats firmly believe that our precious Green Belt should be protected.

Our Green Belt and open spaces are one of the things that makes us unique in Greater Manchester.  Some of us are old enough to remember those posters ‘Oldham a town in the country’ – it was true 20 odd years ago and is even truer now.

New homes should first be built on former industrial Brownfield sites.

Existing planning permissions need to be actioned.

We should first look to build on derelict and unloved sites in our town centres and districts, convert every empty mill and factory into housing, force developers to build on sites already given planning permission, and bring Empty Homes back into use.

Only when all of these things have been done should we even consider developing vast tracks of our Green Belt.

We miles away from that stage yet.

And we also need to take account of the massive additional burden this will place on our local services and infrastructure.  These new houses will mean a lot more cars on our busy roads, many more children needing local school places, more demand for medical centres, shops, and leisure facilities.

I recognise that everyone has the right to live in their own home and be adequately housed but the local burden seems to have been placed disproportionately on Shaw and Crompton and to be fair Royton.

So can the Leader please tell me tonight what this Council will be doing to fight to protect our precious Green Belt from wanton development and what representations will be made to press the demand that there will be sufficient advanced investment to meet the increased demand placed onto our facilities and infrastructure in Shaw and Crompton and elsewhere in our Borough?

Council 9 November 2016 – Leader’s Question – Student Travel to Stockport College

Mr Mayor, my second question relates to an issue that I have raised with the Leader and her predecessor on many occasions – the education of this Borough’s young people.

This time I want to address the proposed merger between Oldham College and Stockport College.  The proposed marriage with Tameside College is seemingly now off, Oldham and Stockport Colleges are apparently now the only two dancers still on the floor.

The key question is how is this in the best interests of our young people and Oldham’s potential students?  Just one of my worries is the inconvenience that such a merger will cause to local students without access to private transport.

Here are two examples.

Joe travelling from Denshaw to Stockport College faces a two hour journey there and a similar journey back.  He starts college at 9am.  He catches the 407 Stotts bus from the Junction Inn at 6.36 and is just fortunate to connect with the 6.59 83 service operated by First Manchester from Mumps.

This gets him on time to Piccadilly by 7.45 and he is able to connect with the 192 Stagecoach service 10 minutes later.  This drops him off on Wellington Road near Stockport College for 8.40am.

As Joe needs to use three bus services – all run by different operators he needs to buy a System One Student Bus Saver ticket.  This costs £13.10 a week or £45.50 for a month.

If cost were not an issue, Joe could roughly halve his journey time if he caught the Metrolink tram from Mumps to Piccadilly Station, via Victoria (£3.40 return, half-hour approx.) and then caught the train to Stockport (£5.30 return, 10mins followed by a 10min walk).

If he were aged 16 to 19 he could get a Scholars Permit to enable him to travel for half the single fare each way.

Emma travelling from Oozewood, Royton to Stockport College, also starting at 9am.  Emma’s journey is about as long as Joes.  She walks to Rochdale Road (10mins) and catches the 6.48am 24 First Manchester Bus to Manchester.

This gets her there on time at 7.44, which is unusual as the bus is generally delayed by peak traffic approaching the city centre.  Emma joins Joe in catching the 192 bus and they sit together on the Stagecoach service, both alighting on Wellington Road.

Emma would also need to buy a System One Student Bus Saver ticket.  Emma would probably not save any time going into Oldham to catch a tram as she would have to catch a 409 bus and then wait at a tram stop.

However she could join Joe in getting the train from Piccadilly to Stockport and back (£5.30 return, 10mins followed by a 10mins walk).

This is surely a far from ideal arrangement in a Borough where we aspire to drive up educational attainment and make the best choices available to all of our students.

Can the Leader tell me tonight, what is being done to ensure that the vocational courses that remain on offer in Oldham will remain attractive to local students and relevant to the needs of our local employers?

And what help and support will this Council seek to put in place for those students who are forced to travel to Stockport because of the merger and struggle to do so?

Let’s All Do our Bit in National Tree Week, says Cllr Sykes

clipart-tree-MKTjKnaiqLeader of the Opposition and Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Cllr Howard Sykes, is keen to encourage the residents of our Borough to do something positive in National Tree Week to mark the importance of trees in our lives.

First started in 1975, National Tree Week marks the start of the winter tree planting season. National Tree Week this year is from 29th November to 7th December 2014.

Each year, partner organisations, such as local authorities, schools and community groups, work with the National Tree Council and its network of 8,000 Tree Wardens organise events that inspire up to a quarter of a million people to plant around a million trees.

Cllr Sykes said: “Not only do trees provide the oxygen that we breathe; the wood we use for construction and to heat our homes; and some of the food that we eat, but woodlands are great habitats for wildlife and great places for us to enjoy, whether it be for a romantic walk, a family picnic or for children to play hide-and-seek.

“Earlier this year I wrote to my Liberal Democrat colleague, Forestry Minister, Dan Rogerson MP, seeking a Forestry Bill to provide for the care of this nation’s forestry estate and to provide greater legal protection for Britain’s ancient forests.

“Under Dan’s stewardship, this Government has planted one million new trees and I am pleased that the Lib Dems at its last conference pledged to plant one new tree for every baby born in this country.

“Everyone can do their bit during National Tree Week – you can go out and plant a native British tree in your garden; if you are a school governor you can pledge to take action to plant trees your schools grounds and to ensure that it becomes a Forest School; and for those of you who are active in Friends of Parks groups you can look online to find out how you can become one of the National Tree Council’s trained tree wardens, who do so much work to help preserve the health of our woodlands”.

Further information about National Tree Week can be found on the website of the National Tree Council – http://www.treecouncil.org.uk/