A very tricky night for the teams with weather from all angles hitting the Borough at the same time, issues so far:
20 trees blown down
A640 Huddersfield Road closed ( Kirklees request)
M62 closed with usual knock on effect on surrounding rounds
Ripponden Road, Buckstones Road and Grains Road both blocked in parts due to HGV waggons struggling
Drifing snow on many high level lanes
Drifting snow on exposed roads
Stannybrook Road closed due to flooding
They are currently re treating our primary gritting routes and have gritters deployed to Ripponden Road, Buckstones Road and Grains Road to try and ease the issues that are compelled by the closure of the M62.
They have teams from Environmental Services assisting with hand gritting and tree removal, surface temperatures are rising slightly and this should assist with the efforts before they start again
To the people of the city and county palatine of Lancaster
Greetings!
Know ye that this day, November 27th in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and twenty, the 69th year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Duke of Lancaster, is
Lancashire Day
Know ye also, and rejoice, that by virtue of Her Majesty’s County Palatine of Lancaster, the citizens of the Hundreds of Lonsdale, North and South of the Sands, Amounderness, Leyland, Blackburn, Salford and West Derby are forever entitled to style themselves Lancastrians.
Throughout the County Palatine, from the Furness Fells to the River Mersey, from the Irish Sea to the Pennines, this day shall ever mark the people’s pleasure in that excellent distinction – true Lancastrians, proud of the Red Rose and loyal to our Sovereign Duke.
GOD BLESS LANCASHIRE AND GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, DUKE OF LANCASTER.
The MTU, mobile testing unit, will be at the Kershaw Street East car park giving Shaw and Crompton residents the option to book locally for PCR Covid-19 tests next week.
10am – 3pm. Monday 29 November – Sunday 5 December.
PCR tests can be booked either online via https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or by calling 119, and will be for pedestrian access rather than drive through.
“Best Christmas present ever if it happens,” is how local Liberal Democrat Shaw councillor Howard Sykes described the plan for a new health centre for the district.
Shaw and Crompton councillors have been informed that a new health centre for Shaw and Crompton now looks possible by March 2023, but only if certain imminent deadlines are met.
Local councillors have been fighting for a new health centre for local patients for many years, being increasing concerned local people are missing out and disadvantaged.
Shaw Councillor and Liberal Democrat Group Leader Howard Sykes MBE said: “The current health centre is clearly no longer fit for purpose and we are in desperate need of a replacement modern facility. Shaw and Crompton residents have found it
frustrating that, whilst their neighbours in Royton have been well-provided for, they have not.”
“Local Liberal Democrat councillors have been campaigning to right this injustice for years working behind the scenes to try and progress this project. In our alternate budget last year, the Liberal Democrats found extra money to fund a replacement, but unfortunately this proposal was not supported by Labour or Conservative councillors.”
Now in correspondence with Crompton Liberal Democrat councillor Louie Hamblett, Mark Drury, the Head of Public Affairs at the NHS Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group, has confirmed that a proposal to invite a private developer to build a new health centre on the former Shaw Baths site is being pursued, with the support of the NHS and Oldham Council.
Subject to various conditions and timescales, completion of the works is ‘currently expected no later than the end of March 2023’.
NHS funding has been awarded to support the scheme, but if the development is ‘not substantially underway’ by January next year the funding may be withdrawn, so ‘there is the need to treat the planned developments with a huge sense of urgency’. One test will be the requirement to secure planning permission at an early date. The other is to ensure new lease agreements are in place with the two GP practices that operate from the existing health centre.
Councillor Sykes added: “It is clear that we will need to move fast to ensure everything falls into place by January of next year in order to see our long-awaiting new health centre by the end of March 2023. Residents can be assured that local Liberal Democrat councillors will continue to press for this development to move it forward as quickly as possible as we have all been waiting a long time for this.”
We continue to get various reports on stone thefts from walls and elsewhere. The police are aware and are pursuing investigations.
In the meantime, they have urged any members of the public that witness this crime or have suspicions to contact them as it adds to the intelligence and helps catch these people who blight our community.
They also urge residents to do the same with any other suspicious behaviour/crimes people see.
To contact the police:
You can access many of their services online at gmp.police.uk
For emergencies only call 999, or 101 if it’s a less urgent matter.
Oldham’s Liberal Democrats have taken up the problems that many residents currently face on waiting times to get an appointment with their GP, after they uncovered that the data on which practices were doing well or poorly was not even being collected.
Leader of the opposition on Oldham Council, Howard Sykes MBE, said: “Too many people are not getting the service they need from their GPs, and we were not getting any reasonable explanation as to why.
“GP numbers in Oldham have risen over the last six years, while patient numbers per GP have fallen, yet that doesn’t match with people’s experiences of struggling to see a doctor.
“After asking the Health and Wellbeing Board (16/11/21) for answers, I have been told that they will now start collecting this data, and we can start to find out why there are a few GP practices that seem to be doing so much better than others.”
Between 2015 and now, GP numbers in Oldham have increased by 10%, and patient numbers per GP have fallen by 6%, according to an analysis of the House of Commons data by the Liberal Democrats.
Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani added: “Every time there is a report in the press about GP waiting times, you can see from the reaction it gets that people are generally really angry about how long they are having to wait. However, certain practices are clearly excluded from this.
“It is ridiculous that we can see from this anecdotal evidence that some practices are managing to buck the trend, but that the information that could help change this was not even being recorded.”
Councillor Sykes concluded: “This is simply about sharing good practice. Everyone deserves the same level of service, not the lottery they are currently getting.”
Dogs Trust are running free virtual and face to face presentations to help and support new dog owners & those who are returning to work after the pandemic ?
