As the humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in Afghanistan, Government have announced the UK is looking at a “bespoke arrangement” for Afghan refugees, with full details to be set out in due course.

A new resettlement scheme will be aimed at helping those most in need – including women and girls – to come to the UK.

In Oldham, the council are working with MHCLG, housing providers, and other partners locally and nationally to ensure that we do all we can to help refugees fleeing the desperate situation in Afghanistan.

Housing providers are seeking to identify suitable accommodation that could be used to house refugees, and this information will be provided directly to Government.

We also know that people across the borough are keen to help in any way they can, and ensure that clothes, food, toys, toiletries and other essentials are provided.

Current needs include:

• Men’s clothes (including warm clothes)
• Men’s shoes (ideally trainers)
• Underwear (must be new)
• Unlocked smartphones and tablets

All donations should be good quality, washed and clean (or new where possible)

Care4-Calais have agreed to take a lead across Greater Manchester on coordinating donations and offers of funds. This link provides a map of where donations of goods can be dropped off https://care4calais.org/thedropoffmap/.  

And up to date needs can be found on their social media: https://twitter.com/Care4Calais

For real time information: https://oldham.roadworks.org/

Shaw cyclist Matt Walls has put his hometown, Shaw, and Crompton, on the sporting map through winning both Gold and Silver medals in cycling at the recent Tokyo Olympic games, and Shaw Councillor Howard Sykes MBE has backed calls for Matt to receive the honour of being made a Freeman of the Borough of Oldham.

“Matt Walls has demonstrated that he is pure gold.  He is an incredible athlete, an incredible ambassador for Shaw and for Oldham, and a tremendous role model to inspire young people in our borough to participate and achieve in sport”, said Councillor Sykes.  “As a Borough we should do him the honour of making him a Freeman of the Borough.”

“We made hockey player Nicola White a Freeman when she became a gold medallist in 2016 so must do the same for another citizen who has achieved the same high-water mark,” he added.

Councillor Sykes has written to the Leader of Oldham Council, Councillor Arooj Shah, to “state emphatically for the record that I am in total agreement with making Matt Walls a Freeman of the Borough and would be honoured to propose or second such a proposal.”

For real time information: https://oldham.roadworks.org/

Oldham residents can now have their say on Labour’s latest Places for Everyone plan and the Oldham Liberal Democrats are urging everyone to say No to Labour’s Green Belt and green land grab.

Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Howard Sykes said: “The Liberal Democrats tried at the last Council meeting (July 28) to seek Oldham’s withdrawal from Places for Everyone because it will still mean the loss of much of our precious and irreplaceable Green Belt, but Labour used its bloc vote to get it through.  Now the public can have their say in this latest consultation to say No to Labour’s latest version of Mayor Burnham’s Green Belt land grab’.

Places for Everyone is the successor to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) which was derailed after Stockport Liberal Democrats succeeded in getting their Council to withdraw at the end of last year.

“Labour will tell you that Places for Everyone is better because less houses will be built across Greater Manchester and there will be less development on Green Belt land”, added Councillor Sykes.  “But this is of no consolation to the people in my own district of Shaw and Crompton where over 3,000 new homes are proposed. This will not only mean the destruction of our Green Belt, but that our overstretched health centre and oversubscribed schools will be swamped.”

The Liberal Democrats believe that the Council’s Green Belt development policy is unnecessary.  Councillor Sykes explained:  “A large number of homes on several Green Belt sites across Oldham have already been pulled from the new plan, but we believe that so much more could be done.  We want a real Local Plan shaped by Oldham people to meet Oldham’s needs.”

“Our policy is to see homes first built on Brownfield sites and on sites where planning permission for housing development has already been granted.  We also believe that, where practical, redundant business premises, such as empty mills, factories, pubs and shops that are no longer commercially viable, should be converted for housing and that the large number of empty homes in our Borough should be brought back into use.”

The public consultation on Places for Everyone will now be open until October 3. Members of the public can have their say at www.gmconsult.org

Despite the adversity faced by students learning during the UK’s worst pandemic in over 100 years, Oldham’s pupils are still expected to shine this week in their A Levels and BTEC’s, Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE could not be prouder of our future generation.

“Hats off to all of our young people; they have stuck at it and performed magnificently, and I send to them all my congratulations on their amazing achievement,” said Councillor Sykes. 

“As life has changed for all of us, since March 2020, so too has life for students.  They have had to adapt to learning from home via a virtual link with their teacher and with no personal contact with tutors and friends for long periods, and they have seen their school attendance disrupted by COVID-19 outbreaks in the classroom.  Not only have they come through all this, they have done so with credit, and I wish them every success in the future,” added Councillor Sykes. 

“Lastly it would be remiss of me not to also thank and congratulate all the teaching and non-teaching staff across Oldham’s schools and colleges who have done such a sterling job in bringing our young people through these most trying times and ensured that they had nonetheless received both excellent tuition and sometimes much needed pastoral care.”

Shaw Liberal Democrat Councillors are pleased to see plans progressing to build a new convenience store on the derelict King’s Arms/Big Lamp site, on High Street, Shaw.

Local councillors and the Shaw and Crompton Parish Council have been consulted by the developer on the plans.

For his part, Shaw Councillor Howard Sykes MBE is looking forward to seeing the site brought back into use.  “We have waited more than ten years to see the successful redevelopment of the site, and now I am delighted that we may soon see a new community store there to serve local residents.  Not only should this improve the retail offer in Shaw, but it will redevelop a major gateway site into the town centre, a site which for too long has been an eyesore and subject to fly-tipping.” 

Past ideas for the site for housing and also a vets did not progress for a variety of reasons including commercial viability.

Councillor Sykes just has one note of caution:  “We just need to ensure that at Planning we have a workable solution to deal with any traffic issues as the Big Lamp is a busy roundabout, but these should not be insurmountable as we had traffic going onto and off the site when it was a pub.”