DEMOCRACY: Members quizzed via Social Media

ERIC PICKLES has issued new guidance on local democracy this week.

This aims to clarify what should be the norm in terms of media and public access to executive and council meetings.

Here in Oldham, however, we’re already well on the way to opening up our Council to local people.

That’s not for the sake of it, nor to simply comply with guidelines.

We’re ahead of the game because we want to engage better with residents and ensure that our communication with them is a genuine two-way exchange.We’ve also taken action to help all our councillors become better local leaders at the forefront of community activity.

Upon first becoming a councillor in 2003, I was somewhat taken aback by how insular some of our debates could be.

The Council Chamber was good political fun, granted, but I wouldn’t say that it represented local views and issues.

Debate usually consisted of attacking the opposition of the day and sending motions to Government for them to ‘file’ away. Public questions were often the result of an individual on a personal mission, a political party member or election candidate, or in some cases a campaign being run against a Council scheme.

I appreciate that is a generalisation – some very genuine residents turned up too – but not many. The public gallery was often bereft of their faces.

The format of how we operate as a Council is also important.

Many councillors look back with fondness at the old ‘committee system’ whereby they would sit on a themed committee such as housing or environment. Most members were involved and took part in decision-making.

That was then replaced with the ‘cabinet system’. The idea was simple: to create a smaller executive to ensure decision-making was streamlined and not held up in an internal bureaucracy. Examination of those decisions is now carried out by a group of councillors through the Overview and Scrutiny system.

I like the cabinet system. Clear lines of accountability and quicker decision-making are great, but it did pose the question of what you do with the 50 councillors who aren’t Cabinet Members?

My thoughts are that Ward Members are not ‘backbench’ members at all. They are actually on the frontline – not as the public face of Oldham Council, but as community leaders who represent local residents’ views and channel them back to us.

For that to work though the Council Chamber also has to be the bona fide debating chamber of the Borough and its people – not just Oldham Council PLC operating like a board of directors.

To be fair, most local councillors already have the required passion to work for local people, regardless of party politics, in their blood.

And that’s why a desire to move the debate beyond the Council Chamber into the community was the driver behind our decision to ‘go online’ and web stream our council meetings live before most other Local Authorities dared to.

It’s both staggering and quite scary in equal measure that around 300 people now watch our Full Council meetings. Our new audience is global with viewers – some even as far away as New Zealand – all tuning in. Compare that to the empty public gallery of the past!

If this was just as passive process I don’t think we would have so many people watching these proceedings. And I believe making the meeting as interactive as possible was crucial to this work to connect better with people.

We now take questions live on Facebook, Twitter and email during the meeting. We can have anywhere between 20-30 public questions each time. The public can also join the debate via Twitter with each comment and question showing up on the big screen in the Chamber. You’d be surprised how the debate has changed here over the past couple of years. There’s much more talk about the Borough and its people –and that can only be a good thing.

But we’ve also gone even further…

Having reached out to the public we also had to show councillors that we took their roles seriously too. So, as part of our ‘Open Council’ session, we allocate time for Ward Member questions. This is empowering for them and we actively encourage them to raise issues of local concern in their ward.

This has led to members in my own group raising concerns about the performance of the Council (on street lighting, for example) and holding it to account on behalf of their residents. Even better, the councillor asking the question can now tell their constituents to tune in and watch it being debated on their behalf.

And we didn’t stop there.

YOUTH COUNCIL: Josh Hudson handing over Youth Mayor duties to Emma O’Donnell.

We value our Youth Council and believe they are an inspiring voice for democracy in Oldham. After changing the constitution and meeting format to allow modernisation it seemed like a natural next step to engage better with them too.

Oldham Youth Council now has constitutional power in Oldham – and that is a first in the country. They have their own section on the Full Council agenda to raise issues, debate and hold us to account. So far they have used that time to raise important issues, like bullying.

I believe our Council Chamber in Oldham is now one of the most progressive and inclusive nationwide.

That’s a bold statement, but I believe the evidence backs it up. Our actions and the public response says we are making progress – and we didn’t need a Westminster Secretary of State to tell us to do it.

As we move forward we’re keen to devolve more power to Ward Members by boosting our District Partnerships.

Councillors are no longer backbench scrutineers in Oldham – they’re at the frontline of getting things done. What’s more they shout it from the rooftops thanks to our new system which sees each of them filing annual reports. You can view each member’s annual report by clicking here and find out exactly what they’re doing in your area.

Finally, next week will be the first anniversary of the Shaw gas explosion.

I know the community is still recovering and the events of that day have left a very deep pain and I include myself in that.

The loss of Jamie Heaton and the circumstances around the explosion have caused great suffering and anger, but they have also shown our community to be strong and united when it most needed to be resilient.

Next week Councillor Jean Stretton will be my guest blogger as she reflects on Shaw one year on.

Jean was the first member of the Council leadership team on the scene that day and she dealt with many issues on the ground. From handling media enquiries, helping residents who were displaced and – still today – supporting those in need.

Since setting up the Distress Fund with great cross-party support from local councillors she has helped distribute around £250,000 to those who have suffered, as well as working hard to help support people to get their lives back on track.

Jean was subsequently given the national ‘Community Champion of the Year’ award in recognition of the work and leadership that she showed.

She is an inspiring woman, but also very modest, so I thought I would set the scene about her role myself in proper context before you read her guest blog next week….

Thanks for listening,

Jim

WONDER: MOSI has an incredible capacity to inspire youngsters and expand their horizons. Can we really afford to close it?

WHEN I HEARD the news that funding changes could see Greater Manchester lose the Museum of Science and Industry I had to double-take in astonishment.

As a key part of our region’s social and educational fabric, MOSI – as it is now known – has been much more than a traditional museum.

In fact, there is very little that is traditional about it at all.

Growing up, I had found a lot of my own schooling and education experiences boring, to be honest, with one or two exceptions.

I loved art and design: perhaps, I’m a frustrated architect or town planner now, who knows? But I was also fascinated with engineering and science, in particular the solar system.

MOSI was one of two places where I felt truly engaged and inspired; the other being Jodrell Bank.

Last week we were told that the Science Museums Group which runs MOSI – together with the Bradford’s National Media Museum and York’s National Railway Museum – is citing Government cuts to its budget as the catalyst for a review that could see closures.

Government funding currently makes up around 65 per cent of the group’s funding so any cut will clearly be painful.

Here in Local Government we have become so used to funding cuts now that it is simply an accepted part of our day job (albeit the worst aspect, I should add).

So far, however, many other areas of Government funding have been left comparatively unscathed by cuts.

So you might therefore think that a Council Leader like me would say that every area of Government funding should share the pain. But I don’t.

I disagree that cutting the public sector, plus the arts and culture is the right response because it fails to understand the economic impact that this will have.

Increasingly the major UK towns and cities which thrive do so because they have a good mix of retail, entertainment, culture and the arts, together with good transport links and good quality public spaces.

Britain is struggling to find its way in the global economic race in 2013.

We have lost ground to many emerging markets and we’ve lost huge parts of our manufacturing and industry sectors.

For some people, investment in a museum like MOSI may thus appear to be a misguided ‘nod to the past’ and fail to see its real value: its ability to inspire.

If we want to be a player in that global race we simply can’t afford not to invest in understanding where we have come from and, even more importantly,  helping to inspire that next world-changing inventor, engineer, scientist or pioneering thinker to have their ‘Eureka’ moment.

The closure of MOSI wouldn’t just be a setback for Manchester, it would be a blow for the whole country.

In the past, Greater Manchester has led the world in many fields of science, engineering and industry, but we also haven’t given up on producing the next world-changing innovation – and nor should the Government.

By sheer chance my 11-year-old son spent yesterday on a school trip to MOSI.

Afterwards I listened to him excitedly explain what he had seen and learned.

I remembered feeling just the same way at his age about the potential of discovery and having an awareness that our world – our universe, even – was so much bigger and boundless than we could even conceptually grasp.

It would be absolutely criminal if he isn’t also able to have the same discussion in the future with his own son, my grandson, because of a short-sighted decision now to save a few pounds.

As I write more than 40,000 people have already signed an online petition urging the Science Museums Group to think again and save MOSI.

If you get the chance, please take a few moments to visit the online petition here and add your name to those fighting to keep this inspiring and vital facility open for generations to come.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

CIRCUS: Greater Manchester Police working to disperse the protest from Oldham town centre

IT WAS a glorious day in Oldham town centre last Saturday.

The sun was shining and the high street was packed with shoppers and families enjoying an all-too-rare glimpse of some great British summer weather.

Sadly, however, there were also dark clouds in the offing.

During last week we’d become aware of several protests being organised in a number of towns in response to the horrific murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

With emotions running high we learned that several groups across our region – including the EDL, the National Front and the North West Infidels – appeared to be looking to use the incident as an opportunity to provoke unrest.

It’s my firm belief that most people in all communities are fair-minded and were appalled by that prospect.

When I say “fair-minded”, I don’t mean that in a political sense at all.

By “fair-minded”, I mean people from across all communities, backgrounds and, indeed, opposite ends of the political spectrum.

By “fair-minded” I mean someone who would never seek to defend acts of terrorism, and who has respect for others and a sense of community.

I mean people who oppose extremists in all shapes or forms.

I think any fair-minded person reacted to the killing of Lee Rigby with utter shock and horror. They would have also been outraged by so-called ‘hate preachers’ on television declaring the lost soldier would ‘burn in hell’.

And equally, any fair-minded person who sees a group using the death of an innocent man as a platform to attack a whole community, would also see that as an insult.

Our sunny Saturday was going well until a small group of people – many from the National Front, some from other groups – turned up to ‘protest’.

They then decided to march, although that is not to suggest it was either organised or uniform, up our high street and into main shopping areas.

If you’re a decent law-abiding member of society who also happens to be Muslim you may well have taken offence to seeing banners demanding ‘No More Mosques’ on Oldham’s streets.

You have every right to feel that way in my view, but I don’t suppose those doing it really cared – it was probably what they actually wanted.

But I’m also pretty certain that most other people in Oldham just want to be left to live in peace – and that they judge people by their individual actions, and not simply the colour of their skin or religion.

I would’ve hoped those protestors might have also paid attention to the grieving family of Lee Rigby who – ahead of last weekend – had issued a statement calling for calm.

They said Lee “had many friends from different walks of life – some with different religious beliefs and cultures. But this made no difference to Lee – he always treated others with the greatest of respect.”

They added: “We would like to emphasise that Lee would not want people to use his name as an excuse to carry out attacks against others.”

“We would not wish any other families to go through this harrowing experience and appeal to everyone to keep calm and show their respect in a peaceful manner.”

Almost everybody in Oldham heeded this advice and stayed calm: refusing to rise to any bait, and continued about their business as normal. Long may that continue.

But some that marched in our high street ignored that plea. That wasn’t just disrespectful, it showed me that some weren’t protesting in grief at all: it was just a convenient new hook to hang their hate on.

There’s also conflict between what some groups say they are fighting for, and their actions.

They claim to be patriotic, for example, yet seem happy to deface the Union Jack with offensive comments and to mount them on the railings of cenotaphs across the country.

It’s painfully ironic that cenotaphs – erected to remember those who died fighting against extremism – should be used as a symbol of division by others, but I also find it offensive.

I also don’t like to see large groups gathering and sometimes even clambering onto cenotaphs as if they’re getting over-excited on a football terrace.

The truth is that community cohesion and race relations, or however you like to define it, isn’t a neat and perfect thing.

In a world where some 214 million people are international migrants who live in a different country from the one in which they were born, there are problems in every society.

Oldham has never claimed to be a shining example or model that others should follow. It wouldn’t be realistic for us to say that: there are issues, and we know it.

We have come some distance since 2001, however, and we don’t need a travelling circus of any guise swooping into town to try and divide us.

The Government says it now sees extremism as something that needs a new approach and I agree with that. I just hope that there is a fair and balanced approach that deals with everyone who trades in hatred, regardless of their race or religion.

Here in Oldham we are showing what real respect is for our war dead.

We’re now into the second year of a renovation programme whereby every war memorial in the Borough will be fit for heroes by 2014 as we reflect on the centenary of the outbreak of World War One.

As part of that programme we’re currently renovating the town centre cenotaph at a cost of £130,000, in addition to £100,000 spent across the Borough last year.

Creating cenotaphs of quiet reflection and unity is respectful – and I think that’s a lesson others could learn from.

When pondering Saturday’s events in our town centre I recalled a very simple but poignant inscription on my local cenotaph in Failsworth.

It reads: “They died in many lands so we may live here in peace”.

To our recent unwelcome visitors, I say now – please – leave us alone to live here in peace too.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

SOCIAL MEDIA: The immediacy and viral power of Social Media can be a force for good – but it also has potential to cause great harm when it is used to deliberately spread false information and rumours.

THE MURDER of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich has sent shockwaves across all communities in recent days.

The vast majority of people share a sense of horror: not only for an attack on one of our armed forces officers, but also the calculated attack on our way of life.

Having spent my high school days in Middleton, and now living just up the road, I know that the pain and loss felt by that community is stark and something we’re all feeling as we try to come to terms with such a senseless act.

Less than six years ago the so-called 7/7 London bombings on public transport brought home to us how vulnerable we actually are to attacks from extremists. This latest chilling incident will do nothing to reduce those fears or to reassure people that we live in a truly cohesive community,

Soon after news broke of the Woolwich attack other extremists also quickly jumped on the hatred bandwagon. This time it was the EDL and other groups who, perhaps without realising it, were simply adding fuel to an already volatile and heated situation.

We have to accept that in a fair and free society some people will at times abuse that freedom.

All too often we see situations where that fairness is seen as a sign of weakness that those with extremist and hate-filled agendas can exploit to mount an attack – and that can come in many guises.

The killing of an innocent man walking down the streets of Woolwich was, clearly, the worst of the worst. Only his family can truly understand the irreplaceable loss.

But what concerns me more than when any tiny minority uses religion, faith, culture, events and a sense of unfairness or injustice as a reason for hate, is when normal everyday people stand on the sidelines and say nothing – or even worse join in without considering the serious implications of what they are doing.

I saw this first hand on Social Media at the end of last week when some people were spreading total lies about there being “a riot in Oldham” and claiming that Muslims here had taken to our streets to celebrate the killing of drummer Lee Rigby.

None of this was true.

It was bad enough that some spineless individuals were using the cover that Social Media offers to lie and incite others, but what made it worse was how many people allowed themselves to be duped into believing it and, seemingly without thinking about the potential consequences, simply pressed ‘retweet’.

Twitter is only a modern means of communication and arguably those people were no more or less irresponsible than someone who repeats the rumour to the next person they see.

But the immediacy and power of Twitter and Facebook – as shown in the so-called ‘Blackberry’ riots in the UK in 2011 – has the potential to cause great harm to our towns, cities and communities. A whisper on there can acquire a frightening momentum in just minutes, regardless of whether it is true or not, and there’s little in place other than our own self-restraint to stop the potential spread of ‘viral violence’.

Oldham was spared any trouble in 2011, but we did face our own riots back in 2001 and – surely - none of us EVER want to return to those dark days?

We do not want our town being lazily slated in the national press with the end result that investors and jobs are scared off. And be in no doubt, in this economic climate, that our much-needed and long-awaited regeneration could be the ultimate price we all pay if something goes wrong.

I believe there is a responsibility for each and every one of us – regardless of our background or individual sense of belonging – to see beyond race, religion and cultural ties and recognise that we are Oldhamers.

It doesn’t matter if you’re white, Asian, black or anything else for me.

If we live here we all have a responsibility to stand up for what is right for the wider community, not just our own little part of it.

Simplistic talk of “them and us” won’t help – nor will trying to justify one extremist action because of another. Remember, extremists in any guise rely on the majority being indifferent or even passively sympathetic for them to be able to grow the seeds of hate.

I am asking people to please just pause and think before repeating and retweeting something you cannot verify to be true. Please refer to official sources of information first, like ourselves and Greater Manchester Police, before passing something on as ‘the truth’.

To end on a more positive note I wanted to highlight that the last few days have seen some local events and activities that everyone in our Borough can rightly be proud of.

Last weekend in particular was a great time to be here with our world famous Saddleworth and Lees band contests undeterred by the weather on Whit Friday, and Festival Oldham drawing families onto the streets of Oldham Town Centre.

Both events give visitors a very positive impression of our Borough and they bring in people who may never have considered coming here at all.

We are currently compiling a huge list of events running throughout the year in every part of our Borough and are going to be working with partners to actively promote these to a much wider audience. Not only will this be a great boost to the event organisers, but it will also help us to challenge many preconceived ideas about Oldham.

I cannot close this week without passing comment on the accession of Councillor John Hudson to become the new Mayor of Oldham.

The honour, bestowed at our Annual Council meeting, was cheered by many well-wishers and we heard some very entertaining speeches about the role John has played in local politics over several decades.

Two things are guaranteed in the next 12 months from our new Mayor.

Firstly, I believe he will be a good ambassador who will work across party political boundaries to promote all that we are doing to regenerate our Borough and create jobs.

Secondly, John’s trademark quick wit and unique style could see our viewing figures for Full Council meetings increase twofold on the Internet. I just hope we’ve got the IT capacity to cope!

Thanks for listening,

Jim

THE ICONIC LANCASTER: In Oldham, during the Second World War, there were 29,000 people employed building Lancasters, including night shifts and sub-contractors across the town.

THE SEVENTIETH anniversary of the Lancaster Bombers’ daring Dambuster Raid has rightly given focus to the fight to win the Second World War – and also to our Borough.

The Oldham Chronicle last week featured the tales of two heroic Oldhamers: Bill Howarth, who survived the operation and later died aged 68, and Donald Hopkinson, who lost his life during the return leg aged just 22.

Many men and women from our district worked on the production of the Lancaster at BAE Systems. Their work demonstrated the scale and quality of our engineering skills – and the drive to produce the best.

Although the Lancaster is now in the history books and the former BAE Systems site has been vacated – and soon to be home to the next generation of engineers under the ownership of NOV MonoPumps – it is still at least remembered by name at the former BAE Systems sports and social club at the Lancaster Club.

That building is now under Oldham Council ownership occupying the grade II-listed Failsworth Lodge off Broadway, which was built in 1770 as a hunting lodge for Captain Birch.

Interestingly another claim to fame here is that the lodge subsequently became a private school and was attended by a young Robert Peel, whose father was a wealthy cotton mill owner. He, of course, went on to become Prime Minister of this country twice and was also the founder of the Metropolitan Police. Anyway ,I digress…

I haven’t lost sight of my own ambition to see the Lancaster Bomber remembered here in our Borough:  ideally in Chadderton.

Although siting a replica of it somewhere might be some time off, if it happens at all, we have started with a small gesture now by featuring the Lancaster on the boundary signs into Chadderton.

These signs are only a token, but I hope people will drive by and take a sense of pride from them. Perhaps our up-and-coming generations might look up and say ‘Well I never knew that’ or even ask ‘What’s a Lancaster Bomber?’ and go to find out for themselves.

The Lancaster gives us a place in the history books that we can be proud of. We are an industrious, productive and imaginative Borough made up of seven distinct townships each with its own identity and own claims to fame.

We recently launched our consultation with the public on how we might best recognise our place in history in Oldham town centre through the Borough Life magazine and online here.

You can have your say on which category you feel would best represent our history.

You will notice that we have included a broad range of categories to give choice, but we haven’t given an option to say ‘no’. Why? The reason is simple.

The ‘no’ campaign has won hands down for decades. It’s time we stopped hiding our history and put it on show for the next generations to see and, more importantly, to learn from and respect a Borough which once led the world in many fields.

Finally, following the stunning £1 million donation from Norman Stoller to kick-start the Oldham Enterprise Trust we’re now putting the finishing touches to the programme to involve and support young people into business, self-employment and maybe even devising the next world-changing invention.

Watch this space for more details soon: including how you can get involved.

Clearly though, not everyone will want to go into business for themselves, so I want to make a plea to all who read this blog. Please tell every young person you know about the Apprenticeship App available at http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/

This shows that there are currently more than 600 vacancies across Greater Manchester in a range of careers and industries.

Interestingly for every Oldham vacancy the average number of applicants is just over 10 per job.

When you compare that with low-paid and low-skilled jobs elsewhere attracting many hundreds of applicants, I see no reason why a young person wouldn’t jump at the chance to set out on a new career.

As someone who started my working life as an apprentice I can say with absolute confidence that it is life-changing when the right employer gets together with a young person and moulds them into a rounded and productive employee.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

INSPIRATIONAL:  Norman Stoller CBE donated £1 million at the launch of Get Oldham Working to support and develop opportunities for youth employment and entrepreneurs.

THIS IS a very important year as Oldham Council joins forces with partners across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ‘Get Oldham Working’.

The aim of this new campaign is create 2,015 employment opportunities by 2015 and to deliver our flagship ‘Youth Guarantee’ which will see every young person who wants to move on in life given an offer of a job, training, further education or supported into self-employment.

As part of our push to become a ‘Cooperative Borough’ we recognise that this cannot just be an Oldham Council project. It has to be an ambition that is shared by the whole Borough with everyone ‘doing their bit’.

Last Friday night’s ‘One Oldham Business Awards’ was attended by around 500 people and was the ideal opportunity for us to launch Get Oldham Working.

This event is the best of its kind in Greater Manchester and that’s testament to the hard work of the Business Awards Steering Group who give up their time to organise everything so brilliantly, plus all those people who nominate, sponsor and attend.

I explained to the audience at the Queen Elizabeth Hall that our town is regenerating at a rapid pace. At a time when many others are simply managing decline, we are leading growth.

No one project in itself will regenerate our town, of course, but the sheer scale of our ambition should not be underestimated.

However, there are challenges. Chiefly, we have a large number of young people leaving school with little hope of going on to further education or employment.

We must be conscious that the difference between development and regeneration is that you are not simply building a shiny new building: you also need to take care of the social and community side too.

We need to get Oldham working: to take us off the top of the Greater Manchester unemployment list and give a ‘hand up’ to the more than 8,000 local people currently out of work.

That challenge is significant – so the response must be equally substantial.

We can’t wait for someone to sort this out for us. We can’t sit here in hope that the UK economy will pick up and Oldham then simply gets a share. If we do that, we will fail again.

When the last boom came, Oldham flagged. Much money went into the public sector without creating the environment for growth so that – when the tough times did come – we simply weren’t able to withstand the force of the blow.

We’ve embarked here upon what I believe is the most ambitious town centre investment plan in the region. It will create jobs and breed confidence, but we need to do more to Get Oldham Working.

No one organisation, sector or approach can do this, so we need to marshal all the resources available.

It simply won’t do for us to stand by and see another generation cast aside, forgotten or left without hope or ambition. Our young people are our future. This isn’t just a nice thing to do – it’s essential for the long-term future of our borough.

By 2015 to Get Oldham Working we will have in place the Oldham Youth Guarantee. That will mean no young person will leave school at 18 without the guarantee of a job, education, apprenticeship or support towards self-employment.

We want to show young people that Oldham is town which believes in you – a town which once led the  world and hasn’t lost that spirit of enterprise.

We want to say to every young person – if you’re willing to roll your sleeves up and get on in life you will have the full support of your town behind you.

Now that’s a big ambition – unique in fact – and the first in the country. But it is possible. We can do it if we pool resources and everybody does their bit.
I asked firms at the One Oldham Business Awards to give us momentum and start by pledging their support to Get Oldham Working.

That can be a range of things. Businesses can, for example, help by taking on an apprenticeship with funding support for just £2,000 a year. They can also create a job, or commit to supporting local suppliers and producers.

I told them that our ambition for Oldham is big, and urged them to think big too.

I have already outlined these plans to one of our town’s biggest supporters – Mr Norman Stoller CBE, a Freeman of our Borough.

On Friday night he shared his vision for young people in Oldham to be the best that they can – and agreed to kick-start our plans with a staggering donation.

Norman has pledged £1 million of his hard-earned money from the Stoller Charitable Trust to support our next generation of entrepreneurs in Oldham over the next four years.

It was an astonishing gesture from an inspirational man.

From the bottom of my heart I wish to thank him again – not just for his donation, but for his belief in our town.

We can do this together – and don’t let anyone say that we can’t!

I would ask all local businesses to please visit our website and add their pledge to the campaign via this link Get Oldham Working – Pledge Card 

Thanks for listening,

Jim

ENTERPRISE: Oldham’s first-ever Student Market was held last Saturday at the Hilton Arcade. The O Project event saw arts, crafts and specialist stalls.

MANY disabled people were left facing an uncertain future when Government funding cuts led to the closure of the Remploy factory last August.

These were workers who had built up many years of loyal service in an environment that was crucial to their lives because they’d previously had difficulty securing work within ‘mainstream’ employment.

Compounding the misery was the fact that the Oldham plant, in Bardsley, had a good reputation.

It made excellent products and it had a healthy order book – but it wasn’t spared the axe.

When former workers and local investors approached Oldham Council with the aim to restart elements of the former business it was fair to say that the hurdles in front of us seemed high.

Many would have turned away at this point but the team led by local businessman Mike Braddock worked with the help of Michael Meacher MP and Councillor Shoab Akhtar, who leads on Business and Skills for us in Cabinet.

This new factory at the Trent Industrial Estate in Shaw – revealed this week – is going to be run by managers who were part of the previous Remploy brand.

That means customers can be assured of the same excellent service whilst also retaining that highly-valued approach to employing people with disabilities and limiting conditions.

The end result is that 22 people will now be employed by 4D Enterprises – and I am pleased for several reasons.

Firstly this is a welcome ray of light against the backdrop of national economic doom and gloom.

Secondly, when Oldham Council was put to the test on its pledge to be ‘Open for Business’ it passed.

And thirdly it also shows that other people in Oldham are also ready to – and really do – step up to the mark when asked.

We’ve also just seen the launch of our first-ever student market in the Hilton Arcade last weekend.

This fine covered walkway, which takes shoppers from High Street to Tommyfield, has always had the obvious potential to offer something different to our town centre and, on Saturday, it showed that in spades.

One of the pupils involved in this is Eric Bishyika who I had the pleasure to meet on my ‘round the town tour’ of all our secondary schools.

Eric took part in the conversation at the new Oasis Academy School on Hollins Road and I was convinced then that this is a young man likely to be a star – and possibly millionaire – in the making.

Having secured a place at the Peter Jones Academy, Eric was already selling clothing from a stall at Afflecks Palace in Manchester.

This is also an idea which came to us by Twitter from a local resident. We then took it to Oldham College, who were already looking at responding to student calls for better facilities in the town centre, and what you see today is the outcome of that.

Thanks to those who are part of the O Project we now have our very own piece of arts, crafts and specialist trading right here in Oldham.

What makes this so important – apart from creating a fantastic reason to visit our town centre – is the spirit of enterprise that it encourages amongst our young people.

Both these stories are evidence that Oldham is beginning to shake itself off and really step up to the mark.

This is going to be an exciting year for our town centre with Metrolink construction completing and works beginning on our flagship cinema and restaurant complex in the Old Town Hall.

And there is much more to come.

Finally – please note –  because of the Alexandra Ward by election taking place on Thursday, May 9, my next blog update will now be posted here on Wednesday, May  15.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

CHEERS? Half of “tied pubs” in the UK earn less then £15,000 a year. So what can be done to help them survive?

OLDHAM Council has agreed to carry out a review of pubs across the Borough to address growing concerns from people about the rapid pace of local closures.

Pubs are important to the fabric of our town, and also our nation.

Many overseas visitors look forward to sampling a ‘good British pub’, such is their symbolic place in our cultural history – and as part of our national identity.

But rose-tinted views of the perfect British pub fall some way off the mark when you compare them with the reality of our changing towns in 2013.

There are many varied and complex reasons why pubs are struggling but the sheer number of closures should raise the alarm with anyone who recognises that pubs are not simply a place to buy a pint, but also a vital community asset.

In many villages the shops have closed and post offices are gone, but the humble pub remains – for now.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is estimating that around 1,000 more pubs will close in the next 12 months.

In Oldham itself we have seen 50 licences for bars and clubs surrendered from January 2008 to date – and there will be some premises that still have licences in force that have also closed but are not yet counted.

So, if pubs are such a vital part of our fabric, why are they under so much threat?

Nationally consumer trends are leaning towards more and more people drinking socially at home.

It’s cheaper and couples can also have a drink together without worrying about childcare.

Increasingly the pubs which do well are those that are serving good quality food but – for an average couple with two children – that is a rare treat, given the cost.

Here in Oldham and many other places the cultural mix has also changed.

In many places the community doesn’t drink alcohol and therefore simply wouldn’t use a pub as a matter of course.

And I suppose if we class pubs as community assets the community also has to want them and use them –  and if they don’t then that’s fine too.

The Government has just announced proposals for a new code of conduct on the issue of abuse of the ‘beer tie’: whereby landlords are forced into only buying supplies from the pub companies that own the venues, and often at high prices.

It will apply to those companies owning more than 500 pubs – targeting the area where it says 90 per cent of complaints are received.

But taxation is also a large part of the issue here – and successive governments have failed to address the impact of this on what are very low margin sales.

The Government did freeze the beer duty increase in this year’s Budget, saving 1p off the price of a pint, but that measure from Mr Osbourne, I’m afraid, completely missed the scale of the challenge.

Based on my own modest intake of a couple of pints a week it would take me almost five years before I earned back my first free pint – Cheers, George!

Breweries themselves have to take a long hard look in the mirror too.

Not all of them are the same, but it’s clear that some in the industry are pricing themselves out of the market. High rents and expensive ‘ties’ on stock mean it is very difficult for a landlord to make any kind of a reasonable wage to live on.

The pressure to ‘realise a return’ on assets sees many landlords paying rents as high as £77,000 a year – the rate for one Oldham pub currently being advertised (The Grapes, Lees).

That is also on top of your Business Rates, staffing and running costs – plus the small matter of stock.

The best way to protect your local pub as a resident for now is, quite simply, to use it.

But I am looking forward to seeing what the cross-party Overview and Scrutiny Committee examining this issue in Oldham comes up with.

Let’s hope they can offer some real practical solutions that can help our landlords and communities alike.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

INSPIRING: Council Leader Jim McMahon at last week’s Mahdlo Youth Zone annual awards event with POINT (Parents of Oldham In Touch) members who won the ‘Working in Partnership’ award.

I HAD THE pleasure and humbling opportunity to attend the Mahdlo Youth Zone’s annual awards last Saturday.

As Council Leader I get many invites to events and functions and – almost without exception – they are enjoyable and give me a great chance to meet different residents and community groups.

When Mahdlo first opened in March 2012 there were some concerns expressed.

It was suggested that because the facility was going to be based in the town centre, some young people wouldn’t want to travel to it.

If this was just a standard youth centre I perhaps might have agreed with those fears.

The scale of this building, however, with its first-class sporting and performance equipment, coupled with dedicated staff and volunteers, makes it one of the best facilities not just here in Oldham, but in the country – and I don’t say that lightly.

What is most impressive is that from a small idea this has developed into a leading facility which is already clearly making a huge difference to young peoples’ lives.

When talking about life chances and opportunities I don’t generally believe it is as simple as looking at someone’s financial situation and ability to access things.

More often it is about someone believing in you, investing time and supporting you through life’s ups and downs as a youngster which actually moulds you as a person.

What stands out at Mahdlo is the variety of young people using the centre from all different backgrounds and the varying interests that are so readily accommodated.

During the awards event I was moved by the young people and volunteers who spoke about what they have achieved.

I reflected afterwards on whether some of those people would have had the same opportunities and confidence had it not been for Mahdlo, and concluded the answer is ‘probably not’.

This facility would not exist at all had it not been for the vision and leadership of various members of our business community working in partnership with Oldham Council and other funders to make it a reality.

We all aspire to make a difference in what we do – and Mahdlo does just that, so it’s a big ‘well done’ to Team Oldham.

Staying on the subject of local facilities you will no doubt be aware that we have now signed a ten-year contract with Oldham Community Leisure to manage our leisure centres until at least 2013.

After a highly competitive process, the best bid won.

Going through that whole procedure is a big undertaking in itself and that was made even weightier by all the added discussions about potential costings and scope for the new leisure facilities in Oldham and Royton.

As we move forward with these plans it is absolutely clear that we couldn’t please everyone, but I can assure you that it wasn’t for the want of trying.

We went through absolutely painstaking reviews, business planning, revised plans and timetabling to see if we could accommodate all the various interest groups.

But I was also clear that the Oldham facility had to leave a legacy and be a truly Borough-wide centre that offered facilities which complement – not simply duplicate – our existing leisure centres.

The end result will see a flagship facility complete with bowling and an eight-court indoor sports hall that will enable us to hold regional televised competitions that have previously been off limits to us across a whole range of popular sports.

What we couldn’t balance and factor in was a diving facility.

When considering diving we worked very hard to see if we could retain the facility in the Borough.

But we are also mindful that Oldham isn’t an island and facilities for this are also available in neighbouring towns within easy driving distance.

If money were no object then, of course, physically it would have been possible to include diving provision. But with so many differing interests and users to balance here it is inevitable that not everyone can be accommodated.

On balance I believe we have given proper scrutiny to the plans, challenged back and ensured that the end product will be something our Borough can be proud of – but we have also been realistic and pragmatic.

The editor of the Oldham Chronicle has rightly held us to account throughout this process and I think we are all at least clear and agreed on one thing.

Oldham needed to significantly improve its sporting provision. Now that we have a plan to do that we must focus and crack on with getting these facilities built.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

POTHOLES: Oldham Council has made repairs to  more than 4,500 highways defects like this in the last year alone.

SOME MONTHS ago I reported on the work that we are doing to address the number of potholes on our Borough’s roads.

Since becoming Leader I have been determined to drive forward our regeneration agenda, but I am also a stickler for getting the basics right too – the everyday things that you and I are paying our Council Tax for.

It’s no surprise whatsoever that potholes continue to dominate any survey that we do of local concerns.

Why? Well, we all feel them. Whether you’re a driver or passenger the smallest bump can irritate and larger ones can drive people mad: myself included.

I’ve made it my business to find the money needed to help us catch up on this, but also to find out why the Council does some things which to normal folk seem, well, odd.

On the money front we knew we needed to find extra funding because the number of potholes has been growing, not reducing – especially with the extreme winter weather we’ve been having.

To address this we made an extra £2 million available. That hasn’t been easy but it was the right thing to do if we were to stand any chance of catching up.

In the past 12 months we’ve now carried out repairs to more than 4,500 highways defects.

That says two things to me. The first is the sheer scale of the challenge, with even more to do, and secondly that our investment is slowly beginning to pay off.

But we also need to be realistic.

We simply don’t have the money to keep throwing millions at potholes.

Once we get on an even kneel with this we need to give more clarity on what we can and cannot do with the dwindling resources available.

As it stands we try and please everyone everywhere – even if it doesn’t feel like that sometimes – but spreading limited resources so thinly that nobody sees the benefit doesn’t help anyone.

So as we work to get even on the potholes situation we’re now looking at a new approach whereby we give overall priority to main roads (A and B roads) as our Priority Routes.

The level of service on these routes should be first class because the vast majority of the public are using them on a daily basis.

But I also know that we shouldn’t just be looking at potholes. We should include in this programme works to signage, road markings and street furniture, including basic maintenance like painting and replacing damaged sections. These roads are our ‘shop window’ and we need to get them right.

We will then ensure those potholes which are causing a danger or could give rise to a compensation claim are prioritised. It makes no sense to ignore those potholes which cost us far more in the end through other costs.

We will, of course, aim to repair all potholes. We can’t just leave roads in a state of disrepair, but if we do prioritise main routes we will need to accept that smaller roads and cul de sacs will take longer to sort. That’s not ideal, but it is sensible and it makes the most of a limited budget.

We also know that residents get infuriated when reporting a series of potholes only for the Council to come out and just repair one or two; leaving others which don’t quite meet the required size or depth to warrant immediate action.

I’ve been firm that this is neither efficient nor good for the Council’s reputation and have been assured that staff are now directed to use their discretion and ensure we don’t tie ourselves in rules and red tape when residents simply want a smooth road to drive on.

We’re also not going to let the utility companies off the hook here. Most of them do a good job in fairness, but a sizeable minority don’t and the reinstatement works they leave behind can often cause angst to motorists.

We’re well on with tackling this now with them and have undertaken a system of ‘core sampling’ whereby we drill the repairs to ensure it was completed to the required standard. If it isn’t, we do take action.

I’ll continue updating you on the battle with the potholes in the coming months as we have more information and news on what is a massive national problem.

STUDY MONEY: Jim McMahon, Oldham Council Leader pictured at the launch of Oldham College’s excellent ‘Study Money’ scheme

Finally this week I wanted to welcome a fantastic new initiative by Oldham College called Study Money.

This means that from September students from the poorest families will be able to claim £20 a week to help them study and pay for equipment, travel, lunches and stationery.

Since the Education Maintenance Allowance was scrapped we know that young people are finding the costs of education increasingly prohibitive - especially in the current economic climate.

The Study Money offer gives children from low-income families another affordable route into education that otherwise would not have been there for them.

Oldham College is a great partner in terms of our ambitions for Oldham – and how we are actively trying to improve access to the best education opportunities for all our residents – and this is an excellent scheme.

Thanks for listening,

Jim