OLDHAM MORTGAGE: (L-R) Alan Kirkham (Alan Kirkham Estate Agents), Jim McMahon (Oldham Council Leader), Richard Powell (Ryder & Dutton) and Tim Haughton (Clarke & Co)

 OUR NEW Oldham Mortgage scheme launched last week – the first modern Local Authority mortgage in Greater Manchester.

Subject to Cabinet approval it will give first-time buyers a real helping hand to get onto the property ladder.

I met with local Estate Agents on Friday morning to explain the scheme and their response was very positive.

The Oldham Mortgage will initially assist around 50 families to realise their dreams of buying a first home – and will have an even wider knock-on effect.

At present there are many people who want to get onto the property ladder but – even though they could afford the mortgage repayments – find themselves unable to save a big enough deposit.

By ‘doing our bit’ here – providing an indemnity in partnership with Lloyds TSB – we can reduce the typical deposit they need from 25 per cent to five per cent.

I see this initiative as a very important part of our Co-operative Council agenda because it’s about giving people a ‘hand up’, not a handout.

By providing active support like this we are enabling residents to do more for themselves and to realise their aspirations.

At the same time we are also helping to stimulate the local economy by giving new impetus to the housing market.

That encapsulates exactly what our Co-operative Council is all about.

Working with partners in the public, private or voluntary sector to empower people like this is key to putting them more actively in control of their own futures.

We have deliberately structured the Oldham Mortgage to make it as flexible as possible.

We’re encouraging buyers to purchase from the open market – which makes it different to many existing schemes across the UK which are linked to buying new build homes.

We also decided not to include ‘right to buy’ properties in the scheme for two reasons.

Firstly, we didn’t feel it was in the wider public interest to support the sale of social housing.

And secondly we believe that to do so would do anything for the local housing market.

By allowing buyers to select homes from those on the open market experts predict it could lead to a knock-on effect of about 250 sales in total because first-time buyers really help to spark the property chain into life.

The scheme is also open to people from other areas who may wish to relocate to the Borough.

We hope this makes it attractive to companies considering relocating to Oldham – and gives us another competitive edge above neighbouring towns.

The conversation I had with the estate agents about the local housing market was very informative.

They explained that things are actually beginning to pick up but that the biggest issue at present seems to be perception.

I heard that many would-be first time buyers out there seem to be sitting on their hands because they believe they simply cannot get a mortgage full stop.

Yet the estate agents believe there is actually far more willingness out there to lend than people generally perceive.

Hopefully the Oldham Mortgage will provide a spark and some much-needed assistance in tackling that ‘confidence’ issue.

There are, of course, other issues that need tackling here in the longer-term – such as the quality of the housing stock and the need to encourage more affordable social housing.

We’re committed to ‘doing our bit’ on both fronts and agreed to keep our dialogue ongoing with the estate agents to ensure we can work co-operatively together for the greater good.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE: Jim McMahon with local volunteers cleaning up at Moston Brook

YOU’RE probably starting to notice some media activity this week launching our new ‘Love Where You Live’ (LWYL) scheme.

I want to use today’s blog to explain a bit more about how this campaign epitomises Oldham Council’s new co-operative approach to public services.

In a nutshell, LWYL aims to do two key things.

Firstly, it seeks to highlight the fantastic community and volunteer spirit that already exists across all parts of our Borough.

And secondly it aspires to help that network grow further, and achieve more by encouraging even more people to ‘do their bit’.

LWYL’s starting point this week has been to highlight the fantastic work already being done by neighbourhood ambassadors like Adam Pietras from Failsworth, who built a community garden, or Malika Khatun, who runs activities for young women at her local youth centre in West Oldham.

Case studies like those are really only the tip of the iceberg of what’s going on.

You don’t often hear it shouted about, but the level of voluntary and unpaid activities in our Borough is higher than the regional and national averages.

But years before even coming into office here I was aware that Oldham Council has historically often been seen as putting barriers in the way of activities like this – and I’m determined that has to change.

What we need to do in the future is to become ‘enablers’. The Council needs to actively assist and work in partnership with communities on projects that will deliver social good.

As an example of what I mean here, I went along to Wrigley Head at Moston Brook on Monday to help a gang of 40 volunteers who want to improve the local environment.

CIVIC PRIDE: A team of 40 volunteers are 'doing their bit' to improve the Wrigley Head site

These residents pledged to do their bit through unpaid activities like litter-picking and tree-planting at the site.

In return, Oldham Council has now invested some money to make it more secure and paid for bigger improvements like graffiti removal works.

The end result works for everyone.

It’s just one small example of this new approach, but the overriding message here is crystal clear.

Oldham Council doesn’t own this Borough. It belongs to the people who live here – and only if we work better in partnership can we make significant improvements to it as a place.

LWYL aims to encourage more people to get actively involved again in their communities and you can do that in many ways.

‘Doing your bit’ in your area doesn’t necessarily mean you have to set up a huge project or break your back digging a community garden.

Your contribution can be as simple as checking on elderly neighbours, offering to take their wheelie bins out, reporting grot spots to us, or attending local meetings to have your say and play a more active part in decision-making.

A key part of LWYL is the new website we’ve set up at www.oldham.gov.uk/love

I’d urge people to pay this – and our new Facebook pages – a visit.

We hope these will eventually be used as a hub where residents can talk about what they’re doing in the area, what opportunities and events they have planned, and even just share ideas about how things can be improved.

As part of all this Oldham Council’s staff are also going to be doing their bit.

We’re now encouraging staff to spend three days a year working with local communities where their skills and input can make a really positive difference.

It’s clear to me now that our responsibilities as a Local Authority go way beyond just service delivery.

They include providing civic leadership and helping the growth of pride and engagement in your neighbourhood.

If we are to meet the public sector financial challenges that we’re facing, we have to be firmly on the side of residents.

And we now must demonstrably start to show what that means - to explain how working smarter alongside you can benefit everyone.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

BACK TO SCHOOL: Jim McMahon with his new friends from Higher Failsworth Primary School

I WENT back to school last week with a visit to Higher Failsworth Primary.

Rebecca Eade, a teacher at Stansfield Street, invited me along and I’m indebted to her and all the staff there because it proved an inspiring experience.

I was asked to talk about Oldham Council and what Ward Members do.

My audience was 25 children who were all Year Five pupils, aged just nine.

Even at that relatively tender age they were far less apathetic than those sweeping generalisations you often hear made about young people being “uninterested” in current affairs and finding politics a total “turn-off”.

You simply can’t stereotype young people as a uniform group like that and I was astonished by some of the topics they asked me about.

This particular group has been doing a project which seeks to work out – by pitting politicians against pop stars – who has the most influence in the world today?

It’s an interesting question and one they’ve taken to with relish.

I was shown letters they’ve sent to the Prime Minister and other politicians, which I sincerely hope they’ll get answers to.

They also clearly pay keen attention to what their Mums and Dads are talking about at home.

You could almost hear their parent’s own voices and phrases in the room as they stepped up to quiz me about Oldham town centre, or the disruption caused by Metrolink roadworks.

It wasn’t just local issues that interested them either.

I was astonished when one boy asked me what I thought about Government proposals to increase the Motorway speed limit – and blow away when another then asked me to explain more about Scottish independence might mean!

The work they’d all done beforehand was a real credit to them, the school and their parents, and I was mightily impressed.

Although I am now Council Leader, I also remain a Ward Member and think visits like this are hugely important.

Getting out regularly to see a range of people in your area should be the bread and butter through which Councillors engage with residents. It’s how we take the pulse of the public and provide visible civic leadership – and we should do it across all age ranges.

The evening before my ‘school trip’, I had attended Full Council at which we did our first ever live Public Question Time – taking questions via email, Twitter and Facebook.

I thought this was a huge success as the pace of the meeting and calibre of the questions was markedly better than any I can recall before it.

It was also much more of a test for Members, as it should be, and a huge step forward in making our meetings more accessible, accountable and relevant to the public.

I must close this week by paying tribute to Ken Hulme, whose death I was shocked to hear about last Friday.

As a resident, and then later as a Saddleworth Parish Councillor, Ken was often a critical thorn in the side of Oldham Council –  but that is no bad thing for democracy.

Ken engaged with decision-makers rather than sniping from the sidelines. He put people on the spot and fought with tireless energy for causes, so the people of Delph have lost a real community champion.

My thoughts are with his family and friends at what must be a very difficult time.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

TAXING MATTERS: Government proposals to localise Council Tax Benefit are going to be a big issue for all Local Authorities in the coming months

NEW Government proposals to localise Council Tax Benefit (CTB) are going to prompt plenty of debate in the coming months.

The Department for Communities and Local Government wants the plans – which would see different rates of CTB paid in different parts of the country – to come into force from April 2013.

So what will it mean for Oldham residents?

For the uninitiated, Council Tax Benefit is a national pool of money that Government makes available to enable each Local Authority to give discretionary relief to people in their area.

Key components of this are, for example, the Single Person Discount and discounts for pensioners.

The Government now wants this benefit to be administered locally by Councils. Each would need to set and introduce their own eligibility criteria – but only after the money given to us has also been cut by ten per cent.

At the same time it is also proposed that pensioners should continue to get total protection from this reduction – i.e. their discretionary relief must remain untouched.

In Oldham our support for pensioners makes up about 60 per cent of our total CTB funding. Another group of recipients – about 25 per cent – would also be exempt from reductions in their support because of our duties to tackle child poverty and support vulnerable groups.

What this all then means is that most of that 10 per cent budget cut is likely to fall on the remaining recipients of CTB – typically the support we provide to low-income families or people in receipt of the Single Person Discount.

This would potentially impact on a smaller number of people much harder and the question now for us – and every other Local Authority – is exactly where and how to reduce relief in a manner that is as fair as possible.

We’re already debating these issues internally and there are no easy answers: especially when you consider that the existing Single Person Discount doesn’t take into account an individual’s actual ability to pay.

Difficult decisions like this require leadership and I’m determined that we must first undertake a thorough consultation exercise with our residents.

We need to explain these issues with clarity and listen to what you think it is fair and right to do.

Despite what the Sunday Express wrongly claimed at the weekend, no decisions have been made here in Oldham, and your responses to that consultation will be absolutely key to shaping what we introduce in April 2013.

Returning to more immediate concerns this remains an extremely busy time at Oldham Council.

At Cabinet on Monday we agreed to look at plans to form a new company that would deliver our social care services in the future.

If these plans proceed it could see up to 500 staff forming a ‘trading arm’ in which the Council would own a majority stake and a minority stake would be owned by an employee co-operative. I’ll return to this topic as the scheme makes more progress at a later date.

Tonight (Wednesday) we also have Full Council – including our pilot ‘Public Question Time’ – and you can now watch the whole meeting online for the first-time ever at www.oldham.gov.uk from 6pm.

February is also Budget-setting time too, of course. The opposition outlined their alternative budget last night and our own final proposals are undergoing final tweaks before going to Full Council on February 22.

I’m also looking forward to paying a visit to Higher Failsworth Primary School tomorrow. I’ve been asked to explain to young people there what Oldham Council is, what we do, and what it means to their daily lives.

That won’t be an easy task and I know from past experience it could yet turn out to be my toughest grilling of the week!

Thanks for listening,

Jim

IMPRESSED: Councillor McMahon with Councillor Dave Hibbert inspecting the Trinity Mirror printing plant

I PAID an interesting visit to the Trinity Mirror Printing plant in Hollinwood last week.

This site is home to the northern hub of the print services arm of Trinity Mirror – the UK’s largest newspaper publisher.

The growth of the business at that site has been phenomenal in recent years and is a real Oldham success story.

The facility is now the base for an impressive array of national and regional titles that includes the Daily and Sunday Mirror, The People, the Manchester Evening News and its associated titles, and the Oldham Chronicle to name just a few.

I was invited – alongside Dave Hibbert, our Cabinet Member for Housing, Transport and Regeneration – to see the operation for ourselves and it proved an extremely useful trip.

The overriding impression we got was of a hugely-professional and focussed organisation at work, but I must confess it was also completely different to what I expected.

I imagined beforehand that we’d be visiting an extremely noisy and dirty environment full of frantic people running hither and hither, but that certainly wasn’t the case.

What we actually experienced was a huge warehouse full of automated vehicles that drove themselves around. Steel rods in the floor directed them with information on where to go, what to move – and to where – and what to do next: all driven by mind-blowing technology.

It was a hugely impressive sight to see in action but, I must admit, it also felt somewhat spooky.

Cutting-edge technology is, of course, essential to keep Trinity Mirror competitive in the national marketplace. You have to keep apace with that just to ensure that you remain in business.

But there are also around 500 staff working from this site in various capacities, ranging from their huge distribution networks of drivers and vans to those overseeing the manual addition of advertisement insertions into newspapers before they begin to be sent out.

Whilst at Trinity Mirror we also spoke with key personnel who were keen to learn more about our Co-operative vision for the Borough.

Our challenge as a Council now is to get out and about more to sites like this – and communities – to outline that.

We need to explain what it means to them and their areas because I have always believed that many of the best Co-operative schemes will be organic – i.e. ones that residents and businesses innovate and come up with themselves to tackle what they identify as a local priority.

Although it’s early days, Trinity Mirror did indicate that they were interested in finding out more about what they can do – potentially with staff joining in some of the volunteering schemes that we have planned – and we certainly welcome the opportunity to discuss that further.

We also talked about how they and other businesses in the area can help each other through mutually beneficially schemes – like staff discounts – that can help the local economy.

A key driver to that Co-operative vision is about leadership. It’s about ‘doing our bit’ to help local organisations prosper – and a good example of that is our partnership with the Oldham Coliseum.

This week the theatre is closing the doors at Fairbottom Street for the first time in 125 years to undertake extensive – and crucial – repair works.

As a Council we’ve committed to assisting the Coliseum with a grant to fund these works – and with the greater part of that sum being kept aside to help realise their vision of a new permanent home in the town centre.

It’s vital that these repair works costs are kept as low as possible because every extra pound spent on this will impact on what they have left to fund a new development.

Both ourselves and the Coliseum are in total agreement that we cannot simply sit on our hands and wait for an economic recovery to deliver funding opportunities for a new venue.

Our joint aspiration is for this to be in the town centre where it will be absolutely central to our plans to shift the ‘cultural offer’ there towards more family-friendly and leisure-oriented activities.

The Coliseum Theatre will now be temporarily housed at Grange Arts Centre, Rochdale Road, until it can reopen back at Fairbottom Street in September. 

I’d urge residents to keep supporting the theatre in its temporary venue as the entertainment line-up on offer will continue to be just as varied – and excellent – as ever.

I’m again meeting Coliseum officials later this week to discuss that long-term vision and ensure they finally get the kind of bespoke modern facility that it has long-deserved.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

ECONOMY: Councillor McMahon believes investment by Local Authorities must be focussed on job creation and schemes that can attract additional inward investment.

AS SEVERAL EU countries, including France, see their credit rating downgraded it does focus the mind again on economic matters – and in particular here in Oldham.

Expert assessments are that it will take until 2032 – that’s another 20 years – to return to our 2008 economic position.

The problem with that for Oldham is twofold.

Firstly, 2008 might have been better for us – but it still wasn’t great.

Secondly, waiting another 20 years just to be back at a standstill simply won’t move our Borough forward.

In that context the challenge for all Council leaders is to understand their local economy, understand the national direction and assess the UK’s position in the global economy – not an easy task.

We can learn a lot from the last decade.

At a time when the rest of the UK was growing significantly Oldham stood still.

Worse still, when you unpick our numbers, it tells a tale of private sector decline and public sector boom with roughly the same numbers of private sector jobs lost here as were created in the public sector.

That’s all well and good but we’re also now experiencing massive public sector cuts that affect the Local Authority, NHS, Police and Fire services to name but a few. A rapid increase in public sector jobs simply isn’t going to happen.

As political leaders we naturally also might become more cautious about embarking on ‘big ticket’ projects when finances are tight. But at the same time, our aspirations for the future of the Borough shouldn’t diminish. Our challenge is to marry these two instincts and get the big decisions right.

Even when times are tough there’s usually some money to invest, but clearly less. It’s therefore vital we focus on any investment on job creation and schemes that will attract inward investment.

We must also be clear that at times it is not best for us as a Council to deliver development. What we can do though is provide leadership, corral resources and ensure any effort or investment is used to the best effect.

We must also accept that although we aspire for and demand high-quality jobs, for many people ‘a job is a job’ and we shouldn’t be snobbish about new jobs being created. Clearly there needs to be a mix.

We should also recognise that growth might not now necessarily mean a shiny new building: it might mean using what facilities we already have in a better way.

We also need to recognise that the type of jobs available is changing across the UK, which also competes in a global market. Science, new technologies and creative industries will grow, but not at the rate needed in Oldham – so what else is going to help us expand?

Investing in education has paid dividends for Oldham and this surely cannot be faulted. We have an outstanding College and Sixth Form, for example. We are also home to a University Centre and schools that are improving across the board. These factors will undoubtedly assist in attracting investment in higher skilled jobs in the future.

As a Council we also have a large land bank which we can release for investment. This might be for housing or commercial properties and without a doubt will make an investor look at Oldham with interest.

Improving our infrastructure – to which Metrolink is central with routes to Manchester Airport and Media City – will also aid recovery, as will pursuing an investment strategy that is focused on job creation.

We must ensure too that when we talk about development plans they are real opportunities. For instance, if we say we have a development site, it has to be just that: not simply a vacant piece of land. Planning permissions, other formal permissions and associated infrastructure should be in place now so that any would-be investor can get going straight away.

Ultimately the recovery will be private sector-led. We can’t fight against the way in which Government funding and policy leans towards that, and nor should we.

But that also does not mean the private sector will simply ‘sort it’ for Oldham.

For us to defy the critics and prove we can do better than 20 years of drag we have to show clear leadership and – most importantly – provide real opportunities for growth; not just warm words and artists’ impressions.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

DEMOLITION: The Park Road Warehouse had to demolished last week after an inspection found the building to be in imminent danger of collapse.

I’VE GOT mixed feelings about the demolition of the Park Road Warehouse last weekend.

As a keen amateur local historian, I’m more inclined than most to preserve our heritage. But I also recognise that years of decline have taken their toll and with the best will in the world some buildings are beyond rescue.

I also accept that – whilst people like me might look at our older buildings and see history – for those living side by side with them they can be symbols of decline.

The fact that a Borough which was once home to more than 360 mills has such a smaller number today is evidence that, whilst some can find a modern use, the world has moved on.

As the former cotton spinning capital of the world we have a large legacy of these mill and warehouse buildings.

That’s left our Borough – according to Wikipedia (the fount of all knowledge, so it must be true!) – with more Grade II listed structures in our boundaries than any other Greater Manchester authority (excluding the City of Manchester). That’s 524 to be precise.

The days of a textile magnate building a mill and nestling homes around it to keep an eye on his workforce are long gone.

People no longer need nor desire to live and work in this type of arrangement. They no longer work en masse in mills at the end of their streets and they also don’t crave to live in an industrialised setting.

There are some mills in the Borough, like Earl Mill and Anchor Mill, and Albert Street near my own home where historically we’ve been able to find a new use for them that has justified investment. But that doesn’t mean that every mill here should – or can – be saved.

The Council has often inherited buildings, or become the ‘buyer of last resort’ which would have made sense at the time, but this has left us with a large number of buildings which take their toll on the Oldham taxpayer.

We have to be more realistic about the economic climate we operate in and that means we must only prioritise investment where it will definitely make a significant and tangible improvement to people’s lives. Either we accept a large number of substandard buildings – or we concentrate on the very best.

Even with the loss of Park Road Warehouse we still have the old Town Hall, former Library, Foxdenton Hall and other civic buildings such as Royton Town Hall amongst those which require priority investment to ensure they have a long term future.

Failsworth Town Hall has shown what can be achieved with focused investment and we now need to move to ensure we have flagship buildings which show Oldham’s heritage in the best possible light.

On a totally unrelated topic I must say I was delighted to be amongst more than 6,000 locals who travelled to Anfield on Friday night to see Latics take on Liverpool in the FA Cup.

I will preface my remarks here by pointing out that I’m not claiming to be a diehard supporter. In fact, as anyone who knows me will confirm, my knowledge of football would take about ten seconds to explain.

But whether you are an Oldham Athletic fan or not, you cannot deny that the town’s professional football club is a hugely important part of our Borough’s wider cultural offer.

I hugely enjoyed the experience – probably much more than I expected to – and I thought Latics and their supporters were a credit to the town.

The players refused to be daunted by their task and took the game to Liverpool with a confidence and spirit you simply had to admire. The general consensus was they matched their hosts for an hour or so and the gulf in class – even to my untrained eyes – was certainly not glaring.

It was just a fantastic occasion and the main thing I will remember about it was the amazing atmosphere whipped up by Oldham fans.

This was the first time I’ve seen local people shouting in such voice and numbers with obvious pride about where they come from – and it was heart-warming to see and hear “We love you Oldham” being sung out.

It’s fair to say that when we announced Oldham Council’s proposed deal to keep Oldham Athletic in the Borough and redevelop Boundary Park last August not everyone was supportive – but Friday night showed me two things…

Firstly, Anfield demonstrated how vital a good stadium and infrastructure is to helping a club flourish and maximise its revenue streams.

Secondly, it showed me just how Oldham Athletic helps to put our Borough on the national map in a positive way – and provides a real feelgood factor for the local area.

Good luck to them against Chesterfield later this month. Here’s hoping they can secure a trip to Wembley for the JPT Trophy Final – and another memorable occasion, and perhaps with a better result.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

HAPPY NEW YEAR: From Jim McMahon, Oldham Council Leader

I’D LIKE to wish all our residents a very happy New Year.

With 2012 upon us this seems a fitting time to take stock – and look ahead.

Despite the national economic picture, the New Year does promise some exciting new opportunities and positive experiences.

Thinking out loud, these include Metrolink getting up and running in our Borough; the opening of Mahdlo, our new town centre youth club, and some inspirational new Academy facilities; work commencing on hundreds of new or refurbished homes from the Gateways to Oldham project; the Olympic torch visiting town; Oldham representing the region in Britain in Bloom; and Oldham Athletic possibly visiting Wembley in the JPT Final.

But I do fully recognise how tough 2011 has been.

Economic austerity has hit every sector of society – and every area of activity – from household budgets to jobs prospects and service delivery.

These challenges will affect us for a generation and a new approach is needed.

None of us – residents, public sector and business alike – can afford to continue doing things the way we always have. So what’s the alternative?

Our ambition is to become a Co-operative Borough and the idea behind that is simple.

It’s about everybody doing their bit for Oldham – and all benefit.

It is the International Year of Co-operatives in 2012 and we want to use traditional values of that movement – fairness, openness and responsibility – to drive this change.

It starts with Oldham Council leading by example: ‘doing our bit’ by being more directly accountable to you and delivering better value for money services.

That is already happening across the whole range of our activity.

The Audit Commission has just recognised our financial arrangements as the best nationwide – giving you confidence we are prudent with your money – and our performance in key areas like children’s services, fostering and adults services, is now up there with the best.

Crucially in 2012 you’ll see us striving to end the ‘ivory tower’ approach that says ‘we know best’.

You’ll see new district town halls with staff based back in the heart of your communities: listening and responding better to your doorstep service needs.

You’ll see District Partnerships with more budget control and the ability to bid for ‘big ticket’ projects that properly reflect your aspirations.

You’ll see Council staff using leave to ‘put something back’ by assisting community groups and projects with specialist skills.

And you’ll also see us reviewing all our investments to ensure we only now deal with ethical institutions that share our vision to work in the public interest and treat you with respect – starting with bringing our bailiff service back ‘in house’.

Historically, many residents have shrugged shoulders and left it to “someone else” to sort things out in their area – whether that was a need to tackle local flytipping or litter, for example, to check on an elderly neighbour, or to speak up about community safety.

But I believe we can create a more confident and enterprising community if everyone here is contributing ‘their bit’ to making Oldham a great place to live and work.

For that to happen we need local residents to engage better with us.

We need you to think about taking more responsibility for your areas, telling us about problems, offering solutions, helping to shape services, and contributing some of your own time and energy.

Be in no doubt that we have serious work and challenges to face in the months and years that lie ahead, but I promise that Oldham Council will be listening harder than ever before in 2012.

There are some historic bridges to rebuild and lessons for us to learn – but there are also some fantastic opportunities to seize.

This is traditionally a time to reflect on the changes we all want or need to make. So what could be more positive for your neighbours and community than a New Year’s Resolution to ‘do your bit’ in 2012?

Jim

* Please note my next Leader’s Blog will be posted on Wednesday, January 11

HIGH STREET: Oldham town centre, like others up and down the country, is struggling in the face of competition from out-of-town retail parks and Internet shopping

SHOPPING is right at the top of most people’s ‘to do’ list right now with the Christmas countdown nearing an end.

Retail matters are also on my mind following the publication of Mary Portas’ review into the future of the High Street economy.

For the uninitiated, this new report makes a series of recommendations about how to revive town centre shopping.

These include cutting regulations for traders, creating new ‘town teams’ responsible for developing business in the area, and having more affordable town centre car parking.

I wrote to Mary Portas to outline Oldham Council’s view of these challenges shortly after this review was announced.

As a starting point, I welcome this as an opportunity to take stock of where we are and identify constructive measures to help revitalise High Streets.

We’ve also bid into a scheme linked to this with the British Council of Shopping Centres. This would see some of the Portas recommendations piloted in a handful of ‘reference sites’ across the country to assess their impact.

If our bid is successful, such a scheme is likely to spark some additional interest in Oldham from retailers – so fingers crossed on that one.

The Portas report itself is, obviously, correct in its assessment that all town centres, including Oldham, are struggling in the face of growing competition from out-of-town retail sites and internet shopping.

The report is also right when it says that tackling this change represents a major strategic problem for all concerned.

However, I look forward to contributing further to this review in 2012 because – whilst there are measures and findings in the initial report which I firmly agree with – I also think more consultation with Councils would have been hugely beneficial.

Some of the recommendations made here are ones that I, and many other Local Authority leaders, believe are simply not realistic enough about the issues we are facing.

I don’t think, for example, that the report at all grasps the sheer power that a handful of ‘anchor retailers’ – like Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, and Debenhams – hold over our High Streets.

These players hold incredible power and influence over the market.

If your town centre does not have them, then it will simply never be full – it will always have vacant units. This is a stark reality which I believe hasn’t been fully recognised here, and it is clearly part of the problem.

The Portas report also recommends that Councils remove regulations around market stalls to make it easier for people to become market traders.

My fear with this is that it could be counterproductive by helping to nurture a ‘Del Boy’ economy on our High Street.

Consumers need a basic level of assurance and confidence about who they are trading with and the quality of the goods they are buying.

This would put that under threat and potentially even discourage people from spending in our town centres. It would also encourage rogue traders who – worst of all – prey upon and take advantage of cash-strapped families.

The Portas report also recommends cuts in business rates to encourage more retail into the town centre.

Business rates are calculated by multiplying the rateable value of a property by a ‘multiplier’ that is set nationally by the Government.

Simply slashing them across the board will only serve to further benefit out-of-town sites which are much more attractive to retailers because they will remain cheaper – and they are easier to build upon.

All of which brings me on to my final point.

We are willing as a Council to do whatever we can to help the High Street. Indeed, we moved fast to introduce free-parking on Saturdays, in line with what the report recommends, to attract shoppers back to the town centre.

However, what this report doesn’t examine is what all these suggested measures would cost Local Authorities.

We could, for example, make all market rents cost a pound, and make all our car parking free forever – but with that comes a significant impact on your revenue. How do you then decide which library or care home has to shut down as a result?

Local Authorities aren’t just responsible for town centres. Whilst their viability and strength is key, it can not sit in splendid isolation from all our other duties to local communities.

I think the Portas report could go much further. In its present form it appears to simply blame councils for the decline of the High Street without empowering us to actually tackle the issues head on.

The solutions will require serious partnership working and investment across the board – and residents also have a crucial role to play.

A ‘fixed’ town centre would, of course, be one with much greater footfall and a wider shopping offer that enables people to purchase more of their general needs, plus specialist goods.

If we could achieve that in Oldham we would have every major retailer fighting to just have a presence here.

But, as the Portas report rightly says, a sense of ‘belonging’ to your local high street is also fast-diminishing.

That is a major part of the problem and it’s why I am again, unashamedly, urging residents reading this to ‘Shop Local’ – and to spread that message.

Our free car parking scheme continues in the town centre on Saturdays until January 14. We’re already evaluating its impact and the options include considering whether to extend or change the scheme in 2012, so watch this space for news on that front.

By opting to spend your cash in Oldham, and in your district centres, you can actually make a huge impact on the future viability of your own High Street.

Please consider that again in the frantic final few days of festive shopping and – above all – have a fantastic Christmas with your family and friends.

Thanks for listening,

Jim

ACTION: Just four examples of previously vacant properties which Council action has brought back into use at (clockwise from top left) Salford Street, Roundthorn, Wimpole Street, Higginshaw, Broadway, Chadderton, and Selkirk Road, Chadderton.

IT’S HARDER than ever right now to get a foot onto the first rung of the property ladder – whether you are looking to buy, or even just rent.

This issue has again been highlighted in recent days by Channel 4’s ‘The Great British Property Scandal’: a two-part documentary which identified that there are around two million families who can’t find a home at a time when there are also roughly a million empty homes in the UK.

That has prompted me to use this week’s Blog to explain what is being done to assist people in securing homes for their families here in Oldham.

Having a roof over your head is, of course, of paramount importance to every resident and it sits at the top of our priority list for action as an administration.

Housing need represents a massive challenge for every Local Authority and we are being proactive to meet it.

We currently have a significant number of new build properties under construction or set to get underway across the Borough.

Over the next three years an estimated 1,190 new homes will be built through a variety of schemes with – crucially – 670 of these to be made available for affordable rent.

Just last week we signed the contract for four new public housing sites at Crossley and Primrose Bank estates, and on brownfield sites in Westwood and Fitton Hill. Together these will see more than 700 new homes built or refurbished.

There are also several important programmes being implemented which are designed to ease local housing waiting lists.

Oldham Council recently commissioned Aksa Housing to develop a social lettings agency that will seek to increase the supply of good-quality private rented accommodation available.

The recent passing of the Localism Act also means the private rented sector could be used to assist in tackling homelessness and the Oldham Bond Scheme – funded by the Council – now links into this by enabling households to access the private rented sector where they currently don’t have the financial means to do so.

Our pioneering Downsizing Scheme is also making important headway and creating ‘room’ on the housing register.

This supports people living in family accommodation within the social rented sector. It is delivered with a range of housing associations and is making a real difference in helping people find more suitable accommodation that is smaller, easier and cheaper to run. To date, the scheme has already helped more than 200 different households in the Borough.

The Council now has a Nominations Agreement in place with all registered providers of social housing in the Borough. This works to cut the numbers on the waiting list by increasing the number of properties they potentially have access to – and we’re also developing a solution with providers which could see the creation of just one unified housing register (or waiting list) for all in need of social housing.

An Instant Homes scheme managed by First Choice Homes Oldham has properties that are immediately available, and details can be found on the FCHO website at www.fcho.co.uk

For disabled residents we’ve also now provided funding for a member of staff to develop an Accessible Housing Register to promote their needs within the social rented sector.

The Channel 4 programme rightly identified the waste caused by long-term empty properties.

As of October this year our figures show we had 1,642 long-term empty properties across the Borough – either privately or publicly-owned.

We’re proposing to increase the resources dedicated to bringing these back into use with the recruitment of two dedicated empty homes officers.

The way that this will work is that properties can either be returned to use voluntarily by influencing the owner to realise their potential – or by us increasing enforcement activity on the most persistent of problem properties that blight neighbourhoods.

A key part of that now sees us working with AKSA who will offer their services to absent owners to encourage them to put vacant properties back into use.

I did find the Channel 4 programme somewhat misleading in how it appeared to selectively film streets of homes left unoccupied, it seemed, either as a result of a wider regeneration programme, or the end of funding for the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) scheme. 

In our own HMR areas we are very active on work to complete a programme of 193 demolitions across Werneth and Derker. Whilst we recognise that this will still leave some Werneth residents living adjacent to boarded-up properties we are working hard with Ward Members to develop a plan to hopefully resolve some of the issues this means for them.

Where properties can feasibly be brought back into use, we are also not sitting on our hands. One small example is a recent deal we’ve made to sell seven homes that were formerly acquired through HMR. As part of that we insisted vital works are carried out to bring them back to a habitable standard – as a condition of sale – to bring them back into use.

There are no easy answers to the nation’s housing problems, particularly during what is now widely accepted to be an ‘Age of Austerity’.

It’s also a sad fact that the current national levels of home building, against that backdrop of economic recession, are inadequate to meet the demand.

More innovation and funding will need to be found to tackle this situation nationwide but we remain fully committed – wherever possible – to act to bring vacant properties back into use and boost our housing stock.

Thanks for listening,

Jim